December 2008
This paper examines the relationship between international migration and source country fertility. The impact of international migration on source country fertility may have a number of causes, including a transfer of destination countries’ fertility norms and an incentive to acquire more education. We provide a rigorous test of the diffusion of fertility norms using original and detailed data on migration. Our results provide evidence of a strong transfer of fertility norms from migrants to their country of origin.
Keywords: international migration, endogenous fertility, human capital, social norms
JEL Classification: [J130] Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth [J610] Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers [O110] Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
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Michel Beine michel.beine@uni.lu Frédéric Docquier frederic.docquier@uclouvain.be Maurice Schiff mschiff@worldbank.org
