The Fertility Impacts of Development Programs
This paper examines how women’s fertility responds to increases in their earnings and household wealth, using six experiments conducted in Sub-Saharan Africa. Contrary to predictions that an increase in female earnings raises the opportunity cost of childbearing and that this will lower fertility, the findings show that an increase in the profits of female business-owners in Ethiopia and Togo results in them having more children. The findings also show a positive fertility response to increases in the value of household assets induced by land formalization programs in Benin and Ghana. These results are driven by women who are in most need of sons for support in old age or in the event of widowhood. The findings suggest that women’s lack of long-term economic security is an important driver of fertility in Sub-Saharan Africa.
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Working Paper biblioteca |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
Washington, DC: World Bank
2024-07-17
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| Subjects: | FERTILITY, HOUSEHOLDS, SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA, GOOD HEALTH AND WELL-BEING, SDG 3, GENDER EQUALITY, SDG 5, ETHIOPIA, TOGO, BENIN, GHANA, |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099518407102437684/IDU1699f7acb16ca614fe4199601d8d3c9a94a76 https://hdl.handle.net/10986/41890 |
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