Culture and the Historical Fertility Transition

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Beach, Brian; Hanlon, W. Walker
• 署名单位: Vanderbilt University; National Bureau of Economic Research; Northwestern University; Centre for Economic Policy Research - UK
• 刊物名称: REVIEW OF ECONOMIC STUDIES
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0034-6527
• DOI: 10.1093/restud/rdac059
• 发表日期: 2023
• 页码: 1669-1700
• 关键词: social norms; trade-off; education; decline; sweden; OPPORTUNITIES; persistence; stagnation; quantity; beliefs

摘要

The historical transition to a low fertility regime was central for long-run growth, but what caused it? Existing economic explanations largely focus on the economic incentives to limit fertility. This article presents new evidence highlighting the importance of cultural forces as a complementary driver of the fertility transition. We leverage a sharp change in fertility in Britain in 1877 and document large synchronized declines in fertility among culturally British households residing outside of Britain, in Canada, the US, and South Africa, relative to their non-British neighbours. We propose a plausible catalyst for the change: the famous Bradlaugh-Besant trial of 1877.