Female relative wages, household specialization and fertility

What is it about?

This paper argues that fertility rates have stopped falling, despite women's relative wages continued to improve and their employment continued to rise, due to changes in the division of labour within the family, which saw men contributing more time to home production and child care.

Featured Image

Why is it important?

Understanding fertility decisions is crucial for forecasting future demographics and for designing family policies that are aimed at increasing fertility rates, especially in many European low-fertility countries. This paper proposes a framework that has more empirical relevance than previous models, as its predictions are consistent not only with the long-term secular decline in fertility rates but also with the recent stabilization episode.