Abstract:
This paper incorporates the timing of childbearing into a growth model with endogenous fertility. It
analyzes a model in which individuals' human capital stock depends positively on their education and
parental human capital and in which producing and raising children and acquiring human capital are
intensive. The model highlights how changes in the human capital stock interact with individuals'
timing of childbearing in affecting the evolution of the economy. It shows that, if the
complementarity between parental human capital and education in determining individuals' human
capital is relatively large, then increases in the human capital stock raise the opportunity cost of
having children while young and induce individuals to delay childbearing. That, in turn, accelerates
human capital accumulation in the future. The model also demonstrates that early childbearing may
lead to a development trap with low human capital.
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