Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/80666 
Year of Publication: 
2013
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 7454
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
We introduce a general framework to analyze the trade-off between education and family size. Our framework incorporates parental preferences for birth order and delivers theoretically consistent birth order and family size effects on children's educational attainment. We develop an empirical strategy to identify these effects. We show that the coefficient on family size in a regression of educational attainment on birth order and family size does not identify the family size effect as defined within our framework, even when the endogeneity of both birth order and family size are properly accounted for. Using Danish administrative data we test the theoretical implications of the model. The data does not reject our theory. We find significant birth order and family size effects in individuals' years of education thereby confirming the presence of a quantity-quality trade off.
Subjects: 
quantity-quality trade off
fertility models
fixed-effects
instrumental variables
JEL: 
E20
E24
D52
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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