ABSTRACT
This article provides a theoretical model to explain endogenous fertility and use the panel data of 169 countries to analyze the extent to which fertility behaviors are influenced by financial development and social security tax. A negative effect of financial development on fertility supports the evidence that people in countries with lower levels of financial development tend to have more children. Those people in countries, where there is limited access to other risky investments, tend to have more children. In addition, those who are poor are more likely to have more children, which will lower their overall welfare, and further reduce their investment in capital markets. Social security tax also has a negative impact on fertility behaviors.