Economics of Fertility

In this book, Dr. Alhabeeb presents an extensive literature review on the economics of fertility, covering a wide range of both theoretical and empirical studies, from the classical to the modern economics. He also presents an empirical model of his own on the interaction between quantity and quality of children in the household production function. The major objective of his research is to investigate whether there is a trade-off between quantity and quality of children. A second objective is to determine how family characteristics affect both of these variables. His research sample consists of 615 urban and nuclear American families. A simultaneous system model with two equations is used for his analysis. Two methods to empirically define child quality are utilized, and the interaction between quantity and quality of children is confirmed in the form of a trade-off.