The Demographic Promise of Expanded Female Education: Trends in the Age at First Birth in Malawi
The Demographic Promise of Expanded Female Education: Trends in the Age at First Birth in Malawi
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DOI：
10.1111/j.1728-4457.2015.00066.x
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发表时间：
2015-09-01
影响因子：
2.5
通讯作者：
Grant, Monica J.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Grant, Monica J.
扩大女性教育被视为推迟第一胎年龄的一种方式。在撒哈拉以南非洲，第一批受益于扩大受教育机会的政策的人群现在已经成年并开始生育。我调查了马拉维的教育扩张是否导致了第一胎年龄的推迟，以及生育时间的教育梯度是否随着时间的推移保持稳定。马拉维在1994年实施了免费小学教育政策，随后扩大了中学教育。尽管在过去的二十年里，女性的成绩有所提高，但第一胎的年龄并没有改变。使用工具变量分析，我发现成绩和第一胎年龄之间存在显著的负相关，这表明伴随着教育扩张的学校质量的恶化和入学年龄模式的转变可能损害了教育的变革潜力。
The expansion of female education has been promoted as a way to postpone the age at first birth. In sub-Saharan Africa, the first cohorts to benefit from policies that expanded access to education are now reaching adulthood and beginning childbearing. I investigate whether the expansion of education in Malawi, which implemented a free primary education policy in 1994 and subsequently expanded secondary schooling, has led to a later age at first birth and whether the education gradient in fertility timing has remained stable over time. Despite increases in female grade attainment over the past twenty years, the age at first birth has not changed. Using instrumental variables analysis, I find a significant negative association between grade attainment and age at first birth, suggesting that the deterioration of school quality and the shift in the age pattern of enrollment that accompanied educational expansion may have compromised the transformative potential of education.