{"title":"Lithium-ion batteries and fertility in Africa","authors":"Maurizio Malpede","doi":"10.1007/s00148-024-01005-y","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>This study investigates how the global adoption of modern electrical batteries influenced women’s fertility choices in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a country rich in cobalt, an essential component of lithium-ion batteries. The findings reveal that women living in cobalt-rich villages experience higher fertility rates and a greater desire for children relative to those in non-cobalt-rich communities. I attribute this phenomenon to the use of children in cobalt mines, as opposed to other mineral mining activities, which leads to a short-term increase in household wealth and motivates parents to have more children. These results provide novel insights into our understanding of the complex relationship between economic development, natural resources, and fertility decisions in developing economies.</p>","PeriodicalId":48013,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Population Economics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":6.1000,"publicationDate":"2024-02-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Population Economics","FirstCategoryId":"96","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s00148-024-01005-y","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}
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Abstract
This study investigates how the global adoption of modern electrical batteries influenced women’s fertility choices in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a country rich in cobalt, an essential component of lithium-ion batteries. The findings reveal that women living in cobalt-rich villages experience higher fertility rates and a greater desire for children relative to those in non-cobalt-rich communities. I attribute this phenomenon to the use of children in cobalt mines, as opposed to other mineral mining activities, which leads to a short-term increase in household wealth and motivates parents to have more children. These results provide novel insights into our understanding of the complex relationship between economic development, natural resources, and fertility decisions in developing economies.
期刊介绍：
The Journal of Population Economics is an international quarterly that publishes original theoretical and applied research in all areas of population economics.
Micro-level topics examine individual, household or family behavior, including household formation, marriage, divorce, fertility choices, education, labor supply, migration, health, risky behavior and aging. Macro-level investigations may address such issues as economic growth with exogenous or endogenous population evolution, population policy, savings and pensions, social security, housing, and health care.
The journal also features research into economic approaches to human biology, the relationship between population dynamics and public choice, and the impact of population on the distribution of income and wealth. Lastly, readers will find papers dealing with policy issues and development problems that are relevant to population issues.The journal is published in collaboration with POP at UNU-MERIT, the Global Labor Organization (GLO) and the European Society for Population Economics (ESPE).Officially cited as: J Popul Econ Factor (RePEc): 13.576 (July 2018) Rank 69 of 2102 journals listed in RePEc
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