COHORT SIZE AND FEMALE LABOR SUPPLY

Easterlin's relative income hypothesis projects for smaller cohorts: (a) increasing wages, (b) increasing fertility and (c) decreasing female labour supply. This paper reviews the literature on the substitutability of female for male labour, on relative income changes as a result of changes in cohort size and on husband's income as a determinant of female labour supply. It is concluded that own wage is a more important determinant of female labour supply than husband's income, and that policies that increase females net wages arc therefore a stimulus to female labour supply. The example of Sweden shows that pronatalist policies can be combined with policies that stimulate female labour supply.