The Effects of Female Tertiary Education on Fertility and Development

Year 2019, Volume: 3 Issue: 1, 153 - 196, 25.06.2019

Ebru Tomris Aydoğan , Çağrı Levent Uslu

Abstract

The objective of this study is to investigate whether an increase in development is observed as the female

education increases with respect to the male. The study estimates combined cross-section times-series

regressions using the adolescent fertility rate as the dependent variable to measure development. Education is

measured by the ratios of female to male primary, secondary, and tertiary enrollment. The unbalanced panel

data analysis covers the 1997-2011 period for 53 countries. Control (instrumental) variables are also used in

this study to analyze further effects of education on development. Hence, measures related to science and

technology, health, and gender are also employed in the estimation. The analysis and estimation results of the

dynamic balanced panel data model reveal that the n-step GMM estimation technique is the one that explains

the model and the exogeneity of the instrumental variables in the best manner, while also producing

statistically significant and consistent coefficients. The results of the dynamic panel data estimation roughly

show that as the level of female education increases; the rate of adolescent fertility decreases, and therefore

development increases.

Keywords

I25 Education and Economic Development, J13 Fertility • Family Planning • Child Care • Children • Youth, C23 Panel Data Models • Spatio-temporal Models, C26 Instrumental Variables (IV) Estimation

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