Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/62390 
Year of Publication: 
2012
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 6689
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
Women can bear own children or adopt them. Extending economic theories of fertility, we provide a first theoretical treatment of the demand for adoption. We show that the propensity to adopt a child increases in the degree of own altruism, infertility, relatedness to the child, costs of own child birth, and any adoption-specific monetary return that is received net of the costs of adopting the child. Our model makes several testable predictions which receive empirical support. These include a higher propensity to adopt among infertile adults, relatives, women with high earnings potential, and celebrities.
Subjects: 
adoption
demand for adoption
fertility
children
altruism
JEL: 
J12
J13
D02
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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