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Title: Maternal Expectations and Ex Post Rationalizations The Usefulness of Survey Information on the Wantedness of Children
Resulting in 1 citation.
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Rosenzweig, Mark R. Wolpin, Kenneth I. |
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Maternal Expectations and Ex Post Rationalizations The Usefulness of Survey Information on the Wantedness of Children Journal of Human Resources 28,2 (Spring 1993): 205-229. Also: http://www.jstor.org/stable/146201 Cohort(s): NLSY79 Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press Keyword(s): Armed Forces Qualifications Test (AFQT); Bias Decomposition; Birth Outcomes; Birthweight; Children; Contraception; Fertility; Pre-natal Care/Exposure; Pre/post Natal Behavior; Pre/post Natal Health Care; Wantedness In this paper we assess the value of retrospectively-ascertained information on the wantedness of children by evaluating (i) the extent to which such information provides an unbiased estimate of the excess births occurring solely as a consequence of imperfect fertility control and (ii) whether information on the wantedness of a child is a good predictor of its subsequent treatment by parents--whether unwantedness signals neglect. We formulate a dynamic model of fertility incorporating stochastic fertility control, uncertain child traits and information accumulation from which we can formulate a rigorous definition of child-specific unwantedness. Based on information on both retrospectively obtained and pre-birth information on wantedness and on children's birthweight, we find that parents are more likely to report that children are wanted ex post if they have a better birth outcome and exhibit overly optimistic expectations about their children's traits and/or risk preferences. As a consequence, published statistics on the prevalence of unwanted births overstate the true proportion due to contraceptive failure by 26 percent. Data are from the NLSY a sample of 3,233 females who had a live birth by 1986. |
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Bibliography Citation
Rosenzweig, Mark R. and Kenneth I. Wolpin. "Maternal Expectations and Ex Post Rationalizations The Usefulness of Survey Information on the Wantedness of Children." Journal of Human Resources 28,2 (Spring 1993): 205-229.
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