Male Fertility: Facts, Distribution and Drivers of Inequality

We document new facts on the distribution of male fertility and its relationship with men's labor market outcomes. Using Norwegian registry data all births since 1967, we show that rates childlessness in recent cohorts are 72% among lowest five percent earners but only 11% highest earners, this gap widened by almost 20 percentage points over last thirty cohort years. There has been a compression distribution, substantial share men being left behind fewer experiencing larger population's births. use firm bankruptcies as source variation job loss earnings to provide robust evidence negative shocks less likely experience birth child, transition out childlessness, be partnered, these effects persistent up 15 years after event. conclude documenting penalty increased markedly three decades.