Does womens education affect fertility? Evidence from pre-demographic transition Prussia
While womens employment opportunities, relative wages, and the childquantityquality trade-off have been studied as factors underlyinghistorical fertility limitation, the role of womens education hasreceived little attention. We combine Prussian county data from threecensusesu1816, 1849, and 1867uto estimate the relationship betweenwomens education and their fertility before the demographic transition.Despite controlling for several demand and supply factors, we find anegative residual effect of womens education on fertility.Instrumental-variable estimates using educational variation derivingfrom landownership concentration, as well as panel estimates controllingfor fixed effects of counties, suggest that the effect of womenseducation on fertility is causal.
The educational service trade is a great concern for competition after WTO entry. Comparing with thepractice of educational service, however, the study and decision--making of it are lagging behind. In order to bring theChinese educational potential into full play, we are urged to further reform and development of higher education, and ex-ploitation of laws and features of it as well.