The Relationship between Relative Deprivation and Birth

• Main Authors: Meng-Mei Kao, 高孟莓
• Other Authors: Tsai-Ching Liu
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2012
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/98316798500196049146

碩士 === 國立臺北大學 === 財政學系 === 100 === The fertility has been significantly decreasing during the recent years. The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency’s statistics showed that the Taiwan’s fertility rate is the lowest both in the developed countries or developing countries. The trend of income distribution in Taiwan has been deteriorating during the past two decades. The individual may appear the demonstration effect such as being compared with or following the other one, with the expansion of the gap between rich and poor. The group gaining the lower income may cause a negative sense, this kind of sense may include animosity, envy and lack of confidence…etc. The lack of confidence will make parents dare not or unwilling to have children. The objective of this paper was to examine whether there is an association between relative deprivation and birth. The Hey and Lambert’s and Yitzhaki’s index was applied to quantify the relative deprivation. Birth were grouped into two parts: willing and real decision. Data were selected in the ninth time of Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice of Contraception. This paper used Two-part model to explore birth. First, used logistic regression to discuss the factors that affect women’s desiring to have children, then used negative binomial regression to investigate the influence of how many children will women who want to having children to have. The result showed that relative deprivation has a negative significant effect on the willing to birth. This indicated that people who have higher relative deprivation tented to have no desiring to have children. But relative deprivation has no significant effect on the birth decision of the women who want to having children will make. Therefore we couldn’t explain the relative deprivation does affect the birth decision-making. To boost the fertility rate, we should enhance women’s birth willing first. Relative deprivation will influence women’s desiring to have children or not, in the meanwhile, relative deprivation reflect the differences of the social distribution of income. The authority needs to pay more attention on income redistribution policy to reduce the gap of income level and relative deprivation. By doing this, Taiwan’s Total Fertility Rate may be also improved.