Previously, it was believed that increasing education levels for women would have an alternative effect of increasing market wages and increasing opportunity costs for raising children. (image: Korea Bizwire)
SEOUL, Jan. 28 (Korea Bizwire) — In major advanced countries, the more women engage in economic activities, the more children they have.
According to a report from the Korea Association of Public Finance, based on 1990-2016 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) country panel data, the number of childbirths increased significantly as women’s participation in economic activities increased.
Women’s flexibility of economic participation in the total fertility rate stood at 0.09 to 0.13 with a consistent “plus” effect even when variables such as women’s working hours, parental leave and wage gaps were applied.
In particular, when comparing the factors that determine the total fertility rate before and after 2000, it has become clear that the total fertility rate tends to increase with the increase in women’s participation in economic activities since 2000.
This can be attributed to the increase in household income due to women’s participation in economic activities, and thus the effect of raising the birth rate is increased.
The fact that higher average wages led to a higher the birth rate also supports this hypothesis.
Previously, it was believed that increasing education levels for women would have an alternative effect of increasing market wages and increasing opportunity costs for raising children.
This is what late Gary Becker, a Nobel Prize-winning professor of economics and sociology at the University of Chicago, illustrated in his seminal paper “A Reformulation of the Economic Theory of Fertility.”
However, various forms of policy support have been provided for families, and the distinction between male and female breadwinners has been blurred.
This means that the Becker theory has no longer been valid in most OECD countries since 2000.
In addition, factors that determine the birth rate show that higher unemployment and longer working hours for women have a negative impact on the total fertility rate.
D. M. Park (dmpark@koreabizwire.com)
