An economic framework for fertility analysis is discussed. When the theory of consumer behavior is applied to childbearing fertility is viewed as the consumer demand for children over other goods. Standard economic theory limits the determinants of fertility to 1) the demand for children and 2) the cost of fertility regulation. The broader economic theory presented here includes child production potential as a determinant in human fertility. Production potential allows for the application of consumer behavior theory to a greater number of world conditions such as nonmarital fertility fluctuation in fertility in premodern times the decline in fertility in industrialized societies and the distinctions made between social vs. individual control of fertility.

/pdf/an-economic-framework-for-fertility-analysis-1g40ri8lbe.pdf

An economic framework for fertility analysis.

The worldwide spread of modern economic growth has depended chiefly on the diffusion of a body of knowledge concerning new production techniques. The acquisition and application of this knowledge by different countries has been governed largely by whether their populations have acquired traits and motivations associated with formal schooling. To judge from the historical experience of the worlds 25 largest nations the establishment and expansion of formal schooling has depended in large part on political conditions and ideological influences. The limited spread of modern economic growth before the 2nd World War has thus been due at bottom to important political and economic differences throughout the world that affected the timing of the establishment and expansion of mass schooling. Since the war there has been growing uniformity among the nations of the world modern education systems have been established almost everywhere and the spread of modern economic growth has noticeably accelerated. (authors modified)

Why Isn't the Whole World Developed?

A short answer is, not very. In contrast to economic growth, where the free market is commonly viewed as a prime mover, mortality in the last two centuries has not been greatly helped by market forces. The classic sources of market failure – information failures, externalities, public goods, principal-agent, and free rider problems – have been pervasive. Nor has economic growth itself been behind the worldwide improvement in life expectancy. In the primitive state of nineteenth century health knowledge, the immense rise in urbanisation engendered by economic growth largely vitiated any positive level-of-living effects by increasing exposure to disease. Instead, public policy initiatives, based on new knowledge of disease and new institutions, have been essential to the improvement of life expectancy, both in urban areas and nationwide. Sweepings from butchers' stalls, dung, guts, and blood, Drowned puppies, stinking sprats, all drenched in mud, Dead cats, and turnip tops, come tumbling down the flood. – Jonathan Swift, A Description of a City Shower , 1710

How beneficent is the market? A look at the modern history of mortality.

Abortion Incidence and Service Availability in the United States, 2017

Hysteroscopic management of intrauterine adhesions

A study on legal abortion in the U.S. during 1973 and the 1st quarter of 1974 revealed the following facts: 1) the number of abortions reported has risen every year since states began relaxing their abortion laws 2) the legal abortion plateau has not yet been reached 3) changes in the distribution of legal abortions following the Supreme Court decisions of 1973 varied according to whether a state previously had a liberal or conservative abortion policy 4) 90% of the increase in abortions between the 1st quarter of 1973 and the 1st quarter of 1974 took place in nonhospital abortion clinics and 5) public hospitals have been slowest of all medical facilities to respond to the 1973 Supreme Court decision. The methodology and data analysis of the study are discussed. Specific reference is made to variations among the different sections of the country changes in the pattern of abortion delivery the extent to which the Supreme Court decisions are being implemented and the way in which different types of health institutions are responding to the new situation relative to abortion.

Legal abortions in the United States since the 1973 Supreme Court decisions.

The data analyzed in this article show that notwithstanding differences among agencies funding sources and regions the organized family planning delivery system as presently constituted with a varied mix of provider agencies is serving almost exclusively women of low or marginal incomes. About 9 in 10 of these women came from families at or below 200% of poverty; about three-quarters of them were from families at or below 150% of poverty level and about 7 in 10 were from families at or below 125% of poverty. However about 20% of women at or below 150% of poverty received family planning service from private physicians. As might be expected as the number of patients served by organized programs grew more than tripling between 1968 and 1972 to an estimated 2612000 women so did the number of counties in which services were provides and the number of agencies providing the services. In the course of this rapid growth the organized family planning programs became one of the major sources not only of medical contraception but of other preventive health services. Most of the patients were young (media age was 23) of low parity (media was 1.8 including about 30% childless) with a high school education. Less than 1/6 (16%) were receiving public assistance.

Organized family planning programs in the United States: 1968-1972.

Data from the 1973 Current Population Survey is used to describe the fertility of women in the 6 poverty status classifications as determined by a threshold income for a nonfarm family of 4. Fertility for those below 125% of poverty (low income) declined 29% for the 1971-1972 period as compared with the 1960-1965 period. Fertility among women above 125% of poverty (marginal income) declined 28% during the same period. The greatest decline (35%) was among nonwhites below 125% of poverty. Another way of expressing this is that while the number of women classified as low or marginal income increased the average annual number of births decreased. It is felt that this decline is due in part to the impact of organized family planning programs. It is important that family planning programs do not restrict eligibility for their participation of women of low and marginal income.

Low-income families: fertility in 1971-1972.

This commentary from the vice president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America says that a previously published report on contraceptive failure makes an important contribution to understanding why couples do or do not realize their intentions about becoming pregnant as well as understanding the methods of measuring and analyzing contraceptive success and failure. He states that author Norman Ryder’s findings reaffirm the conclusion of other studies that couples are more effective contraceptors after they have achieved their preferred family size than they are for purposes of child-spacing. However Ryder’s emphasis on intent may obscure some of the policy and program implications. This is due to the fact that the supply system for family planning services can do little to influence a couples intent. An analysis of the findings on the failure rates associated with the various methods implies immediate program relevance because providers can influence a users choice of method even if they cannot influence the patients intent. Ryders findings provide powerful support for an equivalent concentration on the young nulliparous or low-parity woman who is interested in spacing and who has already achieved her desired family size.

Commentary: some policy and program implications of "contraceptive failure in the United States".

Health insurance plans are evaluated here in terms of ability to guarantee financial access to a set of basic fertility-related health services. Extent of coverage is determined by whether a service is a contract benefit, its market cost, and how often it is used in a given population in one year. Comprehensive coverage removes a deterrent to utilization of preventive care such as well-baby visits, prenatal care, and family planning. In a total population of women of child-bearing age, each is likely to need some fertility-related care in a given year. The method of calculating adequacy involves using best available estimates of deliveries, abortions, etc. per 1,000 women, and, within each category, of components such as cesarean section. Local or national cost data can be used to derive an average cost per service and an aggregate for a group. The method of comparing this with plan benefits depends on the way benefits are expressed. Jacksonville, Fla. medical market data were used in a trial of the method on a plan for Federal employees, which shows 70 per cent coverage of estimated expense.

An Index of Insurance Adequacy for Fertility-Related Health Care

Handle everyday research tasks with reliable, citation-backed results

Your personal Research Agent to handle research tasks with citation-backed results

Popular Tasks used by Researchers

How can I help with your research?

Meet SciSpace

Get more enhanced response by uploading the PDFs you want me to reference.

No relevant PDFs in your library

SciSpace is the AI research assistant for academics. Run systematic literature reviews on 280M+ papers, and write papers with cited sources. Trusted by 1M+ students, PhDs & researchers.

SciSpace | AI for Research

Analyze PDFs

Code & Manuscripts

Funding & Grants

Literature & Patents

Medical & Clinical Data

Systematic Review

Visualize & Present

Web & Data

Build a Google Scholar-like website for your research.

Build a website

Create charts and images for your research

Create a Chart

Write a paper for submission to a journal

Draft a manuscript

Patent Search

Design eye-catching scientific posters in minutes.

Scientific Poster Generation

Systematic Literature Review

One task is running at the moment. Your messages will be shown right after.

Drag and drop or click here to browse

Loved by <highlight>1 million+</highlight> researchers

Extract a list of specific topics and their sources from unstructured text

Topics

Compare and analyze relevant papers that matches with your search

Papers

Get insights from PDFs and bookmarked papers from your library

My library

Recent searches

Try searching for:

Catch AI-generated content in scholarly and non-scholarly content

{ai} Detector

Ai Writer

Get PDF Summaries, highlighted text explanations 

Chat with PDF

Effortlessly create in-text citations and bibliographies in APA and 2,500 other formats

Citation generator

Get explanations, summaries, and answers on academic papers

Ease up your research workflow with {scispace}'s cohort of exciting AI tools

Elevate your academic writing skills and convey your ideas the way you want

Paraphraser

Explore our range of reading and writing tools

Your file is being prepared and should be ready in a few minutes. If it's a large file, it might take a bit longer. You can close this window, and we'll email you the file when it's done.

You have reached a maximum limit of <strong>{limit}</strong> columns in the table. Remove at least <strong>1</strong> column to add or create another one.

Frederick S. Jaffe

Author Tools

Chat about Author