The Economic Factors that Determine the Rate of Fertility

Summary
Name
Institution Affiliation
Summary
Question 1
The causal question the article is trying to answer is what are some of the economic factors that determine the rate of fertility? Some of the factors that have been identified include income, knowledge, uncertainty, child costs, and tastes. Some factors such as income are directly proportional to the number of children, whereas others such as price are inversely proportional to the demand of the children.
Question 2
Information about the factors affecting the fertility rate is important as far as development is concerned. Information about how income affect birthrate is crucial as the population trends may hasten or impede development in a certain country or geographical region. The policymakers must possess relevant information about the fertility rate and factors influencing it in a particular area prior to the formulation of various policies. The information is important as it will determine what provisions will be contained in a particular policy. For instance, fertility rate information can be used to create policies on how various social amenities such as hospitals, schools, and transport systems should be constructed in urban and rural areas. Knowing how various factors such as income, education level, child costs, and taste among others affect the fertility rate is crucial because governmental and other relevant bodies can manipulate such factors in a bid to realize considerable and relevant developments within a particular area.
Question 3
One of the identification strategies that have been used to account for the econometric problem is regression. The strategy has been used in a number of occasions, including the study of the impact of income on fertility rate using the observable data. The author hypothesizes that when income increases...