Inertial reproduction: is the two-child psychology the rule in Costa Rica?
| Autor | Laura Cristina Blanco |
| Cargo | Universidad de Costa Rica, Escuela de Economía; San José, Costa Rica |
| Páginas | 7-34 |
Revista de Ciencias Económicas 37-N°1: enero-junio 2019 / 07-34 / ISSN: 0252-9521
https://revistas.ucr.ac.cr/index.php/economicas
INERTIAL REPRODUCTION: IS THE TWO-CHILD PSYCHOLOGY THE
RULE IN COSTA RICA?
Laura C. Blanco 1
Recibido: 11/01/2019 Aprobado: 30/05/2019
ABSTRACT
This paper uses dat a from National Surve ys on Sexual and Reproduct ive Health to test
whether variables related to identit y, sexuality and contrac eptive knowledge are associa ted
with the preference and dema nd for children in Costa Rica. Bot h the preferred and actual
number of children are estimated wit h a double hurdle model. The findings indicat e that
preferences for children seem to be quite fixed arou nd two children and are mainly associat ed
with religious beliefs and the pers on’s gender, but they are not found to be associated with
human capital. I n contrast, the probability of having a child and t he number of children are
related to investment in human c apital and sex educat ion. Hence, human capita l might be
relevant in bringing a child into the world, but not in t he initial preference.
KEY WORDS: REPRODUC TION, PREFERENCE F OR CHILDREN, DEM AND FOR CHILDR EN,
GENDER, CONTRACEPTI VE KNOWLEDGE, COSTA RICA.
CLASIFICACIÓN JEL: D19, D91, J13 .
RESUMEN
Se utilizan las Encu estas Nacionales de S alud Sexual y Reproductiva p ara someter a prueba
si existe una relación entre la identidad , la sexualidad y el conocimiento de a nticonceptivos
con las preferencias y la dema nda reproductiva en Costa R ica. Tanto el tama ño preferido
de descendencia como el ta maño de descendencia efect ivo se estima utilizando u n modelo
de truncamiento do ble. Los resultados muestra n que las preferencias reproductiva s son
bastante est áticas alrededor de dos de scendientes y se encuentran prin cipalmente asociada s
a creencias religiosas y el género de la person a, pero no con el capital humano. En contra ste,
la probabilidad de tener una hija o un hijo y el tam año de la descendencia se relacionan con la
inversión en capital huma no y la educación sexual. Por tanto, el capital hu mano es relevante
para la decisión de traer a una p ersona al mundo, pero no para la preferencia inicial.
PALABR AS CLAVE: REPRODUCCIÓN, PREFERENCIAS REPRODUCTIVAS, DEMANDA
REPRODUCTIVA , GÉNERO, CONOCIMIENTO A NTICONCEPTIVO, COSTA RICA .
JEL CLASIFICATION: D19, D91, J13.
1 Universidad de Costa Rica, Escuela de Economía; Código postal 11501-2060; San José, Costa Rica; lauracristina.blanco@ucr.ac.cr
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15517/rce.v37i1.35874
8Laura C. Blanco
Revista de Ciencias Económicas 37-N°1: enero-junio 2019 / 07-34 / ISSN: 0252-9521
I. INTRODUCTION
The economic literature consistently provides evidence that children have a negative, or at
least a non-positive effect, on life satisfact ion (Di Tella, MacCulloch & Oswald 2003; Clark & Oswald,
2002), happiness (Glenn & McLanahan, 1981; Alesina, Di Tella & MacCulloch, 2004; Margolis &
Myrskylä, 2011), marital satisfaction (Twenge, Campbell & Foster, 2003), spousal love (Grossbard
& Mukhopadhyay, 2012) and financial and leisure satisfaction (van Praag, Frijters & Ferrer-i-
Carbonell, 2003). The literature also suggests that the ef fect of children on well-being varies
across groups: children contribute negatively to well-being when people face harsh circumstances
(Dolan, Peasgood, & White, 2008) and to happiness when people are poor (Alesina et al., 2004) or
have lesser financial resources or live in liberal -rather than welfare- states (Margolis & Myrskylä,
2011), while women, high socioeconomic groups and younger birth cohorts report higher marital
dissatisfaction after t he birth of a child (Twenge et al., 2003). Women also report a higher loss of
spousal love than men (Grossbard & Mukhopadhyay, 2012). Similarly, there is some evidence of
decreasing returns on having children: the gains in happiness turn negative or non-significant after
the second child (Kohler, Behrman & Skytthe, 2005; Myrskylä & Margolis, 2014) and well-being
decreases the most for women with three or more children (Clark & Oswald, 2002).
Even in the long-run, there is mixed evidence on the effect of reproduction on happiness:
while Glenn and McLanahan (1981) find a persistent negative effect; Margolis and Myrskylä (2011)
argue that the impact of reproduction on happiness varies along the life-cycle: happiness decreases
with the number of children during childbearing, f lattens and later increases a s children grow
older, especially for those parents who become sick during their elder years because their children
provide them with care and serve a s an insurance mechanism. In a more recent paper, Myrskylä
and Margolis (2014) find that happiness initially increases prior and during the f irst two years of the
birth, but, on average, it later returns to its pre-birth setpoint. However, these effect s vary across
group: reproduction exhibits long-term negative effects for young parents and positive long-term
effects for better educated and older ones.
Given the overwhelming evidence that, on average, children are, at best, not detrimental
to well-being, it is worth asking why do people reproduce at all. The question seems to be more
relevant for women, since they are the ones most negatively affected by reproductive decisions.
This paper uses regression analysis to estimate both the preference for children and the observed
demand for children for women and men in Costa Rica using the National Sur veys on Sexual and
Reproductive Health. This allows the identification of the correlates associated with reproductive
decisions in a developing country. Previous research has used the data collected in this survey
during 2010 to analyze demographic trends and fertility rates (Robles & González, 2012a), but to
my knowledge the data collected in the 2015 survey has not yet been analyzed. The research also
differs from the previous one in that it does not solely focus on the effective demand for children.
Instead, it also aims at understa nding whether the factors associated with child preferences are the
same as those related to the obser ved demand for children. In order to do this, a double-hurdle
model is specified to estimate both the preference and the observed demand for children. Aside
from the usual human capital variables, this paper explores whether variables proxying identity,
sexuality and contraceptive knowledge are associated with both the preference for and the observed
demand for child ren.
Indeed, the findings show that t he stated preferences and the demand for children respond
to different variables. In general, preferences for children seem to be quite fixed around a constant
value and are mainly associated with religious beliefs but they are not found to be associated with
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