Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/36896 
Year of Publication: 
2010
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 5019
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
Does more schooling causes a delay in marriage? Using a nationwide change in the compulsory schooling law in the UK as a source of exogenous variation in education, this paper estimates the causal effect of schooling on age at first marriage. The 1947 reform, which uniquely affected about a half of the relevant population, led to a jump in the average age at first marriage for both genders, with the effect being much more statistically robust for men than women. The regression discontinuity and IV estimates imply that completing an extra year of schooling increases the average age at first marriage by approximately 3 years for men and almost 2 years for women. Given the compelling effect of the 1947 reform, it is likely that our reduced form estimates come close to mirroring the ATE for the general population.
Subjects: 
Compulsory schooling
age at first marriage
regression discontinuity
human capital
family formation
JEL: 
I2
J12
N34
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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