Women, widowhood and fertility: a theoretical and empirical study of rural India
Nugent, J.B.; Walther, R.J.
Economic Research Paper, Modelling Research Group, Department of Economics, University of Southern California (E8301): 42
1983
Document Number: 277811
The paper constructs a simple model of fertility behaviour appropriate for rural areas of developing countries, where old-age security considerations of the wife/mother are believed to play an important role. Based on evidence suggesting that wives are the primary decision makers concerning fertility behaviour, the paper develops the model which gives the wife/mother a semi-autonomous role in determining the number of surviving children, though conditional on age-at-marriage, education, household structure, and location. The model is then tested with cross-section data from rural India. The results provide tentative support for several implications of the model. Section I highlights the descriptive literature and implications for the modeling of fertility behaviour. Section II presents the model. Section III discusses the data and empirical specification of the model. Section IV presents results and draws some implications for research and policy.