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on Demographic Economics |
| By: | Ermisch, John |
| Abstract: | The aim of the study is to explore the contribution of childlessness to changes in English cohort fertility over time and in relation to that in other European countries. The study found that during important historical periods of change in English completed fertility a change in childlessness played a very important role: contributing 56% of the large rise in fertility (of 0.42 children per woman) between the 1920 and 1934 cohorts and 44% of the large fall (0.44) between the 1934 and 1960 cohorts. But for more recent cohorts (born since 1960) changes in childlessness played a varying but usually minor role in accounting for changes in English cohort fertility compared with other countries. The paper shows that there are, however, countries in which a rise in childlessness has made large contributions to a large decline in their cohort fertility since the 1960 cohort (e.g. Japan, Spain and Poland). Also, high current levels of childlessness in these countries are an important reason why their cohort fertility is so low compared to England and some other countries of Northern and Western Europe (e.g. Sweden, France and the Netherlands). Based on information on fertility intentions and historical experience it is argued that that changes in childlessness were mainly the result of an accumulation of usually unpredictable period influences on fertility. |
| Date: | 2025–08–20 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:gkqw6_v1 |
| By: | Brainerd, Elizabeth (Brandeis University); Malkova, Olga (University of California, Irvine) |
| Abstract: | Do religious beliefs affect responses to fertility incentives? We examine a 1982 maternity benefits expansion in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in a difference-in-differences framework with similar East European countries as comparisons. To isolate the importance of religion, we compare women who did and did not grow up in religious households when religion was formally outlawed, resulting in similar adult characteristics among women in the Baltics by importance of religion. Maternity benefits increased fertility only among women who grew up in religious families, providing novel evidence that cultural norms transmitted through the family can amplify the effects of public policies. |
| Keywords: | parental leave, family policies, culture, fertility, religion |
| JEL: | J13 J18 P20 Z10 Z12 |
| Date: | 2025–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18081 |
| By: | Emma Harrington; Matthew E. Kahn |
| Abstract: | When women become mothers, they often take a step back from their careers. Could work from home (WFH) reduce this motherhood penalty, particularly in traditionally family-unfriendly careers? We leverage technological changes prior to the pandemic that increased the feasibility of WFH in some college degrees but not others. In degrees where WFH increased, motherhood gaps in employment narrowed: for every 10% increase in WFH, mothers’ employment rates increased by 0.78 per centage points (or 0.94%) relative to other women’s. This change is driven by majors linked to careers that have high returns to hours and inflexible demands on workers’ time. We microfound these results using panel data that show that women who could WFH before childbirth are less likely to exit the workforce. |
| JEL: | H2 J01 J13 |
| Date: | 2025–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34147 |
| By: | N. Meltem Daysal; Hui Ding; Maya Rossin-Slater; Hannes Schwandt |
| Abstract: | Preschool-aged children get sick frequently and spread disease to other family members. Despite the universality of this experience, there is limited causal evidence on the magnitudes and consequences of these externalities, especially for infant siblings with developing immune systems and brains. We use Danish administrative data to document that, before age one, younger siblings have 2-3 times higher hospitalization rates for respiratory conditions than older siblings. We combine birth order and within-municipality variation in respiratory disease prevalence among young children, and find lasting differential impacts of early-life respiratory disease exposure on younger siblings’ earnings, educational attainment, chronic respiratory health and mental health-related outcomes. |
| Keywords: | children, early-life conditions, human capital, earnings, birth order, infectious disease |
| JEL: | I12 I18 J12 J13 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12074 |
| By: | Domnisoru, Ciprian (Aalto University); Malinovskaya, Anna (Yale University); Taylor, Evan J. (University of Arizona) |
| Abstract: | We quantify the effect of education on mortality using a linkage of the full count 1940, 2000, and 2010 US census files and the Numident death records file. Our sample is composed of children aged 0-18 in 1940, observed living with at least one parent, for whom we can construct a rich set of parental and neighborhood characteristics. We estimate effects of educational attainment in 1940 on survival to 2000, as well as the effects of completed education, observed in 2000, on 10-year survival to 2010. The educational gradients in longevity that we estimate are robust to the inclusion of detailed individual, parental, household, neighborhood and county covariates. Given our full population census sample, we also explore rich patterns of heterogeneity and examine the effect of mediators of the education-mortality relationship. The mediators we consider in this study explain more than half of the relationship between education and mortality. We further show that the mechanisms underlying the education-mortality gradient might be different at different margins of educational attainment. |
| Keywords: | mortality, health, education |
| JEL: | I1 I2 J1 |
| Date: | 2025–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18085 |
| By: | Edward N. Wolff |
| Abstract: | There has been a seismic shift in age-wealth profiles in the U.S. over years 1983 to 2022. The most notable is the sharp rise in the relative household wealth of age group 75 and over. Correspondingly, the relative wealth holdings of all other age groups dropped over these years. Using the Survey of Consumer Finances, the paper focuses on the youngest age group, 35 and under, and the oldest age group, 75 and over, and analyzes the factors behind these relative shifts in wealth. I find that the three principal factors are the homeownership rate, total stocks directly and indirectly owned, and home mortgage debt. The homeownership rate is the same in the two years for the youngest group but falls relative to the overall rate, whereas it shoots up for the oldest group both in actual level and relative to the overall average. The value of stock holdings rises for both age groups but vastly more for the oldest households compared to the youngest ones and accounts for a substantial portion of the elderly’s relative wealth gains. Mortgage debt rises in dollar terms for both groups but considerably more in relative terms for the youngest group. |
| JEL: | D31 J1 |
| Date: | 2025–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34131 |