Family Allowances and Fertility: Socio-Economic and Religious Differentials

Jona Schellekens, Hebrew University of Jerusalem

This paper presents the results of an analysis of socio-economic and religious differentials in the effect of family allowances on the fertility of Israeli women using birth histories of women in the last two censuses of 1983 and 1995. Assuming the existence of economies of scale in a family, child allowances may have a larger effect on the birth of higher birth-order children. Hence, separate analyses are performed for each parity. Much of the difference between socio-economic groups occurs in the initial response to an increase in the allowance. The largest religious differentials are found in the third and fourth intervals. No significant religious differentials are found after the fourth interval, probably because most couples after the fourth birth are religious. The strong initial response to an increase in allowances raises doubt about the suitability of models that assume rational decision making in reproductive behavior.