IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/eurpop/v41y2025i1d10.1007_s10680-025-09737-7.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Educational Expansions and Fertility: Evidence from Norwegian College Reforms

Author

Listed:
  • Adrian Farner Rogne

    (Institute for Social Research
    University of Oslo)

  • Agnes Fauske

    (University of Oslo
    Religion, and Worldview Research)

  • Rannveig Kaldager Hart

    (University of Oslo
    Norwegian Institute of Public Health)

Abstract

Previous research has pointed to educational expansions and increased educational attainment among women as an important factor contributing to reductions in fertility levels and changes in family formation patterns in the second half of the twentieth century. We investigate one potential mechanism that may have contributed to these developments—the establishment of local colleges providing access to higher education for broader segments of the population. We study the establishment of regional colleges in Norway 1973–83. Taking advantage of population-wide administrative register data, historical data sources and recent developments in difference-in-differences methodology, we employ an event study design to assess the impact of local colleges on cohort fertility and age-specific fertility outcomes, as well as age at marriage and regional mobility as potential mechanisms. Our findings suggest that access to local colleges did not impact fertility, family formation or mobility to any substantial degree.

Suggested Citation

  • Adrian Farner Rogne & Agnes Fauske & Rannveig Kaldager Hart, 2025. "Educational Expansions and Fertility: Evidence from Norwegian College Reforms," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 41(1), pages 1-30, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:eurpop:v:41:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1007_s10680-025-09737-7
    DOI: 10.1007/s10680-025-09737-7
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10680-025-09737-7
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10680-025-09737-7?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:eurpop:v:41:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1007_s10680-025-09737-7. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.