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More Schooling, More Children: Compulsory Schooling Reforms and Fertility in Europe

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  • Fort, Margherita

    (University of Bologna)

  • Schneeweis, Nicole

    (University of Linz)

  • Winter-Ebmer, Rudolf

    (Johannes Kepler University Linz)

Abstract

We study the relationship between education and fertility, exploiting compulsory schooling reforms in Europe as source of exogenous variation in education. Using data from 8 European countries, we assess the causal effect of education on the number of biological kids and the incidence of childlessness. We find that more education causes a substantial decrease in childlessness and an increase in the average number of children per woman. Our findings are robust to a number of falsification checks and we can provide complementary empirical evidence on the mechanisms leading to these surprising results.

Suggested Citation

  • Fort, Margherita & Schneeweis, Nicole & Winter-Ebmer, Rudolf, 2011. "More Schooling, More Children: Compulsory Schooling Reforms and Fertility in Europe," IZA Discussion Papers 6015, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6015
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    education; instrumental variables; fertility;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I2 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth

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