MORTALITY DIFFERENTIAL, LABOR TAXATION AND GROWTH: WHAT DO WE LEARN FROM THE BARRO-BECKER MODEL?

We revisit the seminal paper on endogenous fertility by Barro and Becker (1989) taking into account households' heterogeneity in terms of capital endowments, mortality differential and cost per surviving child. Focusing on an endogenous growth version, we show at first that there exists a unique balanced growth path (BGP) where the population growth rates of all dynasties are identical. Then, we study the long-run effects of shocks on mortality rates (such as epidemics), mortality differential and total factor productivity (TFP) on the economic and demographic growth rates. The main mechanism rests on the adjustment of the average rearing cost of a surviving child. Finally, we extend the model considering the effects of labor taxation. We find that a higher tax rate may, on the one side, enhance growth but, on the other side, raise wealth inequalities.