Working Paper #2015-019
Higher education and fertility: Evidence from a natural experiment in Ethiopia
This paper studies the effect of women's 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
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- Higher Education
- Fertility
- Assortative Mating
- Marriage
- Policy Evaluation
- JEL codes
-
- O12
- I23
- I25
- I38
- J12
- J13
Cite this as
APA 7th ed.Tequame, M., & Tirivayi, N. (2015). Higher education and fertility: Evidence from a natural experiment in Ethiopia (UNU-MERIT Working Paper No. 2015-019). UNU-MERIT. https://unu-merit.nl/publications/working-papers/abstract/?id=5686