Brown Bag seminar in Economics | Andreas Kotsadam
Welcome to the Brown Bag Seminar in Economics organized by the Department of Economics, SSE. The seminar speaker is Andreas Kotsadam, Andreas Kotsadam, Frisch Center & University of Oslo,who will present “Factory Jobs and Fertility: Long-term Experimental Evidence from Ethiopia”
Abstract
In sub-Saharan Africa, high female labor force participation alongside high fertility contrasts with standard models of fertility transitions, which predict declining fertility as women’s opportunity cost of time rises. One possible explanation lies in the nature of work: most women are self-employed in the informal sector, while formal wage jobs remain scarce, and their effects on fertility are not well understood. The net effect is theoretically ambiguous: wage jobs may reduce fertility by imposing greater time constraints or weakening the old-age support motive, but higher earnings could also help women achieve their fertility goals. To address this question, we track fertility outcomes over eight years for women who had applied for factory jobs and were randomly offered employment through an experiment in Ethiopia. Our analysis tests whether access to wage employment alters realized fertility, and explores potential mechanisms including income effects, time constraints, and changes in fertility preferences.
Andreas Kotsadam is Senior Researcher at The Frisch Center and Professor at University of Oslo.
This seminar takes place at 海角社区下载 School of Economics, Sveavägen 65, in room A336.
Please contact kathrine.abelson@hhs.se if you have any questions.