March 2009

IZA DP No. 4078: Is the Quantity-Quality Trade-off a Trade-off for All, None, or Some?

published in: Economic Development and Cultural Change, 2011, 60 (1), 155-195

Although the theoretical trade-off between the quantity and quality of children is well-established, empirical evidence supporting such a causal relationship ? particularly on child health ? is limited. We use two measures of child health to asses the quantity-quality trade-off across the entire distribution. Using data from the Indonesia Family Life Survey and controlling for the potential endogeneity of child quantity, we find evidence of a causal trade-off only for some and only in the short-run.