The impact of income on fertility– breaking up stylized facts

Several macroeconomic studies suggest that fertility starts to re-increase with income in highly developed countries. We propose a deeper insight in the mechanisms behind income and fertility in highly developed countries by focusing on individual fertility decisions linked to education, individual and household income. First, we empirically test whether an U-shaped pattern between income and fertility can be confirmed for micro panel data in European countries. Second, we analyze whether increases in education, in women’s wage income and in their partners’ wage income have a higher impact on quantum- or on tempo- aspects of fertility. We investigate how birth postponement is affected by ‘social status’ in France and find important differences between income groups in terms of timing of births. Finally, we discuss policy implications of our results.