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An Illustration of the Problems Caused by Incomplete Education Histories in Fertility Analyses

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Author Info
Øystein Kravdal (University of Oslo)
Abstract

When assessing the importance of education for fertility, one should ideally use complete education histories. Unfortunately, such data are often not available. It is illustrated here, using register data for Norwegian women born in 1969, that inclusion of educational level at the latest age observed (28), rather than at the current age, can give substantially biased education effect estimates. It is also illustrated that imputation of education for earlier ages may lead to wrong conclusions. A simple imputation of educational level and enrolment based on the assumption that everyone passes through the educational system with the officially stipulated progress gives particularly misleading results. Somewhat better estimates are obtained when a slower progress more in accordance with reality is assumed, or when educational level and enrolment are imputed stochastically on the basis of distributions calculated from real data. Obviously, one should be very careful when faced with incomplete education histories, and try to make use of relevant information from other sources about the actual educational careers.

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Article provided by Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany in its journal Demographic Research Special Collections.

Volume (Year): 3 (2004)
Issue (Month): 6 (April)
Pages: 135-154
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Handle: RePEc:dem:drspec:v:3:y:2004:i:6

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Related research
Keywords: birth rate; education; endogenous; enrolment; fertility; imputation; incomplete histories; Norway; register data; registry files; simultaneous models;

Find related papers by JEL classification:
J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics
Z0 - Other Special Topics - - General

Cited by:
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  1. Kryštof Zeman, 2007. "Transition of nuptiality and fertility onset in the Czech Republic since the 1990s: the role of women’s education and its expansion," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2007-017, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany. [Downloadable!]
  2. Cordula Zabel, 2009. "Do imputed education histories provide satisfactory results in fertility analysis in the Western German context?," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 21(6), pages 135-176, August. [Downloadable!]
  3. Cornelia Muresan & Paul-Teodor Haragus & Mihaela Haragus & Christin Schröder, 2008. "Romania: Childbearing metamorphosis within a changing context," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 19(23), pages 855-906, July. [Downloadable!]
  4. Marit Rønsen, 2004. "Fertility and family policy in Norway - A reflection on trends and possible connections," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 10(10), pages 265-286, June. [Downloadable!]
  5. Jan M. Hoem & Michaela Kreyenfeld, 2006. "Anticipatory analysis and its alternatives in life-course research. Part 1: Education and first childbearing," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2006-006, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany. [Downloadable!]
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