Fertility response to natural disasters: the case of three high mortality earthquakes

Type Working Paper - World Bank Policy Research Working Paper Series
Title Fertility response to natural disasters: the case of three high mortality earthquakes
Author(s)
Publication (Day/Month/Year) 2009
URL http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1372960
Abstract
The event of a natural disaster, and being directly affected by it, brings a large shock to life-cycle outcomes. In addition to the replacement effects of higher fertility following a disaster that caused high mortality, a positive fertility response may be induced as children can be used to supplement household income. This paper analyzes three high mortality earthquakes: Gujarat, India, in 2001; North-West Frontier, Pakistan, in 2005; and Izmit, Turkey, in 1999. There is evidence of a positive fertility response to exposure to these large-scale natural disasters in addition to the response to child mortality. The results in this study are consistent with those of other studies that also find a positive fertility response following exposure to a disaster.

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