The Fertility-Inhibiting Effect of Crowded Apartment Living in a Tight Housing Market

Abstract

After reviewing the literature relating density to fertility, the authors consider how housing configurations might influence fortility. They suggest that persons living in crowded apartments with little option of moving elsewhere will tend to reduce fertility. Quasi-experimental data from a Colombian public housing project indicate that apartment living significantly reduced fertility among lower-middle- and upper-working-class persons living in a tight housing market. These findings are potentially important in evaluating long-run consequences of housing policies on population growth.