Herwig Birg, Helmut Koch: Der Bevölkerungsrückgang in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland. Langfristige …

This paper investigates whether and how regional social contexts influence fertility decisions of women living in … western Germany during the 1980s and 1990s. It is argued that regional opportunity structures as well as local patterns of … for the transition to the first and second child. The empirical analysis provides no evidence that fertility differentials …

the fertility and marital behavior in Germany, until recently a lowest-low fertility setting. We find that exposure to … greater import competition from Eastern Europe led to worse labor market outcomes and lower fertility rates. In contrast …, workers in industries that benefited from increased exports had better employment prospects and higher fertility. These …