Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Fertility

  • Reference work entry
  • First Online:
Book cover The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics

  • 36 Accesses

Abstract

At the aggregate level, human reproduction is the ultimate source of an economic system’s labour input and of the consumers who constitute the principal destination of the economy’s output. At the individual level, children are an important source of satisfaction that compete with alternatives for the limited parental resources of time, energy and money available. Despite this, reproductive behaviour has traditionally been omitted from economic theorizing, and even in the past three decades has gained only a marginal foothold.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 6,499.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 8,499.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Bibliography

  • Ahlburg, D.A. 1984. Commodity aspirations in Easterlin’s relative income theory of fertility. Social Biology 31(3/4): 201–207.

    Google Scholar 

  • Becker, G.S. 1960. An economic analysis of fertility. In Demographic and economic change in developed countries. Universities-National Bureau conference series No. 11. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Becker, G.S. 1965. A theory of the allocation of time. Economic Journal 75: 493–517.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Becker, G.S. 1981. A treatise on the family. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Becker, G.S., and H.G. Lewis. 1974. Interaction between quantity and quality of children. In The economics of the family, ed. T.W. Schultz. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Becker, G.S., and N. Tomes. 1976. Child endowments and the quantity and quality of children. Journal of Political Economy 84(4), Part 2: S143–S162.

    Google Scholar 

  • Behrman, J.R., and B.L. Wolfe. 1984. A more general approach to fertility determination in a developing country: The importance of biological supply considerations, endogeneous tastes and unperceived jointness. Economica 51: 319–339.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ben-Porath, Y. 1973. Short-term fluctations in fertility and economic activity in Israel. Demography 10(2): 185–204.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ben-Porath, Y. 1975. First generation effects on second generation fertility. Demography 12(3): 397–405.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ben-Porath, Y. 1982. Economics and the family-match or mismatch? A review of Becker’s ‘a treatise on the family’. Journal of Economic Literature 20(1): 52–64.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bulatao, R.A., and R.D. Lee (eds.). 1983. Determinants of fertility in developing countries: A summary of knowledge. New York: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Butz, W.P., and M.P. Ward. 1979. The emergence of countercyclical US fertility. American Economic Review 69(3): 318–328.

    Google Scholar 

  • Coale, A.J. 1967. The voluntary control of human fertility. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 111(3): 164–169.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crimmins, E.M., R.A. Easterlin, S.J. Jejeebhoy, and K. Srinivasan. 1984. New perspectives on the demographic transition: A theoretical and empirical analysis of an Indian state, 1951–1975. Economic Development and Cultural Change 32(2): 227–253.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Devaney, B. 1984. An analysis of variations in U.S. fertility and female labor force participation trends. Demography 20(2): 147–161.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dyson, T., and M. Murphy. 1985. The onset of fertility transition. Population and Development Review 11(3): 399–440.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Easterlin, R.A. 1969. Towards a socioeconomic theory of fertility: A survey of recent research on economic factors in American fertility. In Fertility and family planning: A world view, ed. S.J. Behrman, Leslie Corsa Jr., and R. Freedman. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Easterlin, R.A. 1973. Relative economic status and the American fertility swing. In Family economic behavior: Problems and prospects, ed. E.B. Sheldon. Philadelphia: Lippincott.

