Causal estimates of education on fertility, marriage and cohabitation

PIs:
Dr. Marcus Tamm, RWI (Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung), Essen

Staff:
Rebecca Fehn, RWI (Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung), Essen

Project Summary:
Using exogenous variation in levels of education, we will analyze how education influences fertility and mating behavior. In doing so, we focus on several measures of fertility such as the incidence of childlessness, the total number of children or the age at first birth among others. We also look at mating behavior and differentiate between marriage and cohabitation. The analysis will contribute to a large mainly descriptive literature by estimating causal effects using instrumental variable strategies. Furthermore, we add to the literature by also looking at non-marital mating behavior.