The Effect of Child-Care and Part-Time Opportunities on Fertility Decisions in Southern Europe

Pau Baizán, Universitat Pompeu Fabra and Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ICREA)

Institutional variation provides a possible explanation for cross-country variations in the relationship between women's attachment to labor force and fertility. In particular, the availability of child-care and part-time jobs have often been suggested as explanations of cross-national variation of fertility. The paper, therefore, aims at measuring the impact of child-care availability and part-time job availability at the regional level on second births. The impact of the regional context is analyzed with the use of multi-level techniques, which are combined in the same model with event history techniques. Results show that the availability of child care and part time work increases the probability of having a second child.