This paper develops a theory in which households prepare for future education by adjusting the number of children they intend to raise. Income inequality lowers output per worker only if the inequality is attributed in some part to unexpected disturbances after childbirth.

This paper argues that currently advanced, aging economies experienced a qualitative change in the role of public education during the process of industrialization. In the early phases of the Industrial Revolution, public education was regarded as a duty that regulated child labor and thereby...

This paper argues that currently advanced, aging economies experienced a qualitative change in the role of public education during the process of industrialization. In the early phases of the Industrial Revolution, public education was regarded as a duty that regulated child labor and thereby...

This research theoretically analyzes the role of irreversible fertility decisions in economic growth in the presence of idiosyncratic ability shocks after childbirth. It argues that the irreversibility constraint delays the growth process by distorting the resource allocation between the...

This article demonstrates a theoretical possibility that aging economies driven by a scale effect of human capital sustain growth, away from a poverty trap. The hurdle to the prosperous path is raised by inequality in the fixed cost of child rearing