Publication

This paper explores the reasons for differences in fertility rates among industrialized countries. It focuses on trade union bargaining power and assesses the birth rates of Sweden, Germany, Japan and the US in light of these. The authors oberserve that in liberal market economies fertility rates are lowest but women have access to the labor market, whereas coordinated market economies split in countries with high rates and access on one side and low rates and low labor market access on the other. They conclude that politics and the integration in global markets explain patterns of fertility.