Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/68445 
Year of Publication: 
2012
Series/Report no.: 
SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research No. 528
Publisher: 
Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung (DIW), Berlin
Abstract: 
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.
Subjects: 
fertility
education
childlessness
timing of births
educational reform
JEL: 
I21
J13
J24
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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