Axinn and Barber 2001

Theoretical Framework

Parent’s schooling
- Educated women: gain new opportunities for status attainment, education = increased opportunity costs of childbearing for women, reduce their desire for children
- Structural/demand theories
- Ideational theories
- 5 related mechanisms that link parents’ education to childbearing behaviour
  - Contraception
  - Western family values → small families
  - Weakened historical family values
  - Increased consumption aspirations
  - Increased contraceptive use
Children’s schooling
- Wealth flow theory - Caldwell
- Children’s schooling: increased costs of children
- Quantity-quality trade-off
- Limiting quantity of children to increase the educational attainment (quality) of children
- Mechanisms:
  - New expenses
  - Less influence from parents → children = less value to parents
  - Increased children independence

Proliferation of schools → mass education
Proximity of schools = limits fertility
- Neighbors’ childbearing behavior affects fertility
- Presence of schools changes views of childhood
- Associated with the spread of government services

Schools spread before health or bus services
Average time to the nearest school declined earlier than the average time to the nearest health/bus service
Mass education: promotes fertility limitation

Living near a school in childhood: limits childbearing in adulthood + increases use of contraception
Living near a health post or a bus service
- Increases use of contraception

Husband’s measures of education have a positive influence on permanent contraceptive use
- More education = more contraceptive use

Women who live in neighborhoods with a high degree of social change
- More likely to limit their childbearing because of nearby educational opportunities

Women who send their children to school have more chances of adopting a permanent contraceptive method
- This leads to fertility limitation