The Importance of Fertility Norms: New Evidence from France

I enrich the findings according to which cultural proxies such as past total fertility rates in the country of origin or number of siblings have a sizable effect on the fertility choice of second generation migrants. I use the TeO survey that interviewed individuals established in France from different origins to investigate whether the effect of fertility norms fades away with assimilation in the host country. In particular I find that women who are in a relationship with a non-native, who were born to two migrant parents and whose family has settled in France more recently are more sensitive to the norm. Still, a significant effect of past fertility rates resists the introduction of many controls like characteristics of partners and religion, though with a smaller magnitude. Finally, by using a duration model, I document that the fertility norm has a positive effect on the hazard rate to have a third child but not for previous birth orders, which suggests some other determinants of fertility dominate for earlier births.