In this dissertation, we examine the economic determinants of the labor force participation and fertility behavior of married women using a simultaneous equations model. The model takes into account both the truncation of hours of work at zero and the dichotomous nature of the decision of whether to have a child. We estimate the model using maximum likelihood methods. The data used are from the Michigan Panel Survey of Income Dynamics. We find the results from the simultaneous model to be quite different from the results obtained using single equation methods. Our results thus suggest a simultaneous framework is the most appropriate for the examination of labor force participation and fertility decisions. We run simulations on two different tax policies which might be expected to affect both the labor supply decision and the fertility decision. We find the tax policies do not have a large effect on either decision, although the effect on hours worked is stronger than the effect on fertility. We also find the effects of the policies to be stronger if there are already two children in the family. / Arts, Faculty of / Vancouver School of Economics / Graduate

The purpose of this research is to investigate the relationship among the following variables: occupational opportunities for women, career participation, percentage married by specific age groups, and fertility. The areal units of analysis are the one-hundred largest standard metropolitan statistical areas in the United States in 1970. The independent variables are occupational opportunities for women and career participation of women, and the dependent variables are percentage married by specific age groups and fertility. The objectives are (1) to substantiate earlier findings that there is a negative relationship between occupational opportunities for women and fertility, (2) to include career participation as one dimension of occupational opportunities for women, (3) to compare the relationship and predictive ability of occupational opportunities for women and career participation in terms of the dependent variables of percentage married by specific age groups during regression analysis in order to determine its influence on fertility, and (4) to test propositions concerning the assumption that female labor-force participation does not necessarily inhibit fertility. The findings of the study indicate that there is a negative correlation between occupational opportunities for women and the percentage married by specific age groups and a negative correlation between work opportunities and fertility. Specifically, female-median income acts as a deterrent to marriage and fertility. Career participation does not compete impressively in explaining the variance of marriage or fertility.