Fertility shock and schooling

Michel Tenikue, CEPS/INSTEAD
Sandrine Koissy-Kpein, CEPS/INSTEAD
Mathias Kuepie, CEPS/INSTEAD

This paper uses Demographic and Health Surveys data from 20 sub-Saharan African countries to investigate the link between the birth of an “unintended child” and schooling decisions of children (dropout and entrance). After controlling for area unobserved heterogeneity, we show that, the birth of an “unintended child” hinders child schooling. It increases the probability that a child aged 6 to 18 years drops out of school and it decreases the probability that a child aged 6 to 9 years starts schooling. This result suggests that, the unexpected birth of a child strengthens household’s constraints.