Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-dh8gc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-13T03:10:41.087Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A recent change in the relation between women's income and childbirth: heterogeneous effects of work-family balance policy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2021

Min-Su Chung  and
Keunjae Lee Open the ORCID record for Keunjae Lee [Opens in a new window]
Min-Su Chung
Affiliation:
Bank of Korea, Busan Branch, 25, Munhyeongeumyung-ro, Nam-gu, Busan, Republic of Korea
Keunjae Lee*
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, Pusan National University 2, Busandaehak-ro 63beon-gil, Geumjeong-gu, Busan, 46241, Republic of Korea
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail: kjlee@pnu.edu; kjlee@pusan.ac.kr
Get access

Abstract

It has been widely perceived in South Korea that the rise in a woman's income is negative for her childbirth. This study tries to verify the hypothesis empirically because the Korean government initiated the basic plan for low fertility in 2006 and has constantly strengthened work–family balance policy since then. Our analysis using a household annual data over 18 years, 1999–2016, indicates that married women's economic power relates positively to childbirth for the period after 2006. We also find that the higher birth likelihood among top income quartile women is largely attributed to their better accessibility to maternity protection benefits. These findings imply that the government's efforts to support work–family balance have been successful to a certain extent. However, the benefits remain limited only to high-income women.

Keywords

ChildbirthfertilityincomeSouth Koreawomenwork–family balance policy
Type
Research Paper
Information
Journal of Demographic Economics , Volume 88 , Issue 3 , September 2022 , pp. 419 - 445
Copyright
Copyright © Université catholique de Louvain 2021

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anderson, T. and Kohler, H.P. (2013) Education fever and the East Asian fertility puzzle: a case study of low fertility in South Korea. Asian Population Studies 9(2), 196–215.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Andersson, G. (2000) The impact of labour-force participation on childbearing behavior: pro-cyclical fertility in Sweden during the 1980s and the 1990s. European Journal of Population/Revue Europenne de Dmographie 16(4), 293–333.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Andersson, G.M., Kreyenfeld, M. and Mika, T. (2009) Welfare state context, female earnings and childbearing in Denmark and Germany. Stockholm: The Linnaeus Center on Social Policy and Family Dynamics in Europe, Stockholm University (working paper 2009:6).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baek, K. and Park, K.T. (2013) Noncompliance with paternity leave provisions across Korean workplaces: focusing on two types of noncompliance. Quarterly Journal of Labor Policy 13(2), 155–185.Google Scholar
Baizan, P. (2004) An event history analysis of the ECHP samples of Denmark, Italy, Spain and United Kingdom. Paper presented at the 2nd International Conference of ECHP Users, Berlin, Germany, June 24–26, 2004.Google Scholar
Becker, G.S. (1960) An economic analysis of fertility. In Becker, G.S. (ed.), Demographic and Economic Change in Developed Countries, pp. 209–240. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Becker, G.S. and Lewis, H.G (1973) On the interaction between the quantity and quality of children. Journal of Political Economy 81(2, Part 2), S279–S288.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Butz, W.P. and Ward, M.P. (1979) The emergence of countercyclical U.S. fertility. American Economic Review 69(3), 318–328.Google Scholar
Cygan-Rehm, Kamila (2016) Parental leave benefit and differential fertility responses: evidence from a German reform. Journal of Population Economics 29, 73–103.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Del Bono, E., Weber, A. and Winter-Ebmer, R. (2012) Clash of career and family: fertility decisions after job displacement. Journal of the European Economic Association 10(4), 659–683.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Feyrer, J., Sacerdote, B. and Stern, A.D (2008) Will the stork return to Europe and Japan? Understanding fertility within developed nations. Journal of Economic Perspectives 22(3), 3–22.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Frejka, T., Jones, G.W. and Sardon, J.P. (2010) East Asian childbearing patterns and policy developments. Population and Development Review 36(3), 579–606.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hazan, M. and Zoabi, H. (2015) Do highly educated women choose smaller families? The Economic Journal 125, 1191–1226.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heckman, J.J. and Walker, J.R. (1990) The relationship between wages and income and the timing and spacing of births: evidence from Swedish longitudinal data. Econometrica 58(6), 1411.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kim, S.M. Tertilt, M. Yum, (2019) Status Externalities and Low Birth Rates in Korea, Unpublished manuscript. 2019 Meeting Papers 604, Society for Economic Dynamics.Google Scholar
Kim Choe, M. and Retherford, R.D. (2009) The contribution of education to South Korea's fertility decline to “lowest low” level. Asian Population Studies 5(3), 267–288.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Köppen, K. (2006) Second births in western Germany and France. Demographic Research 14, 295–330.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Korea Employment Information Service. (2017) Press release on the returning rate from parental leave.Google Scholar
Korean Statistical Information Service. (2017) Population Census 2015. Statistics Korea. http://kosis.kr/eng/statisticsList/statisticsListIndex.do?menuId=M_01_01andvwcd=MT_ETITLEandparmTabId=M_01_01.Google Scholar
Kornstad, T. and Rønsen, M. (2018) Women's wages and fertility revisited: evidence from Norway, discussion papers no. 784. European Journal of Population = Revue Europeenne de Demographie. Statistics Norway 34(4), 491–518.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kreyenfeld, M. (2002) Time squeeze, partner effect or self-selection? An investigation into the positive effect of women's education on second birth risks in West Germany. Demographic Research 7, 15–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lalaive, R. and Zweinmuller, J. (2009) How does parental leave affect fertility and return to work? Evidence from two natural experiments. The Quarterly Journal of Economics 124(3), 1363–1402.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lee, S. (2009) Low fertility and policy responses in Korea. Japanese Journal of Population 7(1), 57–72.Google Scholar
Ma, L. (2013) Employment and motherhood entry in South Korea, 1978–2006. Population 68, 419–446.Google Scholar
Ma, L. (2016) Female labour force participation and second birth rates in South Korea. Journal of Population Research 33(2), 173–195.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Newman, J.L. and McCulloch, C.E. (1984) A hazard rate approach to the timing of births. Econometrica 52(4), 939–961.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
OECD Family Database. (2018) Share of births outside of marriage. Paris: OECD Social Policy Division. https://www.oecd.org/social/family/SF_2_4_Share_births_outside_marriage.pdf.Google Scholar
Olivetti, C. and Petrongolo, B. (2017) The economic consequences of family policies: lessons from a country of legislation in high-income countries. Journal of Economic Perspectives 31(1), 205–230.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Prskawetz, A. and Zagaglia, B. (2005) Second births in Austria. Vienna Yearbook of Population Research 1(2005), 143–170.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Raute, A. (2019) Can financial incentives reduce the baby gap? Evidence from a reform in maternity leave benefits. Journal of Public Economics 169, 203–222.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Santarelli, E. (2011) Economic resources and the first child in Italy: a focus on income and job stability. Demographic Research 25, 311–336.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sobotka, T., Skirbekk, V. and Philipov, D. (2011) Economic recession and fertility in the developed world. Population and Development Review 37(2), 267–306.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Willis, R.J. (1973) A new approach to the economic theory of fertility behaviour. Journal of Political Economy 81(2), 14–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Chung and Lee supplementary material

Appendix

Download Chung and Lee supplementary material(File)
File 94.4 KB