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The Impact of Female Education on Teenage Fertility: Evidence from Turkey

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  • Güneş Pınar Mine

    (Department of Economics, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada T6G 2H4)

Abstract

This paper explores the causal relationship between female education and teenage fertility by exploiting a change in the compulsory schooling law (CSL) in Turkey. Using variation in the exposure to the CSL across cohorts and variation across provinces by the intensity of additional classrooms constructed in the birth provinces as an instrumental variable, the results indicate that primary school completion reduces teenage fertility by 0.37 births and the incidence of teenage childbearing by around 28 percentage points. Exploring heterogeneous effects indicates that female education reduces teenage fertility more in provinces with lower population density and higher agricultural activity. This paper also disentangles intensive- and extensive-margin effects and explores various channels, such as postponing marriage and contraceptive use, linking education and fertility. Finally, this paper demonstrates that there are additional social benefits of education in terms of child health.

Suggested Citation

  • Güneş Pınar Mine, 2016. "The Impact of Female Education on Teenage Fertility: Evidence from Turkey," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 16(1), pages 259-288, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:bpj:bejeap:v:16:y:2016:i:1:p:259-288:n:14
    DOI: 10.1515/bejeap-2015-0059
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    Cited by:

    1. Murat G. Kırdar & Meltem Dayıoğlu & İsmet Koç, 2018. "The Effects of Compulsory-Schooling Laws on Teenage Marriage and Births in Turkey," Journal of Human Capital, University of Chicago Press, vol. 12(4), pages 640-668.
    2. Bilge Erten & Luis Pinar Keskin, 2017. "Breaking the Cycle? Education and the Intergenerational Transmission of Violence," Boston University - Department of Economics - Working Papers Series dp-296, Boston University - Department of Economics.
    3. Youjin Hahn & Asadul Islam & Kanti Nuzhat & Russell Smyth & Hee-Seung Yang, 2018. "Education, Marriage, and Fertility: Long-Term Evidence from a Female Stipend Program in Bangladesh," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 66(2), pages 383-415.
    4. Michael Geruso & Heather Royer, 2018. "The Impact of Education on Family Formation: Quasi-Experimental Evidence from the UK," NBER Working Papers 24332, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Duha T. Altindag & Bahadіr Dursun & Elif S. Filiz, 2022. "The effect of education on unemployment duration," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 60(1), pages 21-42, January.
    6. Bilge Erten & Pinar Keskin, 2022. "Does Knowledge Empower? Education, Legal Awareness, and Intimate Partner Violence," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(4), pages 29-59, October.
    7. Bilge Erten & Pinar Keskin, 2020. "Breaking the Cycle? Education and the Intergenerational Transmission of Violence," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 102(2), pages 252-268, May.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    economic development; fertility; female education; compulsory schooling; instrumental variables; Turkey;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I25 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Economic Development
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • O10 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - General

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