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Higher education and fertility: Evidence from reforms in Greece

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  • Kountouris, Yiannis

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of higher education on women’s fertility decisions. To address the endogeneity of non-compulsory education participation, I focus on an increase in the supply of higher education and a concurrent schooling reform that jointly expanded higher education opportunities in Greece in year 2000. Drawing data from the 10% sample of the 2011 Population Census, I use the exogenous variation introduced by the first grade enrollment age cutoff to apply a Regression Discontinuity Design comparing educational attainment and fertility for women that were just, and just not exposed to the reforms. The probability of giving birth before age 30 decreases by around 20 percentage points for women who completed higher education because they were exposed to the reforms. Career outcomes for employed women with higher education improve, while fertility decreases at ages following graduation, suggesting that the result is primarily driven by the increasing opportunity cost of children.

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  • Kountouris, Yiannis, 2020. "Higher education and fertility: Evidence from reforms in Greece," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecoedu:v:79:y:2020:i:c:s0272775720305458
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econedurev.2020.102059
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Higher education; Fertility; Regression discontinuity design; Demand for schooling;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General
    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions
    • I26 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Returns to Education
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth

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