SRRD_2020_11.pdf (1.75 MB)
Do income and marriage mediate the relationship between cognitive ability and fertility? Data from Swedish taxation and conscriptions registers for men born 1951-1967
preprint
posted on 2020-03-11, 15:48 authored by Martin KolkMartin Kolk, Kieron BarclayKieron BarclayRecent evidence suggests a positive association between
fertility and cognitive ability among Swedish men. In this study we use data on
18 birth cohorts of Swedish men to examine whether and how the relationship
between cognitive ability and patterns of childbearing are mediated by income,
education and marriage histories. We examine whether the expected positive
associations between cognitive ability and life course income, can explain this
positive association. We also explore the role of marriage for understanding
the positive gradient between cognitive ability and male fertility. To address
these question we use Swedish population administrative data that holds
information on fertility histories, detailed taxation records, and data from
conscription registers. We also identify siblings in order to adjust for
confounding by shared family background factors. Our results show that while cognitive
ability, education, income, marriage, and fertility, are all positively
associated with each other, income only explains a part of the observed
positive gradient between fertility and cognitive ability. We find that much of
the association between cognitive ability and fertility can be explained by
marriage, but that a positive association exists among both ever-married and
never-married men. Both low income and low cognitive ability are strong predictors
of high childlessness and low fertility in our population. The results from the
full population persist in the sub-sample of brothers.
Funding
Riksbankens jubileumsfond (grant no. P17-0330:1)
History
ISSN
2002-617XOriginal title
Do income and marriage mediate the relationship between cognitive ability and fertility? Data from Swedish taxation and conscriptions registers for men born 1951-1967Original language
- English