Does fertility respond to financial incentives?

Arbeitspapier

There has been little empirical work evaluating the sensitivity of fertility to financial incentives at the household level. We put forward an identification strategy that relies on the fact that variation of wages induces variation in benefits and tax credits among comparable households. We implement this approach by estimating a discrete choice model of female participation and fertility, using individual data from the French Labor Force Survey and a fairly detailed representation of the French tax-benefit system. Our results suggest that financial incentives play a notable role in determining fertility decisions in France, both for the first and for the third child. As an example, an unconditional child benefit with a direct cost of 0.3% of GDP might raise total fertility by about 0.3 point.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: IZA Discussion Papers ; No. 3575

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
• Subject: Population ; fertility ; incentives ; benefits ; Fruchtbarkeit ; Familienpolitik ; Ökonomischer Anreiz ; Frankreich

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Laroque, Guy ; Salanié, Bernard
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)
• (where): Bonn
• (when): 2008

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/35290
• URN: urn:nbn:de:101:1-2008071105
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:42 AM CET