Volume 29 - Article 4 | Pages 85–104  

Fertility Reactions to the "Great Recession" in Europe: Recent Evidence from Order-Specific Data

By Joshua R. Goldstein, Michaela Kreyenfeld, Aiva Jasilioniene, Deniz Dilan Karaman Örsal

Abstract

Objective: This paper provides recent cross-national evidence of the impact of the great recession on fertility in Europe in the context of the recent decade.

Methods: Using data from the Human Fertility Database (HFD), from Eurostat, and from the OECD database, we employ fixed-effects modeling to study how changes in unemployment rates have affected birth rates across Europe.

Results: We find that countries that were hit hard by the recession show reduced fertility when compared with a continuation of recent trends, especially at younger ages.

Conclusions: Our results indicate a strong relationship between economic conditions and fertility. However, there is variation by region, age, and parity suggesting the importance of life course and institutional factors.

Author’s Affiliation

• Joshua R. Goldstein - University of California, Berkeley, United States of America EMAIL
• Michaela Kreyenfeld - Hertie School of Governance, Germany EMAIL
• Aiva Jasilioniene - Max-Planck-Institut für Demografische Forschung, Germany EMAIL
• Deniz Dilan Karaman Örsal - Leuphana Universität Lüneburg, Germany EMAIL

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