The Effect of Compulsory Schooling Laws on Teenage Marriage and Births in Turkey

Kirdar, Murat and Dayioglu, Meltem and Koc, Ismet (2012): The Effect of Compulsory Schooling Laws on Teenage Marriage and Births in Turkey.

Abstract

This paper estimates the impact of the extension of compulsory schooling in Turkey from 5 to 8 years—which increased the 8th grade completion rate for women by 30 percentage points—on marriage and birth outcomes of teenage women in Turkey. We find that increased compulsory schooling years reduce the probability of teenage marriage and births for women substantially, and these effects persist well beyond the new compulsory schooling years: the probability of marriage by age 18 falls by more than 4 percentage points and the probability of giving birth by age 19 falls by more than 4.5 percentage points for the earliest cohorts affected by the policy. In addition, the new policy increases the time to first-birth after marriage. We find conclusive evidence that longer compulsory schooling years have human capital effects on the time to first-birth, as well as incarcertation effects on teenage marriage; there is also suggestive evidence for human capital effects on teenage marriage.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Teenage marriage, Teenage births, Education, Compulsory Schooling Policy, Regression-Discontunity
• Subjects: J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J1 - Demographic Economics > J13 - Fertility ; Family Planning ; Child Care ; Children ; Youth; I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I2 - Education and Research Institutions > I21 - Analysis of Education; I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I2 - Education and Research Institutions > I28 - Government Policy; J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J1 - Demographic Economics > J12 - Marriage ; Marital Dissolution ; Family Structure ; Domestic Abuse; D - Microeconomics > D1 - Household Behavior and Family Economics > D10 - General

References

Alam N. Teenage Motherhood and Infant Mortality in Bangladesh. Journal of Biosocial Science 2000, 32; 229-236.

Amin V, Behrman JR. Do More-Schooled Women Have Fewer Children and Delay Childbearing? Evidence from a Sample of U.S. Twins. PIER Working Paper 11-041, 2011, University of Pennsylvania.

Angrist J.D., Imbens G.W., Rubin D.B. Identification of Causal Effects Using Instrumental Variables. Journal of the American Statistical Association 1996, 91; 444-455.

Angrist J.D., Lavy V. Using Maimonides’ Rule to Estimate the Effect of Class Size on Scholastic Achievement. Quarterly Journal of Economics 1999, 114; 533-75.

Axinn W.G., Barber J.S. Mass Education and Fertility Transition. American Sociological Review 2001, 66; 481-505.

Baird S., Chirwa E., McIntosh C., Özler B. The Short-term Impact of a Schooling Conditional Cash Transfer Program on the Sexual Behavior of Young Women. Health Economics 2010, 19; 55-68.

Baird S., McIntosh C., Özler B. Cash or condition? Evidence from a cash transfer experiment. Quarterly Journal of Economics 2011, 126; 1709-1753.

Becker G. A Theory of Marriage, Part I. Journal of Political Economy 1973; 81; 813-846.

Becker G. A Treatise on the Family: Enlarged Edition. Harvard University Press: Cambridge, Mass; 1991.

Behrman J.R., Rosenzweig M.R. Does Increasing Women’s Schooling Raise the Schooling of the Next Generation? American Economic Review 2002, 92(1); 323-334.

Black S., Devereux P., and Salvanes, K. Staying in the Classroom and Out of the Maternity Ward? The Effect of Compulsory Schooling Laws on Teenage Births. Economic Journal 2008; 118; 1025-1054.

Blossfeld H.P., and De Rose A. Educational Expansion and the Changes in Entry Into Marriage and Motherhood: The Experience of Italian Women. Genus 1992; 48(3-4); 73-89.

Brien M, Lillard L. Education, Marriage, and First Conception in Malaysia. Journal of Human Resources 1994; 29(4); 1167-1204.

Breierova L, Duflo E. The Impact of Education on Fertility and Child Mortality: Do Fathers Really Matter Less than Mothers? NBER Working Paper 10513; 2004.

Bruderl J., Diekmann A. Education and Marriage: A Comparative Study. May 1997, mimeo.

Chevalier A, Viitanen TK. The Long-Run Labor Market Consequences of Teenage Motherhood in Britain. Journal of Population Economics 2003; 16; 323-343.

