Score contribution per author:
α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count
A quality versus quantity theory of fertility is proposed that predicts that more able parents chose to produce fewer children because they wish to invest more in their children's education. Using Mincer residuals to measure the unobserved ability of parents, data for Israel are used to show that given everything else more able parents tend to produce fewer children. This is true for fertility data and for birth hazards. Fertility is also found to depend upon social norms, education, and child benefit. Copyright 2007 , Oxford University Press.