Delay in childbearing and the evolution of fertility rates

We present a growth model whose novelty is to explicitly account for the direct, preference-related factors that reinforce the delay in the timing of childbearing. Given  the  strength  of  these  factors,  the  model  generates  the  empirically observed dynamics in completed cohort fertility. Furthermore, the quantitative analysis of our results verifies that our model provides a good fit for actual data of the rebound of the completed cohort fertility rates in Nordic countries. The fact that these countries are widely considered as the most progressive ones, in terms of their cultural norms and in terms of their family-oriented policies, offers credence to the hypothesis that our model advances. More generally, our framework  provides  a  platform  for  research  that  can  uncover  empirically relevant, but yet unexplored, mechanisms in the joint analysis of demographic change and economic growth.