Education and Postponement of Maternity: Economic Analyses for Industrialized Countries (European Studies of Population Book 15)

One of the most important demographic issues of our time is the increasing age of women at motherhood. This happens in the northern social democratic states Sweden and Norway, in the catholic countries Italy, Spain and Ireland, in the West European countries Netherlands and Germany, in the former socialist transition countries Czech Republic and East Germany, and in the liberal democracy of the United States. The postponement of maternity and the related issue of declining fertility rates are of major interest to policy makers and have provoked much scientific research. This book examines various economic aspects of the role of women’s education in the postponement of maternity in these ten industrialized countries. The chapters in this book each empirically investigate one of these countries using individual or household survey data and are in particular interested in the increasing age at motherhood with the investment in education of the mother. In search of socio-economic explanations for this relationship each chapter investigates a specific related research question. This results in a book that covers a wide range of topics on the economics of fertility decisions, such as career planning motives of women, consumption smoothing motives of households and the role of institutions. Springer CONTENTS 6 Preface 8 About the editors 9 About the authors 9 1 Introduction and Contributions of this Volume 14 2 Fertility Decisions: Economic Theory, Empirical Analysis, and Policy Relevance 44 3 The Marginal Effect of School Leaving Age on Demographic Events. A Contribution to the Discussion on Causality 78 4 Explaining the Fertility Decline in Ireland 99 5 Female Labour Force Participation and Marital Fertility in Italy 125 6 Career planning in Spain: do fixed-term contracts delay marriage and parenthood? 158 7 The Family Earnings Gap and Postponement of Maternity in the United States 186 8 Household Consumption, Saving and Employment Around the Time of Births in The Netherlands 218 9 Family Formation in East and West Germany Before and After Unification 236 10 Education and Entry into Motherhood in the Czech Republic During State-Socialism and the Transition Period 1970-1997 248 11 Assortative Mating by Education and Postponement of Couple Formation and First Birth in Britain and Sweden 270 12 Education and Completed Fertility in Norway 295 Author Index 317 A 317 B 317 C 317 D 318 E 318 F 318 G 318 H 319 I 319 J 319 K 319 L 320 M 320 N 320 O 321 P 321 R 321 S 321 T 322 U 322 V 322 W 322 Z 322 Subject Index 323 A 323 B 323 C 324 D 325 E 326 F 327 G 328 H 329 I 329 J 330 K 330 L 330 M 331 N 332 O 332 P 332 Q 333 R 333 S 333 T 334 U 334 W 335 ISBN-13:,9781402047152 This book examines economic aspects of the role of women’s education in the postponement of maternity in ten industrialized countries or regions: Sweden, Norway, Italy, Spain, Ireland, the Netherlands and Western Germany, the Czech Republic and Eastern Germany, and the United States. Each is investigated using survey data relating age at motherhood with the investment in education of the mother. The result is a detailed picture of the economics of fertility decisions. Examines various economic aspects of the role of women's education in the postponement of maternity in ten industrialized countries. This book investigates one of these countries in each of its chapters using individual/household survey data, particularly focusing on the increasing age at motherhood with the investment in education of the mother