The effect of education on fertility: Evidence from a compulsory schooling reform

Arbeitspapier

This paper investigates the effect of education on fertility under inflexible labor market conditions. We exploit exogenous variation from a German compulsory schooling reform to deal with the endogeneity of education. By using data from two complementary data sets, we examine different fertility outcomes over the life cycle. In contrast to evidence for other developed countries, we find that increased education causally reduces completed fertility. This negative effect operates through a postponement of first births away from teenage years, and no catch-up later in life. We attribute these findings to the particularly high opportunity costs of child-rearing in Germany.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research ; No. 528

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Analysis of Education ; Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth ; Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
• Subject: fertility ; education ; childlessness ; timing of births ; educational reform

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Cygan-Rehm, Kamila ; Maeder, Miriam
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung (DIW)
• (where): Berlin
• (when): 2012

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/68445
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:42 AM CET