Presentazione Women's Education and Fertility in Italy at the Onset of the Demographic Transition

Abstract

This paper studies the impact of women's education on their fertility choices in Italy at the onset of the Italian demographic transition (1881-1921). We use newly digitised panel data at the district (circondario) level to measure the literacy rate of school-age females and the associated child-woman ratio twenty years later, and we employ these variables as proxies for, respectively, early-life female education and subsequent fertility behaviour. We find that districts with higher literacy rates of young females showed lower fertility levels after two decades, also when controlling for several fertility demand and supply factors. For causal estimation we develop an instrumental variables strategy exploiting proximity to the first female teacher-training colleges (normal schools) that were opened under the Casati Law of 1859. Finally, we provide suggestive evidence on the relevance of women's economic independence as an important channel for potential effects of education on fertility.