Housing Insecurity and Childbearing Dynamics in Italy

Alessandro Gallo, University of Florence
Daniele Vignoli, University of Florence

The housing condition is widely recognized as one of the most significant dimensions of individuals' and households' well-being and has been increasingly linked to childbearing decisions. Consequently, increasing research is being conducted on how to measure housing insecurity. In this study we propose a new multidimensional indicator of housing insecurity using a counting approach. We then examine the relationship between the proposed indicator and childbearing behaviors in Italy. We utilize data from waves spanning 1998 to 2016 from the Survey on Household Income and Wealth (SHIW) conducted by the Bank of Italy. Our study underscores two key findings. First, among housing insecure households we note a lower probability of having a child for tenants compared to homeowners. Second, among homeowners, we note a positive effect of housing insecurity on the probability of having a child. We advance two possible explanations for this latter finding. First, an uncertainty reduction behavior that holds for lower educated women whose accelerate childbearing when they are housing insecure. Second, an anticipation behavior according to which property is considered a precondition to childbearing.

Keywords: Fertility, Families, Unions and Households, Economic Demography, Longitudinal studies

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