Work

Cash transfers and fertility: How the introduction and cancellation of a child benefit affected births and abortions

Year: 2020

Type: article

Abstract: We study the effects of a universal child benefit on fertility in Spain in the 2000s using administrative, population-level data, identifying separately the effects driven by conceptions and abortions. We exploit the timing of the introduction and cancellation of the policy to infer when the effects on abortions and births can be expected. We find that the introduction led to a 3 percent increase, the announcement of the cancellation to a transitory 4 percent increase, and the cancellation to a 6 percent decrease in birth rates. We perform heterogeneity analysis and find suggestive evidence of both a timing (“tempo”) and a level effect (“quantum”).

Source: Project Muse (Johns Hopkins University)

Authors: Libertad González, Sofia Karina Trommlerová

Institutions: Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona School of Economics

Language: English

Topic: Gender, Labor, and Family Dynamics

Subfield: Gender Studies

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funders: European Commission, H2020 European Research Council

Awards: G434337789, The Causal Effect of Public Policy and Income on Child Health and Human Capital

OpenAlex ID: W3007809156

FWCI: 1.86

Cites:

Cited by: 11

Related to: 10