Scandinavian Working Papers in Economics

Umeå Economic Studies,
Umeå University, Department of Economics

No 986: Chapter IV Do Commuting Women Have Fewer Children?

Elena Kotyrlo ()
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Elena Kotyrlo: Department of Economics, Umeå University, Postal: Department of Economics, Umeå University, S 901 87 Umeå, Sweden

Abstract: Commuting is linked to fertility through demographic, social, and economic mechanisms. Average differences in first-birth rates of young, working women are estimated by a bivariate model with endogenous commuting. Empirical evidence based on administrative data (Sweden) reveals that commuting women have a lower probability of a first birth between 21-28 years of age and a higher probability between 29-32 years. Therefore, commuting women likely postpone their first child. Additional direct and spillover effects of commuting on fertility appear in income cross-municipal flows, diffusion of fertility norms across space, and changes in gender structure of the population of fertile age. A positive effect on relative income and social norms and a negative sex ratio effect are found significant both for commuting women and those who work in the municipality of their residence. Marginal effects for commuters are greater in magnitude.

Keywords: commuting; demand for children; effect of earnings; daytime population; subjective wellbeing

JEL-codes: J11; J13; J61

58 pages, February 16, 2021

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