Gendered fertility intentions and child schooling: insights on the quantity–quality trade-off from Ethiopia

Abstract

Fertility decline in human history is a complex enigma. Different triggers have been proposed, among others the increased demand for human capital resulting in parents making a quantity–quality (QQ) trade-off. This is the first study that examines the existence of a QQ trade-off and the possible gender bias by analyzing fertility intentions rather than fertility outcomes. We rely on the unified growth theory to understand the QQ trade-off conceptually and a discrete choice experiment conducted among 426 respondents in Ethiopia to analyze fertility intentions empirically. We confirm the existence of a QQ trade-off only when the number of children is less than six and find that intentions are gendered in two ways: (i) boys are preferred over girls, and (ii) men are willing to trade-off more education in return for more children. Results imply that a focus on both stimulating intentions for education, especially girls' education, and on family size intentions is important to accelerate the demographic transition.

Research on influencing factors of college teachers’ second child fertility intentions——Taking Jinan as an example

“…Fertility intentions are people's subjective intentions or attitudes toward childbearing, and they have an important predictive effect on fertility behavior [10][11][12]; they determine, to a certain extent, the fertility level and population development of a country or region [11]. Scholars in different countries and regions are increasingly studying fertility intentions [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21]. Therefore, fertility intentions are of great practical significance for a country or region.…”