title: Malthus in the Bedroom: Birth Spacing as Birth Control in Pre-Transition England.
abstract: We use duration models on a well-known historical data set of more than 15,000 families and 60,000 births in England for the period 1540-1850 to show that the sampled families adjusted the timing of their births in accordance with the economic conditions as well as their stock of dependent children. The effects were larger among the lower socioeconomic ranks. Our findings on the existence of parity-dependent as well as parity-independent birth spacing in England are consistent with the growing evidence that marital birth control was present in pre-transitional populations.
authors.affiliation: Ifo Institute-Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, Poschingerstr. 5, 81679, Munich, Germany. cinnirella@ifo.de.|Center for Economic Studies and ifo Institute (CESifo), Munich, Germany. cinnirella@ifo.de.|Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), London, UK. cinnirella@ifo.de.|Centre for Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE), Warwick, UK. cinnirella@ifo.de.
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Cinnirella
authors.affiliation: Department of Economics, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.|Department of Economics, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA.|Population Studies & Training Center, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA.
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Klemp
authors.affiliation: Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), London, UK.|Centre for Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE), Warwick, UK.|Department of Business and Economics, University of Southern Denmark, Campusvej 55, 5230, Odense M, DK, Denmark.
authors.forename: Jacob
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Weisdorf
mesh_terms: D001721:Birth Intervals / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D001723:Birth Rate / Q000639:trends*; D003267:Contraception / Q000266:history*; D004739:England; D005191:Family Characteristics; D049669:History, 16th Century; D049670:History, 17th Century; D049671:History, 18th Century; D049672:History, 19th Century; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income / Q000266:history* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008423:Maternal Age; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014887:Weather
keywords: Birth control; Birth intervals; Fertility limitation; Preventive check; Spacing