RELIGION AS A DETERMINANT OF MARITAL FERTILITY

Authors
Citation
El. Lehrer, RELIGION AS A DETERMINANT OF MARITAL FERTILITY, Journal of population economics, 9(2), 1996, pp. 173-196
Citations number
46
Categorie Soggetti
Economics,Demografy
ISSN journal
09331433
Volume
9
Issue
2
Year of publication
1996
Pages
173 - 196
Database
ISI
SICI code
0933-1433(1996)9:2<173:RAADOM>2.0.ZU;2-3
Abstract
This paper develops hypotheses about the effects of husbands' and wive s' religious affiliations on fertility. The hypotheses are based on tw o central ideas. First, religions differ in their fertility norms and corresponding tradeoffs between the quality and quantity of children; differences in religious beliefs between husband and wife may thus lea d to conflict regarding fertility decisions and possible resolution th rough bargaining. Second, a low level of religious compatibility betwe en the spouses may raise the expected probability of marital dissoluti on and thereby decrease the optimal amount of investments in spouse-sp ecific human capital. Analyses of data from the 1987-1988 National Sur vey of Families and Households conducted in the United States suggest that both of these effects play important roles in explaining the obse rved linkages between the religious composition of unions and fertilit y behavior.