Arbeitspapier

Does parental education affect fertility? Evidence from pre-demographic transition Prussia

While women's employment opportunities, relative wages, and the child quantity-quality trade-off have been studied as factors underlying historical fertility limitation, the role of parental education has received little attention. We combine Prussian county data from three censuses - 1816, 1849, and 1867 - to estimate the relationship between women's education and their fertility before the demographic transition. Despite controlling for several demand and supply factors, we find a negative residual effect of women's education on fertility. Instrumental-variable estimates, using exogenous variation in women's education driven by differences in landownership inequality, suggest that the effect of women's education on fertility is causal.

Sprache
Englisch

Erschienen in
Series: CESifo Working Paper ; No. 3430

Klassifikation
Wirtschaft
Economic History: Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy: Europe: Pre-1913
Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
Thema
demographic transition
female education
fertility
nineteenth century Prussia
Frauenbildung
Fruchtbarkeit
Demographischer Übergang
Schätzung
Preußen

Ereignis
Geistige Schöpfung
(wer)
Becker, Sascha O.
Cinnirella, Francesco
Woessmann, Ludger
Ereignis
Veröffentlichung
(wer)
Center for Economic Studies and ifo Institute (CESifo)
(wo)
Munich
(wann)
2011

Handle
Letzte Aktualisierung
20.09.2024, 08:24 MESZ

Datenpartner

Dieses Objekt wird bereitgestellt von:
ZBW - Deutsche Zentralbibliothek für Wirtschaftswissenschaften - Leibniz-Informationszentrum Wirtschaft. Bei Fragen zum Objekt wenden Sie sich bitte an den Datenpartner.

Objekttyp

  • Arbeitspapier

Beteiligte

  • Becker, Sascha O.
  • Cinnirella, Francesco
  • Woessmann, Ludger
  • Center for Economic Studies and ifo Institute (CESifo)

Entstanden

  • 2011

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