Dahl GB. Early teen marriage and future poverty. Demography 2010, 47; 689-718.

Duflo E., Dupas P., Kremer M., Sinei S. 2006. Education and HIV/AIDS prevention: evidence from a randomized evaluation in Western Kenya. Policy Research Working Paper No. 4024, World Bank.

Edirne T., Can M., Kolusarı A., Yıldızhan R., Adalı E., Akdağ B. Trends, Characteristics, and Outcomes of Adolescent Pregnancy in Eastern Turkey. International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics 2010, 110; 105-108.

Ertem M., Koçtürk T. Opinions on Early-Age Marriage and Marriage Customs among Kurdish-speaking women in southeast Turkey. Journal of Family Planning and Reproductive Health Care 2008, 34; 147-152.

Field E., Ambrus A. Early marriage, age of menarche, and female schooling attainment in Bangladesh. Journal of Political Economy 2008, 116; 881-930.

Fletcher J.M., Wolfe B.L. Education and Labor Market Consequences of Teenage Childbearing Evidence Using the Timing of Pregnancy Outcomes and Community Fixed Effects. Journal of Human Resources 2009; 44: 303-325.

Fort M., Schneeweis N., Winter-Ebmer R. More Schooling, More Children: Compulsory Schooling Reforms and Fertility in Europe. CEPR Discussion Paper 8609, 2011.

Francesconi M. Adult Outcomes for Children of Teenage Mothers. Scandinavian Journal of Economics 2008; 110(1); 93-117.

Glewwe P. Why Does Mother’s Schooling Raise Child Health in Developing Countries? Evidence from Morocco. Journal of Human Resources 1999, 34; 124-159.

Glewwe P. Schools and Skills in Developing Countries: Education Policies and Socioeconomic Outcomes. Journal of Economic Literature 2002; 40(2); 436-482.

Grossman M. On the concept of health capital and the demand for health. Journal of Political Economy 1972, 80; 223-255.

Hahn J., Todd P.E., van der Klauuw V. Identification and Estimation of Treatment Effects with a Regression-Discontinuity Design. Econometrica, 69; 201-9.

Holmlund H. Estimating Long-Term Consequences of Teenage Childbearing: An Examination of the Siblings Approach. Journal of Human Resources 2005; 40(3); 716-743.

Hotz J., McElroy S., and Sanders S. Teenage Childbearing and Its Life Cycle Consequences: Exploiting a Natural Experiment. Journal of Human Resources 2005; 40(3); 683-715.

Hunt J. Do Teen Births Keep American Crime High? Journal of Law and Economics 2005; 49; 533-66.

International Center for Research on Women. Child Marriage Facts and Figures. http://www.icrw.org/child-marriage-facts-and-figures

İyigün M. Timing of Childbearing and Economic Growth. Journal of Development Economics 2000; 61; 255-69.

Keeley M.C. Economics of Family Formation. Economic Inquiry 1977, 15; 238-250.

Keeley M.C. An Analysis of the Age Pattern of First Marriage. International Economic Review 1979, 20; 527-544.

Kırdar M.G. Explaining Ethnic Disparities in School Enrollment in Turkey. Economic Development and Cultural Change 2009, 57(2); 297-333.

Klepinger D., Lundberg S., and Rlotnick R. How Does Adolescent Fertility Affect the Human Capital and Wages of Young Women? Journal of Human Resources 1997; 34: 421-448.

Lavy V, Zablotsky A. Mother’s Schooling and Fertility under Low Female Labor Force Participation: Evidence from a Natural Experiment. NBER Working Paper No: 16856, 2011.

Le Strat Y., Dubertret C., Le Foll B. Child Marriage in the United States and its Association with Mental Health in Women. Pediatrics 2011, 128, 524-530.

Lee D.S., Lemieux T. Regression Discontinuity Designs in Economics. Journal of Economic Literature 2010, 48(2); 281-355.

Lefgren L., McIntyre F. The Relationship between Women’s Education and Marriage Outcomes. Journal of Labor Economics 2006; 24(4); 787-830.

Levine D.I., Painter G. The Schooling Costs of Teenage Out-of-Wedlock Childbearing: Analysis with a Within-School Propensity-Score-Matching Estimator. The Review of Economics and Statistics 2003; 85(4); 884-900.

