Fertility and Wars: The Case of World War I in France
American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics
vol. 6,
no. 2, April 2014
(pp. 108-36)
Abstract
During World War I the birth rate in France fell by 50%. Why? I build a model of fertility choices where the war implies a positive probability that a wife remains alone, a partially-compensated loss of a husband's income, and a temporary decline in productivity followed by faster growth. I calibrate the model's key parameters using pre-war data. I find that it accounts for 91% of the decline of the birth rate. The main determinant of this result is the loss of expected income associated with the risk that a wife remains alone.Citation
Vandenbroucke, Guillaume. 2014. "Fertility and Wars: The Case of World War I in France." American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, 6 (2): 108-36. DOI: 10.1257/mac.6.2.108Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- D74 Conflict; Conflict Resolution; Alliances
- J13 Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
- J24 Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
- N33 Economic History: Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy: Europe: Pre-1913
- N34 Economic History: Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy: Europe: 1913-
- N44 Economic History: Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation: Europe: 1913-
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