Fertility, Partner Choice, and Human Capital

Abstract

This paper generates new insights into the effect of education on fertility and partner choice across multiple generations. Using an intensity-of-treatment design, we leverage population-wide panel data for Norway in combination with a school reform in the 1930s, changing the instruction time during the school year in rural municipalities. The reform was binding for most of the rural population and allows us to estimate the effect of education on fertility behavior across the life-cycle, partner choice, and spillover effects on the next generation’s fertility. We present robust evidence of reduced total fertility and an increase in the age at first birth driven by increased years of education, better labor market outcomes, and mating with better-educated partners. In addition, the reform also affected the fertility behavior of the children and decreased fertility rates across multiple generations.