Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP5221
Authors: Raquel Fernández; Alessandra Fogli
Abstract: This paper attempts to disentangle the direct effects of experience from those of culture in determining fertility. We use the GSS to examine the fertility of women born in the US but from different ethnic backgrounds. We take lagged values of the total fertility rate in woman?s country of ancestry as the cultural proxy and use the woman?s number of siblings capture her direct family experience. We find that both variables are significant determinants of fertility, even after controlling for several individual and family-level characteristics.
Keywords: cultural transmission; family; fertility; immigrants
JEL Codes: J13; J16; Z10
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| TFR (total fertility rate in a woman's country of ancestry) (J11) | fertility outcomes (J13) |
| number of siblings (J12) | fertility outcomes (J13) |
| TFR (total fertility rate in a woman's country of ancestry) (J11) | number of children (J13) |
| number of siblings (J12) | number of children (J13) |