Is the Relationship Between Landholding and Fertility Spurious? A Response to Cain

Stokes, C. Shannon; Schutjer, Wayne A.; Bulatao, Rodolfo A.

doi:10.1080/0032472031000142106

Cited by 16 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 1 publication

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Perhaps the most striking study finding a positive relationship between fertility and farm size is based on the Philippine Rural Survey of 1952 (Hawley, 1955), in which the mean total fertility varied from 4.8 to 7.0 births per woman aged 40-49 (nearing the end of childbearing) as plot size increased from under 1 ha to over 4 ha. Stokes, Schutjer, and Bulatao, (1986) cite more similar evidence from Bangladesh, Philippines, India, Mexico, and Brazil. Similarly, Cain (1984) found a positive correlation (but not quite significant at the .05 level) between farm size and fertility in Egypt and Thailand.…”

Section: Fertility Determinants At the Agricultural Frontiermentioning

confidence: 86%

Declining fertility on the frontier: the Ecuadorian Amazon

Carr

Pan

Bilsborrow³

2007

Popul Environ

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper examines farm and household characteristics associated with a rapid fertility decline in a forest frontier of the Ecuadorian Amazon. The Amazon basin and other rainforests in the tropics are among the last frontiers in the ongoing global fertility transition. The pace of this transition along agricultural frontiers will likely have major implications for future forest transitions, rural development, and ultimately urbanization in frontier areas. The study here is based upon data from a probability sample of 172 women who lived on the same farm in 1990 and 1999. These data are from perhaps the first region-wide longitudinal survey of fertility in an agricultural frontier. Descriptive analyses indicate that fertility has plummeted in the region, which is surprising since it had remained high and unchanging among migrant colonists up to 1990. Thus only half of the women in our sample reported having a birth during the 1990-1999 time period, and most women report in 1999 that they do not want to have any more children. Analyses, controlling for women's age, corroborate hypotheses about land-fertility relations. For example, women from households with a legal land title had fewer than half as many children as those from households without a title. Large cattle (pasture) holdings and hiring laborers to work on the farm (which may replace household labor) are both related to socio-economic status that is traditionally associated with lower fertility. Similarly, distance to the nearest community center is positively related to fertility. Factors negatively related to fertility include increasing temporary out-migration of adult men or women from the household, asset accumulation, and access to electricity.

show abstract

Section: Fertility Determinants At the Agricultural Frontiermentioning

confidence: 86%

Declining fertility on the frontier: the Ecuadorian Amazon

Carr

Pan

Bilsborrow³

2007

Popul Environ

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…One line of such inquiry that links land with individuals' fertility behaviors is limited to the size of the household operational land-holding and land ownership (Cain 1981(Cain , 1985(Cain , 1986Stokes et al 1986;Thomas 1991). Multiple studies in a variety of cultural settings (including Ecuador, Egypt, Iran, Peru and the Philippines) have documented a positive association between land-holding and fertility (Clay and Johnson 1992;Coomes 2001;Easterlin and McCrimmins 1985;Evans and Moran 2002;Good 1980;Hiday 1978;Pichon 1997;Schutjer et al 1983).…”

Section: Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 94%

“…Thus, land ownership should reduce the value of children as a source of parental security in old age and therefore lower motivation for additional children. On the other hand, the land-labor demand hypothesis suggests a positive relationship between operational landholding and fertility (Cain 1981(Cain , 1985(Cain , 1986Stokes et al 1986). The size of operational landholding affects fertility by altering the cost-benefit ratio of additional children: The households with access to larger operational landholdings use additional family labor more profitably than those with smaller operational landholding.…”

Section: Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…Therefore, to link land use with fertility behaviorin this case, timing of first birth-we draw on one of these two theoretical perspectives, the land-labor demand hypothesis (Cain 1981(Cain , 1985(Cain , 1986Stokes et al 1986;Thomas 1991), in combination with the mode of social organization framework (Thornton and Fricke 1987;Thornton and Lin 1994).…”

Section: Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Land use and first birth timing in an agricultural setting

Ghimire

Hoelter

2007

Popul Environ

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The dramatic changes in the earth's landscape have prompted increased interest in the links between population, land use, and land cover. Previous research emphasized the notion of population pressure (population pressure increases demands on natural resources causing changes in land use), overlooking the potentially important effects of changes in land use on humans. Using multiple data sets from the Chitwan Valley Family Study in Nepal, we test competing hypotheses about the impact of land use on first birth timing. We argue that while agricultural land should encourage early childbearing, land area devoted to public infrastructure should discourage it. The results show that individuals from neighborhoods with larger proportions of land under agriculture experienced first birth at rates higher than those from neighborhoods with smaller proportions. On the other hand, individuals from neighborhoods with larger proportions of land under public infrastructure experienced first birth at rates lower than those from neighborhoods with smaller proportions. However, the effects of public infrastructure are not as strong as the land area devoted to agriculture.

show abstract

“…Perhaps the most striking study positively relating fertility and farm size was the Philippine Rural Survey of 1952 (Hawley, 1955), in which average total fertility was much higher on farms over 4 ha (a mean of 7.0) compared to those under 1 ha (mean of 4.8). Stokes et al (1986) cite more recent evidence supporting this relation from among the diverse environments of Bangladesh, Philippines, India, Latin America, Mexico, and Brazil (see also, Merrick, 1978). Since most of these studies were conducted in long-settled agricultural areas of relatively high population density, one must be cautious in extending their application to environments of relatively great land availability (Cain, 1984).…”

Section: Fertility and Frontier Farm Luccmentioning

confidence: 99%

Proximate Population Factors and Deforestation in Tropical Agricultural Frontiers

Carr

2003

Population and Environment

160

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Forest conversion for agriculture expansion is the most salient signature of human occupation of the earth's land surface. Although population growth and deforestation are significantly associated at the global and regional scales, evidence for population links to deforestation at micro-scales-where people are actually clearing0020forests-is scant. Much of the planet's forest elimination is proceeding along tropical agricultural frontiers. This article examines the evolution of thought on population-environment theories relevant to deforestation in tropical agricultural frontiers. Four primary ways by which population dynamics interact with frontier forest conversion are examined: population density, fertility, and household demographic composition, and in-migration.

show abstract

Is the Relationship Between Landholding and Fertility Spurious? A Response to Cain

Cited by 16 publications

References 1 publication

Declining fertility on the frontier: the Ecuadorian Amazon

Declining fertility on the frontier: the Ecuadorian Amazon

Land use and first birth timing in an agricultural setting

Proximate Population Factors and Deforestation in Tropical Agricultural Frontiers

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About