Fecundity and family aids. An appted study to Spain for different ages

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to know with more depth the economic determinants of fecundity in Spain and, in short, how the public aids for dependent children explain the fecundity of the women according to their age. The idea is that this paper serves as guide to the different government units whose territories are affected by the problems of the aging and the depopulation, because if these areas don’t start guided to solve such problems (as the aids for child), the territorial imbalances existent will accentuate, and the abandonment of many of their villages will be impossible to avoid. This is the first time that a study of this type is carried out in Spain, and the results obtained for variables as child tax allowances and social benefits, the value of the woman’s time, the unemployment rate and the income, are in general consistent with the established hypotheses theoretically. Anyway, the empiric application carried out demonstrates unequivocally that the benefits that reduce the direct cost of the children, and very especially the fiscal benefits contemplated in the Spanish Personal Income Tax, stimulate the demand of children.