    Google Scholar 

  • Easterlin, R.A. 1976. Population change and farm settlement in the northern United States. Journal of Economic History 36(1): 45–75.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Easterlin, R.A. 1978. The economics and sociology of fertility: A synthesis. In Historical studies of changing fertility, ed. C. Tilly. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Easterlin, R.A. 1980. Birth and fortune. New York: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Easterlin, R.A., R.A. Pollak, and M.L. Wachter. 1980. Toward a more general economic model of fertility determination: Endogenous preferences and natural fertility. In Population and economic change in developing countries, ed. R.A. Easterlin. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Henry, L. 1961. La fécondité naturelle: observations – théorie – résultats. Population 16(4): 625–636.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Keeley, M. 1975. A comment on ‘An interpretation of the economic theory of fertility’. Journal of Economic Literature 13(2): 461–467.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kramer, W., and K. Neusser. 1984. The emergence of countercyclical U.S. fertility: Note. American Economic Review 74(1): 201–202.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lancaster, K.J. 1971. Consumer demand: A new approach. New York: Columbia University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lee, R. 1974. The formal dynamics of controlled populations and the echo, the boom and the bust. Demography 11(4): 563–585.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leibenstein, H. 1957. Economic backwardness and economic growth. New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leibenstein, H. 1974. An interpretation of the economic theory of fertility: Promising path or blind alley? Journal of Economic Literature 12(2): 457–479.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leibenstein, H. 1975. The economic theory of fertility decline. Quarterly Journal of Economics 89(1): 1–31.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lindert, P.H. 1978. Fertility and scarcity in America. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lindert, P.H. 1980. Child costs and economic development. In Population and economic change in developing countries, ed. R.A. Easterlin. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lindert, P.H. 1983. The changing economic costs and benefits of having children. In Determinants of fertility in developing countries: A summary of knowledge, vol. 1, ed. R. Bulatao and R.D. Lee. New York: Academic.

    Google Scholar 

  • McDonald, J. 1983. The emergence of countercyclical US fertility: A reassessment of the evidence. Journal of Macroeconomics 5(4): 421–436.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Michael, R.T., and R.J. Willis. 1976. Contraception and fertility: Household production under uncertainty. In Conference on Research in Income and Wealth, Household Production and Consumption. New York: National Bureau of Economic Research.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mincer, J. 1963. Market prices, opportunity costs, and income effects. In Measurement in economics, ed. C. Christ et al. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mincer, J., and S. Polachek. 1974. Family investments in human capital: Earnings of women. In The economics of the family, ed. T.W. Schultz. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mueller, E., and K. Short. 1983. Effects of income and wealth on the demand for children. In Determinants of fertility in developing countries: A summary of knowledge, vol. 1, ed. R. Bulatao and R.D. Lee. New York: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nerlove, M. 1974. Household and economy: Toward a new theory of population and economic growth. Journal of Political Economy 82(2), Part II: S200–S218.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rosenzweig, M.R., and T.P. Schultz. 1985. The demand for and supply of births: Fertility and its life cycle consequences. American Economic Review 75(5): 992–1015.

    Google Scholar 

  • Samuelson, P.A. 1976. An economist’s non-linear model of self-generated fertility waves. Population Studies 30(2): 243–247.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sanderson, W.C. 1976. On two schools of the economics of fertility. Population and Development Review 2(3–4): 469–477.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sanderson, W.C. 1980. Comment. In Population and economic change in developing countries, ed. R.A. Easterlin. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schultz, T. 1976. Determinants of fertility: A micro-economic model of choice. In Economic factors in population growth, ed. A.J. Coale. New York: Halsted Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schultz, T.P. 1979. Current developments in the economics of fertility. In International Union for the Scientific Study of Population: Economic and demographic change: Issues for the 1980’s. Proceedings of the Conference, Helsinki 1978, vol. 3, 27–38. Liège: IUSSP.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schultz, T.P. 1981. Economics of population. Reading: Addison-Wesley Co.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schultz, T.W. (ed.). 1974. The economics of the family. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Simon, J.L. 1974. The effects of income on fertility. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tabarrah, R.B. 1971. Toward a theory of demographic development. Economic Development and Cultural Change 19(2): 257–277.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Turchi, B.A. 1975. The demand for children: The economics of fertility in the United States. Cambridge, MA: Ballinger.

    Google Scholar 

  • Willis, R.J. 1973. A new approach to the economic theory of fertility behavior. Journal of Political Economy 81(2), Part II: S14–S64.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. http://link.springer.com/referencework/10.1007/978-1-349-95121-5

    Richard A. Easterlin

Authors
  1. Richard A. Easterlin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Copyright information

© 2018 Macmillan Publishers Ltd.

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Easterlin, R.A. (2018). Fertility. In: The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95189-5_604

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation