Abstract I outline a theoretical background for interpreting the effects of social class on fertility, based on social class and welfare regime theory. Social class differentials lead to different levels of economic wellbeing and security, compatibility of employment and childcare roles, and of gender equality. I hypothesize that class-specific combinations of these variables result in different incentives for and constraints on family formation, and thus different fertility levels. I use the Spanish sample of the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions for the years 2004–2015 and event history analysis techniques to analyze second-birth probabilities. A substantial positive effect of social class on second birth probabilities was found. The results also indicated that the mechanisms concerning the effects of class do not work in a monotonic way, and that specific combinations of mechanisms are relevant for each social group. Overall, the analyses showed that social class is not only key to understand intracountry differentials in fertility but also useful to understand the functioning of the welfare regime and its relationship to overall levels of fertility.

中文翻译：

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.将社会阶层不平等、劳动力市场状况和生育率联系起来：对二胎生育的实证调查

摘要 基于社会阶层和福利制度理论，我概述了解释社会阶层对生育率影响的理论背景。社会阶层差异导致不同程度的经济福祉和保障、就业和育儿角色的兼容性以及性别平等。我假设这些变量的特定类别组合会导致对家庭形成的不同激励和限制，从而导致不同的生育水平。我使用 2004-2015 年欧盟收入和生活条件统计数据的西班牙样本和事件历史分析技术来分析二胎概率。发现社会阶层对二胎概率有实质性的积极影响。结果还表明，有关阶级影响的机制并不是单调的，并且机制的特定组合与每个社会群体相关。总体而言，分析表明，社会阶层不仅是了解国内生育率差异的关键，而且有助于了解福利制度的运作及其与总体生育率水平的关系。