The negative correlation between labor force participation and total fertility rates that has characterized European countries until the early 1980s has been widely studied by social scientists and policy makers. Microeconomic theory interpreted it as a reaction to greater opportunity costs of childbearing. But by the end of the 1980s, when the relationship changed sign, an apparent paradox occurred: countries with higher levels of female labor market participation also displayed higher fertility rates and vice versa. While scholars have been suggesting family friendly policies to be partially responsible for this counter intuitive outcome, there is still no clear evidence of the effects of welfare state measures on childbearing. It is our opinion that the lack of a clear explanation of this phenomenon may be overcome using complementary techniques. For this reason, we compare OLS and fsQCA, as the first is widely used in macro comparative analysis, but presents evident weaknesses, while the second is a more suitable technique for intermediate-N macro comparative analysis, but has been seldom used in the field of social policies. The different assumptions underlying OLS and fsQCA, additive vs. combinatory, may lead to new insights on how the combination of various welfare policies can produce higher fertility rates, the implications of which go beyond theoretical reasoning. In the end, we do not claim the superiority of one technique over the other, rather that methodological pluralism can solve single-approach disadvantages and lead to an advancement of knowledge on the topic.
