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Education and the dynamics of family decisions

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Author Info
Rebeca Echávarri () (The University of the Basque Country)

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Abstract

This paper investigates the extent to which a biased transmission of educational endowments affects fertility. To this end, we devise a version of Becker’s family decision model that takes preference change into account. Specifically, we model education as an instrument that increases the autonomy (to prefer), and autonomy as an instrument of preference-change for household-structures. The empirical validity of the proposed model is examined for the European setting using the European Community Household Panel. In the context of the model, empirical findings imply the following. On the one hand, both preference for quantity and preference for bequest for each offspring (quality) increases with education, while preference for current consumption decreases. On the other hand, education is found to be negatively correlated with fertility, at a decreasing rate. Therefore, the paper provides a useful additional toolkit for public policy evaluation. It explains how public policies oriented toward the guarantee of personal freedoms, such as the expansion of education and autonomy, are likely to guarantee the same freedoms for subsequent generations.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by University of the Basque Country - Department of Foundations of Economic Analysis II in its series DFAEII Working Papers with number 200901.

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Date of creation: 22 Apr 2009
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Handle: RePEc:ehu:dfaeii:200901

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Postal: Dpto. de Fundamentos del Análisis Económico II, Facultad de CC. Económicas y Empresariales, Universidad del País Vasco, Avda. Lehendakari Aguirre 83, 48015 Bilbao, Spain
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Related research
Keywords: Intergenerational Transmission; Household Behavior; Education; Autonomy.;

Find related papers by JEL classification:
D1 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior
J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics

This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Alfonso Alba & Gema Alvarez & Raquel Carrasco, 2009. "On the estimation of the effect of labour participation on fertility," Spanish Economic Review, Springer, vol. 11(1), pages 1-22, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Samuel Bowles & Herbert Gintis, 2002. "The Inheritance of Inequality," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 16(3), pages 3-30, Summer. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Dolores Ferrero Martínez & Amaia Iza, 2004. "Skill premium effects on fertility and female labor force supply," Journal of Population Economics, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 1-16, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. William Greene, 2006. "A General Approach to Incorporating Selectivity in a Model," Working Papers 06-10, New York University, Leonard N. Stern School of Business, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
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    Other versions:
  6. Gintis, Herbert, 1974. "Welfare Criteria with Endogenous Preferences: The Economics of Education," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 15(2), pages 415-30, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Francisco Covas & J.M.C. Santos Silva, 2000. "A modified hurdle model for completed fertility," Journal of Population Economics, Springer, vol. 13(2), pages 173-188. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Frédéric Docquier, 2004. "Income Distribution, Non-convexities and the Fertility-Income Relationship," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 71(281), pages 261-273, 05. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Agee, Mark D. & Crocker, Thomas D., 2000. "Household environmental protection and the intergenerational transmission of human capital," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 21(6), pages 673-690, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  11. Becker, Gary S & Lewis, H Gregg, 1973. "On the Interaction between the Quantity and Quality of Children," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 81(2), pages S279-88, Part II, . [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  12. Samuel Bowles & Herbert Gintis & Melissa Osborne, 2001. "Incentive-Enhancing Preferences: Personality, Behavior and Earnings," Working Papers 01-01-004, Santa Fe Institute.
    Other versions:
  13. Rosenzweig, Mark R & Wolpin, Kenneth I, 1980. "Testing the Quantity-Quality Fertility Model: The Use of Twins as a Natural Experiment," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 48(1), pages 227-40, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  14. Hanushek, Eric A, 1992. "The Trade-Off between Child Quantity and Quality," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 100(1), pages 84-117, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  15. Sebastiano Bavetta & Vitorocco Peragine, 2006. "Measuring autonomy freedom," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer, vol. 26(1), pages 31-45, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  16. Maria Melkersson & Dan-Olof Rooth, 2000. "Modeling female fertility using inflated count data models," Journal of Population Economics, Springer, vol. 13(2), pages 189-203. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  17. Rachel Connelly & Deborah DeGraff & Deborah Levison & Brian McCall, 2006. "Tackling the endogeneity of fertility in the study of women's employment in developing countries: Alternative estimation strategies using data from urban Brazil," Feminist Economics, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 12(4), pages 561-597, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  18. Samuel Bowles, 1998. "Endogenous Preferences: The Cultural Consequences of Markets and Other Economic Institutions," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 36(1), pages 75-111, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  19. Arthur J. Robson, 2001. "The Biological Basis of Economic Behavior," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 39(1), pages 11-33, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  20. Terza, Joseph V., 1998. "Estimating count data models with endogenous switching: Sample selection and endogenous treatment effects," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 84(1), pages 129-154, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  21. Jere R. Behrman & Andrew D. Foster & Mark R. Rosenzweig & Prem Vashishtha, 1999. "Women's Schooling, Home Teaching, and Economic Growth," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 107(4), pages 682-714, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  22. Browning, Martin, 1992. "Children and Household Economic Behavior," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 30(3), pages 1434-75, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  23. Iyigun, Murat & Walsh, Randall P., 2007. "Endogenous gender power, household labor supply and the demographic transition," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(1), pages 138-155, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Teresa Martín-García, 2009. "The effect of education on women's propensity to be childless in Spain: Does the field of education matter?," Carlo Alberto Notebooks 114, Collegio Carlo Alberto. [Downloadable!]
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This page was last updated on 2009-11-17.

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