Risk aversion and fertility. Micro and macro perspectives
Daniela Bellani, Scuola Normale Superiore
Despite a long tradition in fertility research emphasizing the great uncertainty underlying the decision to have children, the role of risk aversion has been overlooked. Elaborating on previous theoretical approaches including those that have considered children as a “security” or as a “risky investment,” the talk will provide evidence on whether and how risk aversion is related to fertility outcomes. The analyses at micro-level are based on longitudinal data from the Survey of Household Income and Wealth carried out by the Bank of Italy and rely on a lottery question to measure risk tolerance. At macro level we present illustrative cross-national evidence covering about 100 countries.
Daniela Bellani is a researcher at Scuola Normale Superiore, Florence, Italy. Her areas of interests are the cross-country and over-time variations in family and labour market institutions as well as the relationships between social stratification and demographic outcomes.