Such predictions of the theory as that increases in women’s labour productivity reduce the household demand for children are borne out in cross-country evidence (Schultz, 1997). Nevertheless, the study of isolated households is not a propitious one in which to explore the possibilities of collective failure among households. For example, there have been few attempts to estimate reproductive externalities. One reason is that the theory of demographic interactions in non-market environments is still relatively underdeveloped; and without theory it is hard for the empiricist to know what to look for. 10 In Section 7 I show that there is scattered evidence, drawn from anthropology, demography, economics, and sociology, of.
