Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP238
Authors: John Ermisch
Abstract: The paper develops a model of family size decisions in which couples choose explicitly a combination of mother's time and purchased child care (e.g. childminders, nannies) for the care and rearing of children. The theoretical model implies that the impact of the mother's wage on her completed fertility varies with the market price of child care, and that this effect increases (becoming less negative or more positive) with the level of her wage. Econometric analysis of British micro-data confirms the main predictions of the model.
Keywords: fertility; labour supply; cost of children; new home economics
JEL Codes: J13; J22; D13
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| mothers' wages (J31) | family size (J12) |
| price of childcare (J13) | family size (J12) |
| husbands' earnings (J31) | family size (J12) |
| mothers' wages (J31) | labor supply (J20) |
| childcare costs (J13) | mothers' employment (J22) |