Household Dependency Ratio and Women's Fertility Willingness
Low fertility willingness has become a major issue in China.When exploring the transition from high to low fertility,studies have focused on economic,policy,individual,and social perspectives,with little known about the impact of family factors.This paper studies the impact of the household dependency ratio on women's fertility willingness from the family perspective.The results of the baseline regression show that the household dependency ratio has a significant negative effect on women's fertility willingness.After several robustness tests,the effect of the household dependency ratio on women's fertility willingness remains significantly negative.This paper uses the instrumental variable method to address the endogeneity problem due to reverse causation,and the findings remain unchanged.The mechanism analysis suggests that the increase in the household dependency ratio elevates family living costs,reduces per capita discretionary consumption,and diminishes women's quality of life.This increase may also lead to more time spent on housework by women,exacerbating the work-family conflicts,thereby suppressing women's fertility willingness.This paper provides a new perspective for exploring the mechanisms between fertility and family factors.
Fertility WillingnessHousehold Dependency RatioFertility Support
万方数据
维普
