Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/35290 
Year of Publication: 
2008
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 3575
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
There has been little empirical work evaluating the sensitivity of fertility to financial incentives at the household level. We put forward an identification strategy that relies on the fact that variation of wages induces variation in benefits and tax credits among comparable households. We implement this approach by estimating a discrete choice model of female participation and fertility, using individual data from the French Labor Force Survey and a fairly detailed representation of the French tax-benefit system. Our results suggest that financial incentives play a notable role in determining fertility decisions in France, both for the first and for the third child. As an example, an unconditional child benefit with a direct cost of 0.3% of GDP might raise total fertility by about 0.3 point.
Subjects: 
Population
fertility
incentives
benefits
JEL: 
J13
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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