Fertility and economic instability: the role of unemployment and job displacement

In this paper, we study the separate effects of unemployment and job displacement on fertility in a sample of white collar women in Austria. Using an instrumental variable approach, we show that unemployment incidence as such has no negative effect on fertility decisions, but the very fact of being...

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Bibliographische Detailangaben
Link(s) zu Dokument(en):IHS Publikation
Hauptverfasser: Bono, Emilia Del, Weber, Andrea, Winter-Ebmer, Rudolf
Format: Article in Academic Journal PeerReviewed
Veröffentlicht: Springer 2015
Beschreibung
Zusammenfassung:In this paper, we study the separate effects of unemployment and job displacement on fertility in a sample of white collar women in Austria. Using an instrumental variable approach, we show that unemployment incidence as such has no negative effect on fertility decisions, but the very fact of being displaced from a career-oriented job has. Fertility rates for women affected by a firm closure are significantly below those of a control group, even after 6 years, and this is so irrespective of the incidence or the duration of the associated unemployment spell. (authors' abstract)