Journal of Political Economy Vol. 91 No. 5 1983
Fertility and Savings in the United States: 1830-1900
Abstract
A long tradition in the development literature has been to associate the aggregate savings rate with the dependency ratio, the ratio of dependent children to adults. In this paper I formalize the relationship by developing a life-cycle model in which offspring are assets from the viewpoint of their parents. The model is used to help explain the increase in nineteenth-century U.S. savings rates. I find that between 1830 and 1900 about one-quarter of the 6-percentage-point rise in the savings rate can be attributed to a decline in the dependency rate.
- DOI
- 10.1086/261183
- Volume
- 91
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 825-840
- Language
- en
- Sources
- crossref openalex