The impact of female education on fertility: a natural experiment from Egypt
| Autor: | Shiferaw Gurmu, Fatma Romeh M. Ali |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2016 |
| Předmět: |
Economics and Econometrics
education.field_of_study business.industry Total fertility rate media_common.quotation_subject 05 social sciences Population Developing country Fertility Age and female fertility Family planning 0502 economics and business Regression discontinuity design Medicine 050207 economics education business Socioeconomic status Social Sciences (miscellaneous) 050205 econometrics media_common Demography |
| Zdroj: | Review of Economics of the Household. 16:681-712 |
| ISSN: | 1573-7152 1569-5239 |
| DOI: | 10.1007/s11150-016-9357-6 |
| Popis: | This paper presents new evidence on the impact of female education on fertility in Egypt using the change in the length of primary schooling as the source of exogenous variation in education. Beginning in 1988, the Egyptian government cut the number of primary school years from six to five, moving from a 12-year system of pre-university education to an 11-year system. This policy change affected all individuals born on or after October 1977. Using triennial pooled cross-section data from 1992 to 2014 and a nonparametric regression discontinuity approach, we compare education and fertility of women born just before and right after October 1977. Our analysis shows that female education significantly reduces the number of children born per woman. The reduction in fertility seems to result from delaying maternal age rather than changing women’s fertility preferences. We also provide evidence that female education in Egypt does not boost women’s labor force participation or affect their usages of contraceptive methods. Female education, however, does appear to increase women’s age at marriage which might explain the delay of maternal age. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
| Externí odkaz: |
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