Full Citation

Title: Staying in the Classroom and Out of the Maternity Ward? The Effect of Compulsory Schooling Laws on Teenage Births

Citation Type: Journal Article

Publication Year: 2008

ISBN:

ISSN:

DOI:

NSFID:

PMCID:

PMID:

Abstract: This article investigates whether increasing mandatory educational attainment through compulsory schooling legislation encourages women to delay childbearing. We use variation induced by changes in compulsory schooling laws in both the US and Norway to estimate the effect in two very different institutional environments. We find evidence that increased compulsory schooling does in fact reduce the incidence of teenage childbearing in both the US and Norway, and these estimates are quite robust to various specification checks. These results suggest that legislation aimed at improving educational outcomes may have spillover effects onto the fertility decisions of teenagers.

User Submitted?: No

Authors: Devereux, Paul J.; Salvanes, Kjell G.; Black, Sandra E.

Periodical (Full): Economic Journal

Issue: 530

Volume: 118

Pages: 1025-1054

Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Education, Fertility and Mortality

Countries: