Per avere più bambini basta tagliare le pensioni

Using as a natural experiment the Italian pension reforms of the 1990s that suddenly decreased pension prospects for a large group of individuals, the authors find that people with lower pension income prospects as a result of the reforms have significantly higher fertility. The relative increase in the probability of them having a child is above 10%. The findings support the 'old-age security' theory where children are seen as a source of future financial support