@article{Jónsson_39_19,
author = {Jónsson, Ari Klængur},
title={{Family policies, childbearing, and economic crisis: The case of Iceland}},
journal = {Demographic Research},
volume = {39},
number = {19},
pages = {561--592},
doi = {10.4054/DemRes.2018.39.19},
year = {2018},
abstract = {Background: In the early 2000s, Iceland implemented one of the most gender-equal parental leave systems in the world, and at the same time increased the volume of public childcare. A few years later, in 2008, Iceland experienced a major economic crises that, among other things, lead to cutbacks in governmental spending and decreased support to families with children. 

Objective: The objective of this study is to provide insight into recent childbearing dynamics in Iceland and how they may be linked to recent social-policy reforms and the intervention of the economic crisis in 2008. 

Methods: We use official individual longitudinal register data covering the total female population born in Iceland between 1953 and 1997. We analyse the data by means of event history techniques. 

Results: We find that changes in the standardized birth rates coincide with the emergence of the reformed family-policy package: A declining trend in the age-standardized first-birth rate came to a halt, and the propensity to have a second and a third child increased. After the onset of the crisis, a trend of decreasing first-birth intensities reemerged and, in 2011, a turnaround to declining second- and third-birth rates. 

Conclusions: The development in the post-2008 period indicates that even in the most gender-equal settings, the gender balance in family care is still vulnerable, and that family policies cannot compensate in full for the impact of economic crisis on fertility. 

Contribution: The study highlights the interdependency of factors related to both social policy and the business cycle in relation to childbearing developments. },
URL = {https://www.demographic-research.org/volumes/vol39/19/},
eprint = {https://www.demographic-research.org/volumes/vol39/19/39-19.pdf}
}