THE EFFECT OF EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT ON FERTILITY

This research examines the effect of educational attainment on fertility. Following this introduction, literature is reviewed and data are presented to illustrate what is known about this relationship. The gaps in the knowledge of the relationship between educational attainment and fertility are then identified. Lastly, the feasibility of conducting additional research to develop the information necessary information to close the knowledge gaps is discussed.

Current Knowledge of the Educational

Conventional wisdom in both sociology and economics holds that the fertility rate declines as female educational attainment increases (Swenson & Thang, 1993, pp. 163-167). Numerous research studies have concluded that the inverse relationship between fertility rates and female educational attainment is consistent across cultures and economies (Lewis & Ventura, 1990, pp. 1-40; Brittain, 1991, pp. 94-112). London (1992, pp. 306-316), however, reported only modest support for the contention that higher levels of female educational attainment lead to lower fertility rates, and Ribar (1993, pp. 153-164) suggested that higher income levels lead to higher fertility rates. This conclusion challenges the assumptions that higher educational attainment leads both to higher income levels and lower fertility rates. One factor that stands out in the literature covering the relationship betwe

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de better explanations of fertility rates than does female educational attainment (White & Kim, 1987, pp. 271-279; Blake, 1989, pp. 32-36; Lino, 1991, pp. 9-15; Bouvier & De Vita, 1991, pp. 2-35). A case is frequently made for the proposition that, as population growth is equated with economic growth and that as higher levels of educational attainment are equated with economic growth, fertility rates and educational attainment are positively related. This case, of course, challenges conventional wisdom on the issue. The development and maintenance of economic growth are perpetual concerns of economists and political policy makers in both advanced industrial economies and in economies hoping to advance. Many models designed to explain and predict economic growth have incorporated a population component (Becker & Murphy, 1990, pp. S12-S13). When early models of this type failed to adequately explain economic growth, neoclassical economists developed a model "essentially ignoring any link between population and the economy" (p. S13). As the neoclassic model also fell on hard times, some economists initiated a reappraisal of the relationship between population and growth (Tomes, 1981, pp. 928-958). In this reappraisal, howeve

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