Do Abler Parents Have Fewer Children?

Posted: 24 Jun 2008

See all articles by Michael Beenstock

Michael Beenstock

Hebrew University of Jerusalem - Department of Economics

Date Written: July 2007

Abstract

A quality versus quantity theory of fertility is proposed that predicts that more able parents chose to produce fewer children because they wish to invest more in their children's education. Using Mincer residuals to measure the unobserved ability of parents, data for Israel are used to show that given everything else more able parents tend to produce fewer children. This is true for fertility data and for birth hazards. Fertility is also found to depend upon social norms, education, and child benefit.

Keywords: JEL classifications: J13, J62

Suggested Citation

Beenstock, Michael, Do Abler Parents Have Fewer Children? (July 2007). Oxford Economic Papers, Vol. 59, Issue 3, pp. 430-457, 2007, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1150594 or http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oep/gpm012

Michael Beenstock (Contact Author)

Hebrew University of Jerusalem - Department of Economics ( email )

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Kfar Etzion 35/4
Jerusalem 91905
Israel
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