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GENDER GAPS IN COMPLETED FERTILITY*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 May 2016

Erica Field ,
Vera Molitor ,
Alice Schoonbroodt  and
Michèle Tertilt
Erica Field
Affiliation:
Duke University
Vera Molitor
Affiliation:
University of Mannheim
Alice Schoonbroodt*
Affiliation:
The University of Iowa
Michèle Tertilt
Affiliation:
University of Mannheim
*
Address correspondence to: Alice Schoonbroodt, Department of Economics, The University of Iowa, W210 Pappajohn Business Building, Iowa City, IA 52241; email: alice-schoonbroodt@uiowa.edu.
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Abstract:

The most common measure of reproductive behavior is the total fertility rate, which measures children born per woman. However, little work exists measuring male fertility behavior. We use survey data from several waves of the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) in eight Sub-Saharan African countries. We document several interesting differences in fertility outcomes of men and women. First, comparing completed fertility by birth cohorts, we find that on average men have more children than women in seven out of eight countries we consider. The gaps are large – reaching up to 4.6 children in Burkina Faso. Positive gaps are possible when populations are growing and men father children with younger women. Such a situation often coincides with polygyny. Indeed, we find that the fertility gap is positively related to the degree of polygyny. Second, we find a lower variance in completed fertility rates for women than for men, especially in high polygyny countries. Third, we find that differences in the desire to have children can largely be explained by differences in realized fertility. Finally, we find that for men, the demographic transition started earlier and was steeper than for women. These novel facts are useful when building theories of fertility behavior.

Type
Research Papers
Information
Journal of Demographic Economics , Volume 82 , Issue 2 , June 2016 , pp. 167 - 206
Copyright
Copyright © Université catholique de Louvain 2016 

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Footnotes

*

We would like to thank Katarina Kuske, Pascal Schmidt, and Inken Toewe for excellent research assistance. We also thank seminar participants at the University of Mannheim, the EEA conference 2015 and the Vereinstagung 2016 for valuable comments. We would also like to thank the editor, David de la Croix, and four anonymous referees for helpful comments. Financial Support from ERC Starting Grant 313719 is gratefully acknowledged.

References

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