The relationship between apartment living and fertility for blacks, Mexican-Americans, and other Americans in Racine, Wisconsin.

Recently published data from a sample of Bogotá, Colombia public housing residents show that apartment dwellers, but not house dwellers, reduced their fertility in a tight housing market. We propose that the utility-cost theory of fertility accounts for this finding, and, using this theory, we predict that (a) apartment residents will not decrease their fertility in an open housing market and (b) higher fertility will be associated with larger dwellings. Longitudinal data from a sample of Midwest urban blacks, Mexican-Americans, and other Americans support both predictions. The substantive implications are discussed.