December 2008

IZA DP No. 3912: International Migration, Transfers of Norms and Home Country Fertility

published in: Canadian Journal of Economics, 2013, 46 (4)

This paper examines the relationship between international migration and source country fertility. The impact of international migration on source country fertility may have a number of causes, including a transfer of destination countries' fertility norms and an incentive to acquire more education. We provide a rigorous test of the diffusion of fertility norms using original and detailed data on migration. Our results provide evidence of a strong transfer of fertility norms from migrants to their country of origin.