The National Frame and Individual Characteristics: Further Determinants of Fertility Behavior

The economic theory just presented usually neglects non-individual and non-couple based factors. Behavioral changes are “simply” traced back to changes in relative prices and surrounding conditions which constitute the frame. Couples make fertility decisions within a certain frame (Strohmeier 2002) and therefore the following section 5.1 focuses on it in more detail. In a national perspective, this frame is composed of policy results (laws and regulations), social norms, political and historical events, etc. The frame not only influences demographic behavior but also reacts to demographic developments and changes. It could hence be called an “interacting frame”.