title: Parental age difference, educationally assortative mating and offspring count: evidence from a contemporary population in Taiwan.
abstract: Using contemporary population data from Taiwan, we examine the relationships between parental age difference, educationally assortative mating, income and offspring count. Controlling for women's reproductive value (measured by age at first birth), we find that an older husband is associated with fewer offspring, whereas a husband with similar or higher education is associated with more offspring. Concerning resources, we find that women's income is negatively associated with fertility and husband's income is positively associated with fertility among highly educated women. These results are consistent with the view that women compensate for trade-offs between education, income generation and childbearing by seeking mates with a higher status.
authors.affiliation: Graduate Institute of Industrial Economics, National Central University, 300 Jhongda Road, Jhongli City, Taoyuan County 32001, Taiwan, Republic of China.
authors.forename: Meng-Wen
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Tsou
authors.forename: Jin-Tan
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: James K
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Hammitt
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income; D008297:Male; D008393:Marriage; D008875:Middle Aged; D010290:Parents; D012923:Social Class; D013624:Taiwan