Is Education Always Reducing Fertility? Evidence from Compulsory Schooling Reforms

We study the relationship between education and fertility, exploiting compulsory schooling reforms in England and Continental Europe, implemented between 1936 and 1975. We assess the causal effect of education on the number of biological children and the incidence of childlessness. While we find a negative relationship between education and fertility in England, this result cannot be confirmed for Continental Europe. The additional education generated by schooling expansions on the Continent did not lead to a decrease in the number of biological children nor to an increase in childlessness. These findings are robust to a number of sensitivity and falsification checks.