Practical aspects on the estimation of the parameters in Coale’s model for marital fertility

This paper demonstrates the estimation of the parameters in the Coale model for marital fertility by the maximum likelihood method, under the assumption of a simple Poisson process model. The necessary calculations are easily performed in the statistical computer program package GLIM, and the necessary commands are noted. Without access to GLIM, or any equivalent, it is still possible to fit the model approximately by the use of any weighted linear regression program. In both cases, goodness of fit tests are available.