Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/234948 
Authors: 
Year of Publication: 
2021
Series/Report no.: 
ZEF Discussion Papers on Development Policy No. 308
Publisher: 
University of Bonn, Center for Development Research (ZEF), Bonn
Abstract: 
Drawing on two assumptions: that menopause is an instrument for the efficient regulation of the duration of a biologically expensive state, and that people have children in order to obtain support from them in old age, we set out a new idea that seeks to explain both the occurrence of menopause and its timing. On the basis of the notion that the purpose of having children is to obtain support in old age, we perceive menopause as an upper limit to the fertile state, when a continued ability to give birth to children would not generate the desired support. The conjecture yields specific testable predictions, and can be assessed against the "reproductive conflict" hypothesis. Being supported by one's offspring is a distinctive feature of humans; in this context, we cannot rely on animal studies in evolutionary biology and related fields to help us to ascertain something that is specific to humans.
Subjects: 
Occurrence and timing of menopause
Support in old age
Demand for children
Supply of children
JEL: 
D64
D90
J13
J14
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
357.91 kB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.