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An investigation of the relation between the number of children and education in Italy

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  • Aldieri, Luigi
  • Vinci, Concetto Paolo

Abstract

In this paper we have investigated the impact of the level of education on the number of children in Italy. We have selected 1,490 families from the 1997- 2005 Longitudinal Investigation on Italian Families (ILFI) dataset. Our dependent variable is represented by the number of children ever born to each respondent (and to his partner). Since the number of children ever born (CEB) is a count variable, we have implemented three empirical models: Poisson, Zero-Truncated Poisson and an Instrumental Variable Poisson, where grandparents’ education is exerted as an instrument of parents’ education. In particular, we have considered two stages for each model: in the first stage, we have estimated the impact of female’s education on her number of children, and in the second one, we have used also partner’s education to identify the previous effect. From the empirical results, we may observe a significant negative effect of the level of education on the number of children.

Suggested Citation

  • Aldieri, Luigi & Vinci, Concetto Paolo, 2010. "An investigation of the relation between the number of children and education in Italy," MPRA Paper 28534, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:28534
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    4. Daniela Del Boca & Silvia Pasqua & Chiara Pronzato, 2004. "Employment and Fertility Decisions in Italy, France and the U.K," CHILD Working Papers wp08_04, CHILD - Centre for Household, Income, Labour and Demographic economics - ITALY.
    5. Ronald Rindfuss & S. Morgan & Kate Offutt, 1996. "Education and the changing age pattern of American fertility: 1963–1989," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 33(3), pages 277-290, August.
    6. Austin Nichols, 2007. "Causal inference with observational data: Regression Discontinuity and related methods in Stata," North American Stata Users' Group Meetings 2007 2, Stata Users Group.
    7. Anita Ratcliffe & Sarah Smith, 2006. "Fertility and Women’s Education in the UK: A Cohort Analysis," The Centre for Market and Public Organisation 07/165, The Centre for Market and Public Organisation, University of Bristol, UK.
    8. Luigi Aldieri & Adriana Barone & Concetto Paolo Vinci, 2006. "Human capital and fertility decisions in Italy: a microeconometric analysis of ECHP data," Brussels Economic Review, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles, vol. 49(4), pages 281-292.
    9. Jan M. Hoem & Alexia Prskawetz & Gerda R. Neyer, 2001. "Autonomy or conservative adjustment? The effect of public policies and educational attainment on third births in Austria," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2001-016, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
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    Cited by:

    1. Luigi Aldieri & Concetto Paolo Vinci, 2012. "Education and fertility: an investigation into Italian families," International Journal of Social Economics, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 39(4), pages 254-236, March.
    2. Aldieri, Luigi & Vinci, Concetto Paolo, 2011. "Education and fertility: an investigation on Italian families," MPRA Paper 31392, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Fertility; Human Capital; Education;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity

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