Level of Fertility
- Conscious choice
o Personal preference
o Resource availability
- Imperfectly controlled
o Unwanted Births occur
Response to increased fertility occurs at two distinct levels:
- Family
- Economy as a whole
Educational achievement
- National Level
o Concerns
" Governments have limited resources
" Attainment levels
" Student-to-teacher ratios
" Quantity replacing quality?
o Data
" Increased enrollment has proven beneficial
" Increased attainment levels
" Decreased student-teacher ratios
" Governments adjust
" Short run: negative effects
" Long run: positive effects
- Family Level
o Concerns
" "resource-dilution effect"
" Interest in highest returns
o Data
" Attainment and enrollment are independent of family size
" Gender discrimination
" Birth order
" Large families can be beneficial
" Economies of Scale
" Diminishing returns
Health and Healthcare Accessibility
- 'Wantedness' is more significant than family size.
Conclusions
- The evidence is not convincing one way or the other.
- Inequality among siblings is more pronounced when family size or composition
is not in accordance with parental wishes.
- When family size is controllable, negative effects are not evident.