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http://hdl.handle.net/10419/34799
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| Title: | | The baby boom and World War II: a macroeconomic analysis  |
| Authors: | | Doepke, Matthias Hazan, Moshe Maoz, Yishay D. |
| Issue Date: | | 2007 |
| Series/Report no.: | | IZA Discussion Papers 3253 |
| Abstract: | | We argue that one major cause of the U.S. postwar baby boom was the increased demand for female labor during World War II. We develop a quantitative dynamic general equilibrium model with endogenous fertility and female labor-force participation decisions. We use the model to assess the long-term implications of a one-time demand shock for female labor, such as the one experienced by American women during wartime mobilization. For the war generation, the shock leads to a persistent increase in female labor supply due to the accumulation of work experience. In contrast, younger women who turn adult after the war face increased labor-market competition, which impels them to exit the labor market and start having children earlier. In our calibrated model, this general-equilibrium effect generates a substantial baby boom followed by a baby bust, as well as patterns for age-specific labor-force participation and fertility rates that are consistent with U.S. data. |
| Subjects: | | Fertility baby boom World War II female labor-force participation |
| JEL: | | D58 |
| Document Type: | | Working Paper |
| Appears in Collections: | | IZA Discussion Papers, Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit (IZA)
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