Variety expansion and fertility rates |
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Authors: | Akiko Maruyama Kazuhiro Yamamoto |
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Affiliation: | (1) Department of Economics, University of Houston and NBER, Houston, TX 77204, USA |
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Abstract: | To investigate how fertility rates interrelate with the modern economy, we construct a simple model in which variety expansion of consumption goods reduces fertility rates. In our model, variety expansion reduces the relative price of a composite of differentiated goods compared to child-rearing costs. Thus, parents raise the expenditure share for differentiated goods and lower the number of children. We show that this model can be applied to a growth model in which economic growth progresses with variety expansion of consumption goods and fertility rates decrease with economic growth. Thus, we show a new mechanism for fertility decline, and this mechanism can be applied to a growth model. |
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