Economic Uncertainty in Fertility Research: Evidence from the Czech Republic

Olga Kurtinova, Charles University in Prague

Fertility decline, documented in most industrialised countries in the last decades, is one of the core topics in fertility research. The purpose of this contribution is to extend our understanding of the potential determinants behind this pattern. The fertility is examined as a function of economic and demographic variables with a special attention to the issue of economic uncertainty. Empirical evidence on economic uncertainty is scarce mainly due to problem of measurement. Therefore, the main objective is to specify what economic uncertainty is in fertility research. Furthermore, quantification of economic uncertainty is discussed and the most convenient way of the measurement is examined in relation to fertility utilizing data for the Czech Republic. Based on preliminary results, it seems that the economic uncertainty index constituted by two components could be a useful tool of uncertainty approximation for demographic research.