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Baby Boom II https://t.co/yHjmcR0aOY

Feb 21, 5 tweets

In 2009, Denmark cut the top marginal tax rate 7%, from 63% to 56%. Thanks to Denmark's population register, we can estimate the effect of this tax cut on the fertility of coupled (married+cohabitation) men and women. More money increased male and reduced female fertility.

Specifically: higher wages (increasing the opportunity cost of time) reduced women's fertility and had negligible effects on men, while higher incomes (increased money overall) had negligible effects on women and increased male fertility (ie, children are a normal good).

Many pro-natal policies are effectively transfers from men to women, which is counterproductive.

I don't think there's a good reason why the status quo (men handicapped, women boosted) is morally superior to the reverse.

Source of the paper. Chart comes from column 3 of table 2. harris.uchicago.edu/sites/default/…

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