IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/jintdv/v12y2000i4p463-482.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Inter-generational contracts, demographic transitions and the 'quantity-quality' tradeoff: parents, children and investing in the future

Author

Listed:
  • Naila Kabeer

    (IDS, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK)

Abstract

This paper explores why so many children remain outside the schooling system, despite the current emphasis on education as a form of human capital and as a basic human right. The value given to investments in education partly depends on the extent to which such investments fit in with the implicit inter-generational contracts between parents and children, particularly in societies where there are few alternatives to the family as sources of welfare and security in old age. When the decision to educate a child remains private, the interests of parents' security in old age will dominate over the long-term interests of the child. To explore the circumstances under which parents would be persuaded to invest in their children's education, the paper suggests a series of stylized 'transitions' in the inter-generational contract, each associated with increasing willingness on the part of parents to invest resources in their children. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Suggested Citation

  • Naila Kabeer, 2000. "Inter-generational contracts, demographic transitions and the 'quantity-quality' tradeoff: parents, children and investing in the future," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 12(4), pages 463-482.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:jintdv:v:12:y:2000:i:4:p:463-482
    DOI: 10.1002/1099-1328(200005)12:4<463::AID-JID684>3.0.CO;2-S
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    To our knowledge, this item is not available for download. To find whether it is available, there are three options:
    1. Check below whether another version of this item is available online.
    2. Check on the provider's web page whether it is in fact available.
    3. Perform a search for a similarly titled item that would be available.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gary S. Becker & H. Gregg Lewis, 1974. "Interaction between Quantity and Quality of Children," NBER Chapters, in: Economics of the Family: Marriage, Children, and Human Capital, pages 81-90, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Geeta Gandhi Kingdon, 1998. "Does the labour market explain lower female schooling in India?," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(1), pages 39-65.
    3. Jejeebhoy, Shireen J., 1995. "Women's Education, Autonomy, and Reproductive Behaviour: Experience from Developing Countries," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198290339.
    4. Nancy Folbre (ed.), 1996. "The Economics of the Family," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 908.
    5. Caldwell, Pat, 1996. "Child survival: Physical vulnerability and resilience in adversity in the European past and the contemporary Third World," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 43(5), pages 609-619, September.
    6. Simon Appleton & John Hoddinott & John MacKinnon, 1996. "Education and health in sub-Saharan Africa," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 8(3), pages 307-339.
    7. Odaga, A. & Heneveld, W., 1995. "Girls and Schools in Sub-Saharan Africa. From Analysis to Action," Papers 298, World Bank - Technical Papers.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Shahin Yaqub, 2009. "Independent Child Migrants in Developing Countries: Unexplored links in migration and development," Papers inwopa09/62, Innocenti Working Papers.
    2. Drusilla K. Brown & Alan V. Deardorff & Robert M. Stern, 2009. "The Effects of Multinational Production on Wages and Working Conditions in Developing Countries," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Globalization And International Trade Policies, chapter 17, pages 623-687, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    3. Enid Schatz & Janet Seeley & Flavia Zalwango, 2018. "Intergenerational care for and by children: Examining reciprocity through focus group interviews with older adults in rural Uganda," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 38(63), pages 2003-2026.
    4. Philip Kreager & Elisabeth Schröder-Butterfill, 2008. "Indonesia against the trend? Ageing and inter-generational wealth flows in two Indonesian communities," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 19(52), pages 1781-1810.
    5. Dhanushka Thamarapani & Marc Rockmore & Willa Friedman, 2018. "The Educational and Fertility Effects of Sibling Deaths," CINCH Working Paper Series 1801, Universitaet Duisburg-Essen, Competent in Competition and Health.
    6. Harper, Caroline & Marcus, Rachel & Moore, Karen, 2003. "Enduring Poverty and the Conditions of Childhood: Lifecourse and Intergenerational Poverty Transmissions," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 535-554, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sarmistha Pal, 2004. "How Much of the Gender Difference in Child School Enrolment Can Be Explained? Evidence from Rural India," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(2), pages 133-158, April.
    2. Echávarri Aguinaga, Rebeca, 2009. "Education and the dynamics of family decisions," DFAEII Working Papers 1988-088X, University of the Basque Country - Department of Foundations of Economic Analysis II.
    3. Osili, Una Okonkwo & Long, Bridget Terry, 2008. "Does female schooling reduce fertility? Evidence from Nigeria," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(1), pages 57-75, August.
    4. Oksana Leukhina & Michael Bar, 2006. "Demographic Transition and Industrial Revolution: A Coincidence?," 2006 Meeting Papers 383, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    5. Dancer, Diane M. & Rammohan, Anu, 2004. "The Determinants of Schooling in Egypt: The Role of Gender and Rural-Urban Residence," Working Papers 1, University of Sydney, School of Economics.
    6. Alexis León, 2006. "The Effect of Education on Fertility: Evidence from Compulsory Schooling Laws," Working Paper 288, Department of Economics, University of Pittsburgh, revised Dec 2006.
    7. Musaddiq, Tareena & Said, Farah, 2023. "Educate the girls: Long run effects of secondary schooling for girls in Pakistan," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    8. Chen, Jiwei & Guo, Jiangying, 2022. "The effect of female education on fertility: Evidence from China’s compulsory schooling reform," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    9. Wambugu, Anthony, 2002. "Family Background, Education and Earnings in Kenya," Working Papers in Economics 76, University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics.
    10. Diane Dancer & Anu Rammohan, 2007. "Determinants of Schooling in Egypt: The Role of Gender and Rural/Urban Residence," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(2), pages 171-195.
    11. Keats, Anthony, 2018. "Women's schooling, fertility, and child health outcomes: Evidence from Uganda's free primary education program," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 142-159.
    12. Peng Yu, 2006. "Higher Education, the Bane of Fertility? An investigation with the HILDA Survey," CEPR Discussion Papers 512, Centre for Economic Policy Research, Research School of Economics, Australian National University.
    13. Fatma Romeh M. Ali & Shiferaw Gurmu, 2018. "The impact of female education on fertility: a natural experiment from Egypt," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 16(3), pages 681-712, September.
    14. Mukherjee, Anit N., 2007. "Public expenditure on education: A review of selected issues and evidence," Working Papers hd1, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy.
    15. Eibich, Peter & Siedler, Thomas, 2020. "Retirement, intergenerational time transfers, and fertility," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    16. Jungho Kim, 2023. "Female education and its impact on fertility," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 228-228, May.
    17. Kota Ogasawara & Mizuki Komura, 2022. "Consequences of war: Japan’s demographic transition and the marriage market," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 35(3), pages 1037-1069, July.
    18. Rosa Duarte & Sandra Ferrando-Latorre & José Alberto Molina, 2018. "How to escape poverty through education?: intergenerational evidence in Spain," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(9), pages 624-627, May.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:jintdv:v:12:y:2000:i:4:p:463-482. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/5102/home .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.