Timing of Childbearing, Family Size and Economic Growth

23 Pages Posted: 3 Mar 1997

See all articles by Murat Iyigun

Murat Iyigun

University of Colorado at Boulder - Department of Economics; Harvard University - Center for International Development (CID); IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Date Written: November 1996

Abstract

This paper incorporates the timing of childbearing into a growth model with endogenous fertility. It analyzes a model in which individuals' human capital stock depends positively on their education and parental human capital and in which producing and raising children and acquiring human capital are time intensive. The model highlights how changes in the human capital stock interact with individuals' timing of childbearing in affecting the evolution of the economy. It shows that, if the complementarity between parental human capital and education in determining individuals' human capital is relatively large, then increases in the human capital stock raise the opportunity cost of having children while young and induce individuals to delay childbearing. That, in turn, accelerates human capital accumulation in the future. The model also demonstrates that early childbearing may lead to a development trap with low human capital.

JEL Classification: J13, J24, O11, O40

Suggested Citation

Iyigun, Murat F., Timing of Childbearing, Family Size and Economic Growth (November 1996). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=353 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.353

Murat F. Iyigun (Contact Author)

University of Colorado at Boulder - Department of Economics ( email )

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Harvard University - Center for International Development (CID) ( email )

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IZA Institute of Labor Economics

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