METROPOLITAN SOCIAL-STRUCTURE, LABOR-MARKETS, AND FERTILITY

This paper develops and examines a community-level model of fertility, incorporating both sociological and economic theoretical perspectives . Data from several government and private sources are analyzed in a s eries of reduced-form, multivariate regression models. Generally, the results demonstrate that while the conceptual relationships from both schools receive some empirical support, the social structural characte ristics (such as social class, religious and ethnic composition) offer somewhat greater explanatory power. In a subsequent analytic stage, p rincipal components analysis is employed in order to estimate a series of revised models, clarifying some inconsistencies found when employi ng a more ''naive'' model testing strategy.