Lloyd C.B., Mensch B.S. Marriage and Childbirth as Factors in Dropping out from School: an Analysis of DHS Data from Sub-Saharan Africa. Population Studies 2008, 62; 1-13.

Marini M. Women’s Educational Attainment and the Timing of Entry into Parenthood. American Sociological Review 1984; 49; 491-511.

Mason K.O. The Status of Women: Conceptual and Methodological Debates in Demographic Studies. Sociological Forum 1986; 1; 284-300.

McCrary J., Royer H. The effect of female education on fertility and infant health: evidence from school entry policies using exact date of birth. American Economic Review 2011, 101; 158-195.

Monstad K., Propper C., and Salvanes K. Education and Fertility: Evidence from a Natural Experiment. Scandinavian Journal of Economics 2008; 110(4); 827-852.

Oppenheimer V.K. A Theory of Marriage Timing. American Journal of Sociology 1988; 94 (3); 563-591.

Oreopoulos P. Estimating Average and Local Average Treatment Effects of Education When Compulsory Schooling Laws Really Matter. American Economic Review 2006, 96(1); 152-175.

Osili U.O., Long B.T. Does Female Schooling Reduce Fertility? Evidence from Nigeria. Journal of Development Economics 2008; 87; 57-75.

Ozier O. The impact of secondary schooling in Kenya: a regression-discontuinity analysis. 2011, http://economics.ozier.com/owen/papers/ozier_JMP_20110117.pdf.

Raj A., Saggurti N., Balaiah D., Silverman J.G. Prevalence of Child Marriage and its Effect on Fertility and Fertility-control Outcomes of Young Women in India: a Cross-Sectional, Observational Study. Lancet 2009, 373:1883-89.

Raj A., Saggurti N., Winter M., Labonte A., Decker M.R., Balaiah D., Silverman J.G. The Effect of Maternal Child Marriage on Morbidity and Mortality of Children under 5 in India. British Medical Journal 2010, 340; Article Number: b4258.

Rosenzweig M.R., Schultz T.P. Schooling, Information, and Nonmarket Productivity: Contraceptive Use and Its Effectiveness. International Economic Review 1989; 30(2); 457-477.

Rosenzweig M.R., Wolpin K.I. Sisters, Siblings, and Mothers: The Effect of Teen-Age Childbearing on Birth Outcomes in a Dynamic Family Context. Econometrica 1995; 63(2); 303-326.

Schultz T.P. Human Capital, Family Planning, and Their Effects on Population Growth. American Economic Review 1994a; 84(2); 255-260.

Schultz T.P. Studying the Impact of Household Economic and Community Variables on Child Mortality. Population and Development Review 1994b; 10; 215-235.

Skirbekk V, Kohler HP, Prskawetz A. Birth Month, School Graduation, and the Timing of Births and Marriages. Demography 2004; 41(3); 547-568.

Thornton, A., Axinn W.G., Teachman J.D. The Influence of School Enrollment and Accumulation on Cohabitation and Marriage in Early Adulthood. American Sociological Review 1995, 60; 762-774.

Tunalı İ, Yüret T. How a Change in Compulsory Attendance Law for Primary Education Increased High School Enrollment in Turkey. 2008; mimeo.

Turkish Ministry of Education. National Education Statistics: Formal Education. Ankara, 2011.

Turkish Statistical Institute. Population and Development Indicators. http://nkg.tuik.gov.tr/goster.asp?aile=3. UNICEF (2005). Early Marriage: A Harmful Traditional Practice. UNICEF: New York.

Van der Klauuw, W. Estimating the Effect of Financial Aid Offers on College Enrollment: A Regression-Discontinuity Approach. International Economic Review, 43, 1249-1287.

Webbink D., Martin N.G, Visscher P.M. Does Teenage Childbearing Increase Smoking, Drinking, and Body Size? Journal of Health Economics 2008; 27; 888-903.

Willis K.J. A New Approach to the Economic Theory of Fertility Behavior. Journal of Political Economy 1973, 81(2); S14-64.

Wolpin K.I. Determinants and Consequences of the Mortality and Health of Infants and Children. In: Rosenzweig MR, Stark O. (Eds), Handbook of Population and Family Economics, Vol. 1A. Elsevier: The Netherlands; 1997. p. 483-557.