Family size and schooling in sub-Saharan Africa: testing the quantity-quality trade-off

Sahawal Alidou () and Marijke Verpoorten
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Sahawal Alidou: University of Antwerp

Journal of Population Economics, 2019, vol. 32, issue 4, No 8, 1353-1399

Abstract: Abstract Many family planning programs are based on the idea that small families lead to improved development outcomes, such as more schooling for children. Because of endogeneity issues, this idea is however difficult to verify. A handful of studies have made use of twin birth to deal with the endogeneity of family size. We do so for sub-Saharan African countries. In a compilation of 86 survey rounds from 34 countries, we exploit the birth of twins to study the effect of a quasi-exogenous increase in family size on the schooling of children at the first, second and third birth order. Our findings do not support the generally assumed negative effect of family size on schooling.

Keywords: Family size; Schooling; Quantity-quality trade-off; Sub-Saharan Africa (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D1 O1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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DOI: 10.1007/s00148-019-00730-z

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