The Determinants of Family Formation in Chile, 1960

Analysis of the interrelationships among women's labor force participation, marriage, and fertility decisions in Chile and how these choices are affected by economic factors and by other features of the woman's environment. An eight-equation model is formulated to account for variation in these aspects of family decisionmaking and is estimated for seven 5-year age groups of women using cross-sectional regional data derived, in most part, from the 1960 Chilean Census of Population. It is possible for the first time in this study to examine the differential income and substitution effects of wages received by men and women with regard to important life cycle choices of marriage patterns, fertility, and women's role in the labor force. A number of hypotheses as to why women enter the labor force are confirmed for Chile that have heretofore been econometrically studied only in the U.S. context. This investigation extends and confirms the econometric and demographic framework that was established in earlier Rand population studies.