The Gender Gap, Fertility and Growth
36 Pages Posted: 29 Oct 2001
There are 2 versions of this paper
The Gender Gap, Fertility, and Growth
Date Written: August 1995
Abstract
This paper examines a novel mechanism linking fertility and growth. There are three components to the model. First, increases in capital per worker raise women's relative wages, since capital is more complementary to women's labour input than to men's. Second, increasing women's relative wages reduces fertility by raising the cost of children more than household income. Third, lower fertility raises the level of capital per worker. This positive feedback loop generates a demographic transition: a rapid decline in fertility accompanied by accelerated output growth.
Keywords: Development trap, fertility, gender gap, growth, multiple equilibria
JEL Classification: J13, J16, O11, O40
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
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