Time allocation, social constraints and demographic change in developed countries
This dissertation examines the role of gender-based social attitudes as a source of differences in recent demographic outcomes among industrialized countries. Special attention is drawn to “lowest-low” fertility countries, i.e. those countries, like Italy or Spain, that have gone from formerly high fertility to below-replacement levels at a remarkably rapid pace. First, traditional economic models predict a negative correlation between female labor force participation and fertility that is driven by variation in the female wage. Although this simple prediction has repeatedly been supported at the micro and macro levels, rapid fertility declines in “lowest-low” fertility countries have caused that, for the past decade, OECD countries with relatively low female labor force participation have also had relatively low fertility. Second, declines in marriage rates have not been accompanied by increases in cohabitation or extra-marital fertility in these countries, which contribute to further fertility declines. I provide an explanation for these facts by explicitly modeling how individual and aggregate attitudes toward gender roles influence the distribution of surplus within the household. In particular, non-egalitarian attitudes in some countries impose a social constraint on the allocation of household time. This constraint becomes more important as female education increases and men's contribution to household activities remains unchanged, which might lead to inefficient allocations of family time. In turn, women search for ways to alleviate time pressures, which may involve a reduction in fertility (either by having fewer children within marriage or not entering a union altogether) or, a reduction in market work, or a combination of both. Implications of the theory are tested using the ISSP 94, a multi-country household survey containing information on attitudes toward gender roles. The empirical results support the predictions of the theory. First, countries with less egalitarian views on gender roles have lower average fertility and female labor force participation. This relationship arises from lower average levels of husbands' home time. Second, household formation rates are higher for more egalitarian countries. Furthermore, differences in marriage rates between egalitarian and non-egalitarian countries are particularly greater for women with high levels of education, where time-allocation constraints are more likely to bind
Thesis, Dissertation, English, 2004