IS EDUCATION ALWAYS REDUCING FERTILITY? EVIDENCE FROM COMPULSORY SCHOOLING REFORMS

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Fort, Margherita; Schneeweis, Nicole; Winter-Ebmer, Rudolf
• 署名单位: University of Bologna; Johannes Kepler University Linz
• 刊物名称: ECONOMIC JOURNAL
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0013-0133
• DOI: 10.1111/ecoj.12394
• 发表日期: 2016
• 页码: 1823-1855
• 关键词: mothers education; womens education; later-life; HEALTH; mortality; HISTORY; unemployment; regression; maternity; marriage

摘要

We study the relationship between education and fertility, exploiting compulsory schooling reforms in England and Continental Europe, implemented between 1936 and 1975. We assess the causal effect of education on the number of biological children and the incidence of childlessness. While we find a negative relationship between education and fertility in England, this result cannot be confirmed for Continental Europe. The additional education generated by schooling expansions on the Continent did not lead to a decrease in the number of biological children nor to an increase in childlessness. These findings are robust to a number of sensitivity and falsification checks.