Higher education and fertility: Evidence from a natural experiment in Ethiopia

Miron Tequame and Nyasha Tirivayi ()
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Nyasha Tirivayi: University of Maastricht

No 1509, CINCH Working Paper Series from Universitaet Duisburg-Essen, Competent in Competition and Health

Abstract: This paper studies the effect of womens higher education on fertility outcomes in Ethiopia. We exploit an abrupt increase in the supply of tertiary education induced by a liberalisation policy. Using an age discontinuity in the exposure to higher education reform, we find that education lowers fertility by 8 and increases the likelihood of never giving birth by 25. We explore the role of potential underlying mechanisms and find that this negative effect on fertility is channelled through positive assortative mating and the postponement of marriage and motherhood.

Keywords: Fertility; Higher Education; Assortative Matching; Marriage; Policy Evaluation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I23 I25 I38 J12 J13 O12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 48 pages
Date: 2015-08, Revised 2015-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dem, nep-dev and nep-edu
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (15)

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Working Paper: Higher education and fertility: Evidence from a natural experiment in Ethiopia (2015)
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