Date of Award

January 2014

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Economics & Finance

First Advisor

David Flynn

Abstract

Fertility research has traditionally assumed male fertility behavior was constant, overlooking the role of male economic factors, due largely to data restrictions. I use three models to analyze separate perspectives of data from the 2011 - 2013 Annual Social and Economic Supplement (ASEC) of the Current Population Survey (CPS) to determine whether male circumstances have a statistically significant effect on fertility behavior. This paper shows that the assumption that male fertility behavior is constant is invalid. Just like women, men prefer childbearing at certain life stages and will delay to maximize their own utility. Student enrollment has a particularly strong affect on delayed fertility. As such, policy measures that help society adapt to qualification inflation and other issues are important for continued near-replacement fertility in United States.

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