The Impact of Female Education on Teenage Fertility: Evidence from Turkey

Pinar Gunes

No 2015-5, Working Papers from University of Alberta, Department of Economics

Abstract: This paper explores the causal relationship between female education and teenage fertility by exploiting a change in the compulsory schooling law (CSL) in Turkey. Using variation in the exposure to the CSL across cohorts and variation across provinces by the intensity of additional classrooms constructed in the birth provinces as an instrumental variable, the results indicate that primary school completion reduces teenage fertility by 0.37 births and the incidence of teenage childbearing by around 25 percentage points. Exploring heterogeneous effects indicates that female education reduces teenage fertility more in provinces with lower population density and higher agricultural activity. Finally, the CSL postpones childbearing by delaying marriage, thereby reducing fertility.

Keywords: Economic Development; Fertility; Female Education; Compulsory Schooling; Instrumental Variables; Turkey (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I25 J13 O10 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 43 pages
Date: 2015-05-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ara, nep-cwa, nep-dem, nep-edu and nep-lma
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Related works:
Journal Article: The Impact of Female Education on Teenage Fertility: Evidence from Turkey (2016)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ris:albaec:2015_005

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