Landholding and Fertility: A Rejoinder

progress lies in simply adding more variables to a regression equation or shifting statistical analysis to a higher level of aggregation. What I did mean, and this should be clear from a reading of the paper, is that before one seriously entertains the land-labour demand or land-security hypotheses, one should conduct certain thought experiments that will help determine the plausibility of these hypotheses in particular societies. These experiments serve to 'sketch in the institutional reality of particular settings'. Relevant institutions for the hypotheses in question include land, labour, and other factor markets (and related contractual arrangements) and mechanisms of contract and property rights enforcement. Also important is the role of agriculture relative to other sectors of the rural economy, and…