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on Demographic Economics |
| By: | Lee, Siha; Liu, Sitian |
| Abstract: | We study the fertility effects of the 1997 Quebec Family Policy, which introduced universal childcare and simultaneously ended its newborn allowance. Using a 20% sample of Canadian tax returns, we find that the reform reduced overall fertility at the intensive margin but had varying impacts by life stage. For younger cohorts of women early in their careers and family planning, the reform increased their likelihood of having a first or second child without reducing employment, suggesting that subsidized childcare may have helped young women balance work and family life. In contrast, for older cohorts of women, most of whom already had at least one child, the reform boosted employment but decreased the likelihood of having more children, implying that increased maternal employment may have raised the opportunity costs of additional children. |
| Keywords: | Family policy, fertility, childcare, newborn allowance |
| JEL: | J13 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:clefwp:303511 |
| By: | Weber, Andrea; Hospido, Laura; Guirola, Luis |
| JEL: | J12 J13 J16 J21 J22 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc24:302357 |
| By: | Martin Flatø; D. Susie Lee (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany); Jonas Minet Kinge; Maria Magnus; Mikko Myrskylä (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany); Cecilia Ramlau-Hansen |
| Abstract: | Age at menarche (AAM) is an important milestone in women's life-courses. A secular decline in AAM has raised concerns, as early AAM has been associated with adverse health and social outcomes. Still, it remains unclear whether the decline differs by socio-economic position (SEP) and drivers of such differences. Using data from 122, 826 Norwegian women born 1960-2008 whose childhood SEP was assessed from registers, we document a declining trend and a growing positive social gradient in AAM. We further used a balanced panel of 10, 896 mother-daughter dyads in the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study (MoBa) to decompose the inter-generational decline in AAM within each income quintile into within-family and between-family components. Mean AAM declined by 0.44 years in the lowest quintile compared to 0.24 years in the highest quintile, but there was no systematic difference between the quintiles in the within-family component. This suggests that factors operating through childhood conditions to causally affect AAM have similar impacts across SEPs. Rather, we find earlier AAM among mothers whose children grow up in a low SEP than for mothers who themselves had low SEP during childhood, which suggests that maternal selection is the main mechanism for the emerging gradient. |
| Keywords: | Norway, age at menarche, intergenerational social mobility, puberty, socio-economic conditions |
| JEL: | J1 Z0 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dem:wpaper:wp-2024-035 |
| By: | Costanza Giannantoni; Andres Rodriguez-Pose; ; ; |
| Abstract: | Declining fertility and the persistent underrepresentation of women in the labour market are key concerns of our time. The fact that they overlap is not fortuitous. Traditionally, women everywhere have faced a conflict in balancing their career ambitions with family responsibilities. Yet, the pressures arising from this conflict vary enormously from one place to another. Existing research has tended to overlook the geographical features of this dilemma, which could result in an inadequate understanding of the issue and lead to ineffective policy responses. This paper examines how variations in the quality of regional institutions affect women’s capacity to reconcile career and motherhood and, consequently, gender equality within Europe. Using panel data from 216 regions across 18 European countries, we uncover a positive effect of regional institutional quality on fertility rates, taking into account variations in female employment. Moreover, we show that European regions with better government quality provide a more reliable environment for managing the career/motherhood dilemma often faced by women. In contrast, women living in regions with weaker government institutions are more constrained in both their career and childbearing options. |
| Keywords: | Fertility; Gender equality, Institutional quality; European regions |
| JEL: | J11 J13 R11 |
| Date: | 2024–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:2435 |
| By: | Roser Alvarez-Klee (Universitat Pompeu Fabra); Ramon Ramon Muñoz (Universitat de Barcelona) |
| Abstract: | Demographic crises and famines were recurring phenomena in China before the mid-20th century, with the Great Leap Forward Famine of 1959-61 often regarded as the last and one of the most severe in Chinese History. This article delves into the repercussions of the Great Flood of 1975 in Henan province. We reassess the demographic implications of this hydrological catastrophe and employ a well-established methodology to identify demographic crises and occurrences of famine. Contrary to official perspectives, our findings indicate absolute mortality numbers and population losses in excess of officially accepted accounts and the emergence of localised famine episodes in the last years of Maoist China, suggesting that the last famine in China might have occurred in the mid-1970s. We argue that this demographic crisis was not solely the result of a high-magnitude natural disaster but also had other components: long-term economic policies that failed to achieve a solid and strong population’s nutritional status in Henan before 1975, along with short-term political decisions made during the flood, likely exacerbated its impact. Moreover, this disaster cannot be viewed in isolation from Mao's hydraulic policies in the 1950s. |
| Keywords: | Demographic crisis, famine, hydraulic catastrophe, nutritional conditions, China |
| JEL: | I18 J11 N55 Q10 |
| Date: | 2024–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hes:wpaper:0269 |