Volume 42 - Article 18 | Pages 513–548  

Who responds to fertility-boosting incentives? Evidence from pro-natal policies in Australia

By Suzanne Bonner, Dipanwita Sarkar

Abstract

Background: In the wake of aging societies, pro-natalist policies have been used around the world to promote childbearing in developed countries. Very little research investigates the causal effect of the Australian government’s baby bonus policy as a once-off, non-means tested incentive scheme on the observed individual fertility.

Objective: We investigate the role of immigration in raising fertility beyond what could be achieved by the Australian-born population. The impact of this policy is heavily reliant on the effectiveness of monetary incentives in boosting fertility, yet it is not clear who drives this effect.

Methods: We utilize triple difference-in-difference (DDD) strategy to evaluate the relationship between childbearing and introduction of the baby bonus in a quasi-experimental setting. We evaluate the quasi-experimental setting by using propensity score matching.

Results: Our findings highlight the role of immigrant women in driving the success of the policy. Moreover, the impact is found to be highest among immigrant women with low levels of human capital, which diminishes with age.

Conclusions: The results imply that the role of immigrants, especially that of a young workforce, in aging societies may be greater than has been previously attributed.

Contribution: This paper not only provides scope for the analysis of pro-natal policies within the context of Australia but investigates its impact on immigrant women vis-à-vis native-born women. We find the immigrant contribution to be significant in driving the success of pro-natal monetary incentives. Australia is an exemplar for this analysis due to early adoption of pro-natalist incentives for childbearing amidst a population with high immigrant concentration.

Author’s Affiliation

• Suzanne Bonner - Macquarie University, Australia EMAIL
• Dipanwita Sarkar - Queensland University of Technology, Australia EMAIL

Most recent similar articles in Demographic Research

Amish fertility in the United States: Comparative evidence from the American Community Survey and Amish population registries
Volume 52 - Article 26    | Keywords: American Community Survey (ACS), Amish, fertility, natural fertility, total fertility rate (TFR)

Examining the relationships between education, coresidential unions, and the fertility gap by simulating the reproductive life courses of Dutch women
Volume 52 - Article 24    | Keywords: contraception, education, fertility, GGS, life course, LISS, microsimulation, Netherlands, physiology, unions

Job creation, job destruction, and fertility in Germany
Volume 52 - Article 13    | Keywords: fertility, gender, Germany, job creation, job destruction, labor market, spatial modelling, unemployment

The changing inter-relationship between partnership dynamics and fertility trends in Europe and the United States: A review
Volume 52 - Article 7    | Keywords: childbearing, Europe, family complexity, fertility, fertility, marriage, partnership, United States of America

Educational trends in cohort fertility by birth order: A comparison of England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland
Volume 51 - Article 36    | Keywords: birth order, cohort analysis, cross-national study, England, family size, fertility, Northern Ireland, parity, Scotland, Wales