We examine the effects of changes of government provided old age pensions on fertility choices in the context of two models of fertility, the one by Barro and Becker (1989), and the one inpired by Caldwell and developed by Boldrin and Jones (2002). In the Barro and Becker model parents have...

The data show that an increase in government provided old-age pensions is strongly correlated with a reduction in fertility. What type of model is consistent with this finding? We explore this question using two models of fertility: one by Barro and Becker (1989), and one inspired by Caldwell...

The data show that an increase in government provided old-age pensions is strongly correlated with a reduction in fertility. What type of model is consistent with this finding? We explore this question using two models of fertility, the one by Barro and Becker (1989), and the one inspired by...

After the fall in fertility during the Demographic Transition, many developed countries experienced a baby bust, followed by the Baby Boom and subsequently a return to low fertility. Received wisdom from the Demography literature links these large fluctuations in fertility to the series of...

We develop a model of fertility choice by utility maximizing households, based on an explicit notion of intergenerational external effects. In contrast to previous economic literature, we assume that the external effects run from children to parents. This gives rise to a fundamentally different...

In monetary unions, monetary policy is typically made by delegates of the member countries. This procedure raises the possibility of strategic delegation- that countries may choose the types of delegates to influence outcomes in their favor. We show that without commitment in monetary policy,...