CULTURAL AND ECONOMIC APPROACHES TO FERTILITY - PROPER MARRIAGE OR MESALLIANCE

Economic models have organized much fertility research, particularly o ver the last two decades. As usually formulated, these models assume t hat preferences are fixed and thus ''explain'' fertility differences b y differences in opportunities (constraints). Yet some interpretations of the evidence on fertility transition appear inconsistent with expl anations based solely on differences in opportunities and have led to explicit challenges to them. Challenges to fixed-preference explanatio ns take three forms: explanations that allow variable preferences, exp lanations that emphasize diffusion, and explanations that emphasize '' culture.'' The article first addresses the consistency of the empirica l findings and the interpretations drawn from them with various fixed- preference economic models. It then discusses variable-preference econ omic models, the roles that diffusion may play in these models, and th e relationship between cultural and economic explanations of fertility .