Publication Date: 1975 Chapter Title: Education and Fertility

and more systematic empirical findings suggest that couples with more education have fewer children. This chapter is a progress report on a research project which offers analytical explanations for the negative relationship between educa-tion and fertility and which attempts to determine empirically the effects of education on fertility behavior when certain economic and demographic factors are held constant. The analysis focuses on the role of education in household pro-duction ' and its influence on effective use of contraception and on the couple's choices between number of children and child "quality. " The empirical results to which the chapter refers were obtained from recent United States cross-sectional data sets. No attempt has been made to summarize the recent and rapidly grow-ing literature pertaining to the economic analysis of fertility. THE The analytical framework used in considering the effects of educa-FRAMEWORK...tion on fertility is built upon the notion that households may be viewed as small firms. A firm purchases raw materials, equipment, and manpower and uses them to produce its product. In much the same way, the household purchases consumer-durable and con-NOTE: This chapter was written as a progress report on a research project supported by the Carnegie Commission through NBER and was submitted for inclusion in this volume in January 1971. I have published two subsequent research papers (Michael, 1971, 1973). The present chapter has been only slightly revised. I received useful suggestions on earlier drafts from Armen A. Aichian, Gar