Old Insights and New Approaches: Fertility Analysis and Tempo Adjustment in the Age-Parity Model
Hans-Peter Kohler and José A. Ortega
Abstract: In this article we provide an overview of traditional and recent methods for the investigation of period fertility, emphasizing in particular aspects of the analysis that are relevant in contemporary low and lowest-low fertility contexts. For this purpose, we present a new approach that integrates traditional measures of fertility, such as the \TFR, in a versatile manner with (a) the tempo-adjustment of fertility that corrects for distortions due to the rapid postponement of fertility, (b) life-table measures of fertility that eliminate influences caused by the parity composition of the population, and (c)~methods for cohort completion and projection that provide a consistent and demographically correct mapping of recent period fertility patterns on the future childbearing behavior of women still in childbearing years.