The effect of socioeconomic status on marital fertility during the demographic transition, northern Sweden 1821--1950: Efficient data analysis with process point of view

The impact of the family's socioeconomic status at marriage on later child births during the demographic transition (1821--1950) is studied. It is found that the fertility decline starts in the upper classes in the decades prior to 1900. The farmers are characterized by relatively high fertility in high ages even in the end of the study period. A stopping behavior seems to dominate a spacing one, especially along cohorts. The effect of declining infant mortality over time is minor. We show how efficient statistical modeling leads to easy and fast estimation of rather complicated data. The tools are statistical sufficiency and data reduction combined with models for fertility behavior, stopping and spacing