Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/141562 
Year of Publication: 
2016
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 9803
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
It takes a woman and a man to make a baby. This fact suggests that for a birth to take place, the parents should first agree on wanting a child. Using newly available data on fertility preferences and outcomes, we show that indeed, babies are likely to arrive only if both parents desire one, and there are many couples who disagree on having babies. We then build a bargaining model of fertility choice and match the model to data from a set of European countries with very low fertility rates. The distribution of the burden of child care between mothers and fathers turns out to be a key determinant of fertility. A policy that lowers the child care burden specifically on mothers can be more than twice as effective at increasing the fertility rate compared to a general child subsidy.
Subjects: 
fertility
bargaining
child care
JEL: 
J13
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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