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| Title: | The Selectivity of Fertility and the Determinants of Human Capital Investments: Parametric and Semi-Parametric Estimates |
| Authors: | Pitt, Mark M.
Rosenzweig, Mark R. |
| Issue Date: | 1989 |
| Series/Report no.: | Bulletin 89-9 |
| Abstract: | In this paper we assess the importance of heterogeneity and selective
fertility in altering estimates and interpretations of the determinants of
the human capital of children. We set out a sequential model of human
capital investments in children incorporating endogenous fertility and
heterogeneity in human capital endowments to
illustrate the fertility selection problem and issues of identification.
Empirical results based on parametric and semi-parametric estimates of
selectivity models applied to data on birthweight and schooling in Malaysia
indicate that the hypothesis of no fertility selection is strongly rejected,
with mothers having higher birthweight children tending to have
substantially lower birth probabilities (negative birth selectivity). As a
consequence, the positive association between mother's schooling and
birthweight is substantially underestimated and the positive effects of
delaying childbearing overestimated when birth selectivity is not taken into
account. The schooling results indicate strong rejection of the "efficient
schooling" model, in which schooling is allocated efficiently across
children, but only when the selectivity of fertility is taken into account. |
| URI: | http://purl.umn.edu/7511 |
| Institution/Association: | University of Minnesota>Economic Development Center>Bulletins |
| Total Pages: | 36 |
| Language: | English |
| Collections: | Bulletins
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| edc89-09.pdf | 1620Kb | PDF | View/Open |
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