TY  - JOUR
AU  - Galor,Oded
AU  - Weil,David N.
TI  - The Gender Gap, Fertility, and Growth
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 4550
PY  - 1993
Y2  - November 1993
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w4550
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w4550.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Oded Galor
Department of Economics
Brown University
Box B
Providence, RI 02912
Tel: 401/863-2117
Fax: 401/863-1970
E-Mail: oded_galor@brown.edu

David N. Weil
Department of Economics
Box B
Brown University
Providence, RI 02912
Tel: 401/863-1754
Fax: 401/863-1970
E-Mail: david_weil@brown.edu
AB  - This paper examines a novel mechanism linking fertility and growth.  Household fertility is determined by relative wages of women and men.  Increasing women's wages reduces fertility by raising the cost of children relatively more than household income.  Lower fertility raises the level of capital per worker which in turn, since capital is more complementary to women's labor input than men's, raises women's relative wages.  This positive feedback leads to the possibility of multiple steady-state equilibria.  Countries with low initial capital may converge to a development trap with high fertility, low capital, and low relative wages for women.
ER  -