Does Female Schooling Reduce Fertility? Evidence from Nigeria / Una Okonkwo Osili, Bridget Terry Long.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Osili, Una Okonkwo.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Long, Bridget Terry.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w13070.

NBER working paper series no. w13070

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2007.

Summary:

The literature generally points to a negative relationship between female education and fertility. Citing this pattern, policymakers have advocated educating girls and young women as a means to reduce population growth and foster sustained economic and social welfare in developing countries. This paper tests whether the relationship between fertility and education is indeed causal by investigating the introduction of universal primary education in Nigeria. Exploiting differences by region and age, the paper uses differences-in-differences and instrumental variables to estimate the role of education in fertility. The analysis suggests that increasing education by one year reduces fertility by 0.26 births.

Notes:

Print version record

April 2007.