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In an earlier paper in this Journal this author presented a working model of marital fertility. The present paper examines how far that model is capable of serving as a `binder' for the diverse analytical hypotheses and interpretative schemes flow available in the literature on marital fertility differentials. More specifically, this paper attempts to identify the underlying explanatory factors and principles of a number of analytical hypotheses concerning fertility differentials and tests covered by the working model presented in the earlier paper. Although it cannot be claimed that this paper presents an exhaustive review of the explanatory analysis of human fertility, the results of the present exercise indicate that the working model in question is capable of serving as a `binder' for most of the important analytical hypotheses and interpretative schemes so far advanced by fertility research workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fertility effects of legal shifts occurring in Romania in 1966 are examined as a large, naturally-occurring `experiment' on the impact of laws on fertility behaviour: In all likelihood, the effects of the Romanian policies represent the largest short-term increase in fertility ever experienced by a large human population. All fertility indicators nearly doubled in the space of one year. The greatest relative increases occurred to women aged 30-34, 35-39, and 40-44 of parities 2 and 3. There is clear evidence, however, of an accelerating decline in fertility since 1967. The sharp fluctuations in age-cohort size resulting from the drastic increase and subsequent decrease in fertility are likely to lead to important and difficult problems of accommodation as these cohorts move through the age span. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]