Parent's Schooling and Child Well-Being in Taiwan

描述（申请人提供）：本研究的具体目的是评估台湾地区母亲教育程度和父亲教育程度对儿童健康和儿童教育成果的因果影响。对这一主题的兴趣可以追溯到最近对人力资本的一般作用及其两个最重要的组成部分-健康和教育-特别是在决定经济增长方面的作用的关注，以及许多研究的证据表明，父母的教育对儿童福祉的各种衡量标准具有积极和重大的影响。对于这种相关性是否反映了更多的学校教育与幸福感增加之间的因果关系，人们的共识要少得多。许多研究者认为，忽略了“第三变量”，如未来的方向或遗传能力，可能会导致学校教育和幸福感的提高。本研究将以自然实验的方式，探讨台湾地区父母教育程度的因果影响。1968年，台湾政府将义务教育从六年延长到九年。为了满足国民中学入学人数的预期增长，政府在1968年开设了140所新的国民中学，增加了70%。这项研究将使用1948年至1968年出生的人群在接受义务教育改革方面的差异，以及12-14岁儿童新增初中入学人数（计划强度）的地区差异。它将估计母亲和父亲上学的各种措施的儿童福祉的影响，通过使用队列和计划强度在出生的相互作用区域的工具，在两阶段最小二乘法和两步估计程序上学。婴儿的健康结果包括出生体重;低体重和极低体重出生的可能性;新生儿和新生儿后期死亡的可能性（有和没有调整出生体重）;产前护理开始的三个月;母亲吸烟;避孕措施;母乳喂养。19岁以下儿童的健康结果包括儿童死亡概率、体检结果、接种疫苗、吸烟、饮酒、体育锻炼和适当饮食知识。教育成果包括高中和大学入学考试成绩;完成高中学业的可能性;进入大学的可能性;以及所上大学的排名。生育率结果是相关的，因为在家庭子女人数和每个子女的福祉之间可能存在权衡，包括母亲第一次生育的年龄和理想的家庭规模。收集的数据包括1978-2000年的所有出生和婴儿及儿童死亡证明;考试成绩档案;以及三次微观调查。

DESCRIPTION (provide by the applicant): The specific aims of this project are to estimate the causal impacts of mother's education and father's education on child health and child educational outcomes in Taiwan. Interest in this topic can be traced to the recent focus on the role of human capital in general and its two most important components - health and schooling - in particular in the determination of economic growth and to the evidence in many studies that parents' education has a positive and significant effect on a variety of measures of child well-being. There is much less consensus as to whether this correlation reflects causality from more schooling to increases in well-being. A number of investigators have argued that omitted "third variables" such as a future orientation or heritable ability may cause both schooling and well-being to rise. The study will exploit a natural experiment to estimate the causal impact of the mothers 'and fathers' education in Taiwan. In 1968, the Taiwan government extended compulsory education from six to nine years. To accommodate the expected increase in enrollment in junior high schools, the government opened 140 new junior high schools, a seventy-percent increase, in 1968. The study will use variations across cohorts born between 1948 and 1968 in exposure to compulsory education reform and across regions in new junior high school openings per child ages 12-14(program intensity). It will estimate the impact of the mothers and fathers schooling on a variety of measures of child well-being by using cohort and program intensity in region of birth interactions as instruments for schooling in two-stage least squares and two-step estimation procedures. Health outcomes for infants include birthweight; the probabilities of low- and very low-weight births; the probabilities of neonatal and post-neonatal death with and without adjustment for birthweight; the trimester in which prenatal care began; maternal cigarette smoking; contraceptive practices; and breastfeeding. Health outcomes for children through age 19 include the probability of child death; physical examination outcomes; receipt of vaccinations; cigarette smoking; alcohol use; physical exercise; and knowledge of appropriate diet. Educational outcomes include scores on senior high school and university entrance examinations; the probability of completing senior high school; the probability of entering university; and rank of university attended. Fertility outcomes, relevant because there may be tradeoffs between the number of children in the family and the well-being of each child, include mother's age at first birth and desired family size. The data collections are all birth and infant and child death certificates for 1978-2000; files with test scores; and three micro level surveys.