Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41995091›Full record

ArticleDemography2026

Infant Mortality Expectation and Fertility Behavior in Rural Malawi.

Adeline Delavande, Hans-Peter Kohler, Ali Vergili

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Demography, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Adeline DelavandeNova School of Business and Economics, Lisbon, Portugal; Economics Department, University of Technology Sydney, Ultimo, New South Wales, Australia.ORCID 0000-0001-8691-6359
Hans-Peter KohlerDepartment of Sociology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.ORCID 0000-0003-0639-4349
Ali VergiliEconomics Department, University of Technology Sydney, Ultimo, New South Wales, Australia; Department of Economics, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.ORCID 0009-0001-3735-0982

Funding

STATISTICAL DATA ENCLAVE COREP30AG012836 · NIA · UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA · PI KOHLER, HANS-PETER · 1999 to 2024
$14.0M
Population Science Research Center Development CoreR24HD044964 · NICHD · UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA · PI SMITH, HERBERT L. · 2003 to 2017
$9.8M
Surviving an Epidemic: Families and Well-Being, Malawi 1998-2020R01HD087391 · NICHD · UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA · PI ANGLEWICZ, PHILIP ANTHONY, KOHLER, HANS-PETER · 2017 to 2022
$2.9M
Consequences of High Morbidity and Mortality in a Low-Income CountryR01HD053781 · NICHD · UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA · PI KOHLER, HANS-PETER · 2007 to 2011
$2.9M
NIA NIH HHS P30 AG012836NICHD NIH HHS R01 HD053781NICHD NIH HHS R01 HD087391NICHD NIH HHS R24 HD044964
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

For decades, population research has been interested in the complex relationship between child mortality and fertility, with a key focus on identifying hoarding behavior (i.e., fertility response to expected aggregate child mortality). Using unique data from the Malawi Longitudinal Study of Families and Health, we investigate the impact of individual-specific subjective expectations about infant mortality on fertility behavior. We instrument the potentially endogenous infant mortality expectations with the average of parents' ratings of children's health to address the potential for omitted variable bias, such as parental preference for health. Consistent with the hoarding mechanism, we find that a 10-percentage-point increase in community-level child mortality expectations leads to a 14-percentage-point increase in the propensity to have a child in the next two years from a baseline propensity of 39%.

Indexed as

Birth RateFertilityInfant MortalityRural PopulationAdultChild, PreschoolFemaleHumansInfantLongitudinal StudiesMalawiMaleSocioeconomic FactorsYoung AdultDemographic transitionFertilityInfant mortality expectationMalawi

Identifiers

PMID41995091
PMCPMC13633107

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.