The effect of education on teenage fertility: causal evidence for Argentina

This is the first study exploring the causal effect of education on teenage fertility in Argentina. We exploit an exogenous variation in education from the staggered implementation of the 1993 reform, which increased compulsory schooling from 7 to 10 years. We find a negative overall impact of educa...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Authors: Alzúa, María Laura, Velázquez Battistessa, Cecilia
Format: article
Status:Published version
Publication Date:2017
Country:Argentina
Institution:Universidad Nacional de La Plata
Repository:SEDICI (UNLP)
Language:English
OAI Identifier:oai:sedici.unlp.edu.ar:10915/97987
Online Access:http://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/handle/10915/97987
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Economía
Teenage fertility
Education
Instrumental variables
Compulsory schooling laws
Latin America and the Caribbean
Argentina
Description
Summary:This is the first study exploring the causal effect of education on teenage fertility in Argentina. We exploit an exogenous variation in education from the staggered implementation of the 1993 reform, which increased compulsory schooling from 7 to 10 years. We find a negative overall impact of education on teenage fertility rates, which operates through two complementing channels: a human capital effect (one additional year of schooling causes a decline of 30 births per 1000 girls) and a weaker ‘incapacitation’ effect (a rise of one percentage point in enrollment rate reduces 3 births per 1000 girls).