The education gender gap and the demographic transition in developing countries

Abstract

This paper explores, theoretically and empirically, the role of the declining gender gap in education in the demographic transition and the emergence of modern economic growth. Specically, the paper develops a model in the tradition of the unied growth theory that captures and interconnects the key empirical features of the demographic transition, the decline in gender gap in education, and the transition to sustained growth across less-developed economies. The mechanism on which the model relies comprises several interplaying components. First, technological progress reduces housework time through the creation and diusion of labor-saving home appliances, which frees women's time for childrearing, resulting in an initial increase in fertility, as well as in labor-force participation. Second, due to the possibly higher female labor-force participation as housework time decreases, households invest relatively more in their daughters' education, given its higher return following the initial imbalance. This improves gender equality in education and increases the opportunity cost of childrearing, which leads to a subsequent decrease in fertility. Third and nally, the decrease in the education gender gap through higher investment in daughters' education increases average human capital, thus accelerating technological progress in turn. This reinforcing loop results in the transition to a new fertility regime and accelerated economic growth. We provide the empirical conrmation of the model's predictions using data from developing countries in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

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

“…First, we extend the model to allow for gendered intentions for the number of children and their educational level. We do not assume an a priori asymmetry in gender intentions, unlike other models who relate son intentions to a gender wage gap or low female labor participation and gender differences in education to the time cost for childbearing which only accrue to women [Echevarria and Merlo (1999), Hazan and Zoabi (2015), Guo and Yu (2017), Japaridze (2019), Dao et al (2021)]. Second, following the suggestion of Retherford (1985), we allow for satiated intentions for the number of children and education, because we assume that having more children or education does not necessarily result in more utility, unlike previous studies who assume that the utility parents derive from childrearing follows a logarithmic distribution.…”

The Slow Demographic Transition in Regions Vulnerable to Climate Change

“…We extend the model in Dao et al (2021) by incorporating the role of local resources on women's time for doing housework and the dynamics of local resources under the persistent e↵ects of climate change. By "local resources" we mean the entire geographical environment and natural resources of the economy that support the daily lives of people, such as water resources, firewood, air quality, etc.…”

“…Following Dell et al (2012) and Dao et al (2021), we use OLS fixed-e↵ect estimation to exploit the within-country variation of temperature to total fertility rates, female labor force participation, local resources and the female wages.…”

“…The decline in the gender gap is reflected by the rise in women's relative income and the associated increase in women's bargaining power. This theory, developed by Galor and Weil (1996), Doepke and Tertilt (2009), Diebolt and Perrin (2013), Prettner and Strulik (2017), Bloom et al (2020), and recently Dao et al (2021), proposes that the rise in women's relative income increases the opportunity cost of child-rearing and, thereby reduces fertility.…”

Does Gender Equality in Labor Participation Bring Real Equality? Evidence From Developed and Developing Countries

“…Over the past quarter century, more than half a billion women have joined the world's labor force (World Bank, 2012 Increasing participation of women in economic activities is a core development objective in itself, it raises GDP and has positive spillover effects (World Bank, 2012). When women earn an income, they invest it in the well-being of their children, including their education and in improving their health (Grabowski and Self, 2013;Dao et al, 2021). Likewise, they usually reinvest a much larger proportion of their earnings in their families and communities than men, spreading wealth and creating a positive impact on future development.…”