Public policies and low fertility: rationales for public intervention and a diagnosis for the Spanish case

Abstract

In recent years the decline in fertility and the difficulties faced by individuals in having the desired number of children have gained growing attention in the academic and public debate. The aim of the present paper is twofold. The first is to scrutinize the rationale and the justification of public support for individual fertility choices. This means addressing the question of why low fertility should be a problem of public concern. This is crucial because, depending on the answer, one can identify how much the actual low level of fertility should increase and which groups of the population should be addressed. The second aim of the paper is to apply the general discussion of public policies and fertility to the Spanish case. Spain is the country where the ‘child gap’, i.e. the average difference between desired and actual children, is most acute. In 1995, the average desired number of children for women aged 18-49 years was about 2.2, while the observed total fertility rate was 1.2. Thus, the Spanish ‘child gap’ is, on average, around one child per woman. The analysis of the Spanish case will be divided into two steps. First, I will try to identify who is having fewer children than the desired number and review the different explanations of why this is happening. Second, I will examine various public policies related to fertility that have been implemented in other countries and discuss their efficacy and applicability in a country with a deeply different socio-economic structure, such as Spain.