Fertility Intentions and Preferences: Effects of Structural and Financial Incentives and Constraints in Austria

Henriette Engelhardt, Austrian Academy of Sciences

This paper addresses the question to which extent the low fertility in Austria can be accounted for by effects of structural and financial measures. Using data from the Population Policy Acceptance Survey 2001 we analyze the effects of incentives and constraints on the desired number of children, on wanting no (more) children, and on fertility aspirations under the implementation of certain public policies. Based on zero-inflated Poisson models we find that only structural constraints have an effect on desired fertility, while financial constraints have no effect. Logistic regression results suggest that neither structural nor financial factors affect the desire for wanting (more) children. Concerning the fertility aspiration under the implementation of certain policy measures our results based on matching methods indicate that both structural and financial incentives would have an effect on thinking about having a(nother) child, on deciding to have a(nother) child, as well as on having the first/next child sooner.