Intergenerational Transmission of Fertility Patterns

Recent studies by economists have focused on cultural transmission from the origin country rather than the origin family. Our paper extends this research by investigating how "family-specific"'cultural transmission' can affect fertility rates. Following Machado and Santos Silva ["Journal of the American Statistical Association" (2005) Vol. 100, p. 1226] and Miranda ["Journal of Population Economics" (2008) Vol. 21, p. 67], we estimate count data quantile regression models using the British Household Panel Survey. We find that a woman's origin-family size is positively associated with completed fertility in her destination family. A woman's country of birth also matters for her fertility. For a sub-sample of continuously partnered men and women, "both" partners' origin-family sizes significantly affect destination-family fertility. Copyright (c) Blackwell Publishing Ltd and the Department of Economics, University of Oxford, 2008.