Year: 1994
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: This paper analyzes the response of fertility to child mortality and landholding of the agricultural household in rural Sudan.The micro-economic framework of fertility behavior is used as a basis for the analysis of a demand function for children.Because child mortality is more likely to be correlated with both the biological and behavioral determinants of fertility, Two Stage Least Squares are used to estimate the parameters of the demand equation for children.Ordinary Least Squares estimates are also presented.Two equations are estimated using the method of Two Stage Least Squares.In one equation the cross-sectional mortality rate is used as an instrumental variable for child deaths.In the other a regional health variable is used to identify the demand function.The results indicate that fertility responds positively to child mortality and that the replacement response to child deaths is less than unity which indicates that a given percentage decline in child mortality is expected to be partially offset by a reduction in fertility.Also fertility responds positively and inelastically to cultivated land.The effect of some other socio-economic variables on the demand for births is also discussed.
DOI: 10.1086/452119
Author: Nour Eldin Maglad
Language: English
Subfield: Gender Studies
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Zero hunger
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2066055063