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Female Relative Wages, Household Specialization and Fertility

Author

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  • Christian Siegel

    (University of Kent)

Abstract
Falling fertility rates have often been linked to rising female wages. However, over the last 40 years the US total fertility rate has been rather stable while female wages have continued to grow. Over the same period, women's hours spent on housework have declined, but men's have increased. I propose a model in which households are not perfectly specialized, but both men and women contribute to home production. As the gender wage gap narrows, the time allocations of men and women converge, and while fertility falls at first, the decline stops when female wages are close to male's. Rising relative wages increase women's labor supply and due to higher opportunity cost lower fertility at first, but they also lead to a reallocation of home production and child care from women to men, and a marketization. I find that both are important in understanding why fertility did not decline further. In a further quantitative exercise I show that the model performs well in matching fertility over the entire 20th century, including the overall decline, the baby boom, and the recent stabilization. (Copyright: Elsevier)

Suggested Citation

  • Christian Siegel, 2017. "Female Relative Wages, Household Specialization and Fertility," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 24, pages 152-174, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:red:issued:14-325
    DOI: 10.1016/j.red.2017.01.010
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    Cited by:

    1. Keller, Elisa, 2019. "Labor supply and gender differences in occupational choice," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 221-241.
    2. Farzana AFRIDI & Monisankar BISHNU & Kanika MAHAJAN, 2024. "What determines women's labor supply? The role of home productivity and social norms," JODE - Journal of Demographic Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 90(1), pages 55-87, March.
    3. Muzhi Zhou & Man-Yee Kan, 2019. "A new family equilibrium? Changing dynamics between the gender division of labor and fertility in Great Britain, 1991–2017," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 40(50), pages 1455-1500.
    4. Waliu Olawale Shittu & Norehan Abdullah & Habiba Muhammed Bello Umar, 2019. "Does Fertility Affect Female Labour Participation Differently in Malaysia and Singapore?," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 62(2), pages 201-217, June.
    5. Ratbek Dzhumashev & Ainura Tursunalieva, 2023. "Social externalities, endogenous childcare costs, and fertility choice," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 36(1), pages 397-429, January.
    6. Michael Bar & Moshe Hazan & Oksana Leukhina & David Weiss & Hosny Zoabi, 2018. "Why did rich families increase their fertility? Inequality and marketization of child care," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 23(4), pages 427-463, December.
    7. Vo, Thang T. & Truong, Thiet-Ha, 2023. "Gender division of household workforce in Vietnam: Role of international trade and fertility," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 1696-1718.
    8. Daniela Vidart, 2024. "Revisiting the Link Between Electrification and Fertility: Evidence from the Early 20th Century United States," Working papers 2024-03, University of Connecticut, Department of Economics.
    9. Tobias Laun & Johanna Wallenius, 2021. "Having It All? Employment, Earnings, and Children," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 123(1), pages 353-381, January.
    10. repec:aly:journl:201707 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Hazan, Moshe & Zoabi, Hosny & Weiss, David & Leukhina, Oksana & Bar, Michael, 2017. "Is The Market Pronatalist? Inequality, Differential Fertility, and Growth Revisited," CEPR Discussion Papers 12376, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    12. Pierre-Richard Agénor, 2018. "A Theory of Social Norms, Women's Time Allocation, and Gender Inequality in the Process of Development," Centre for Growth and Business Cycle Research Discussion Paper Series 237, Economics, The University of Manchester.
    13. Bar-El, Ronen & Hatsor, Limor & Tobol, Yossef, 2020. "Home production, market substitutes, and the labor supply of mothers," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 171(C), pages 378-390.
    14. Meng, Lina & Peng, Lu & Zhou, Yinggang, 2023. "Do housing booms reduce fertility intentions? Evidence from the new two-child policy in China," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    15. Kang, Chuankun & Fu, Zhengxin & Zhao, Shuchen, 2024. "Maternal relative income, bargaining power, and children's education expenditure," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 1395-1410.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Fertility; Female labor supply; Household production; Intrahousehold allocations;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D13 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Production and Intrahouse Allocation
    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply

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