Catherine Rampell asks
Perhaps this has something to do with Claudia Goldin’s findings that some of the fields that require the most educational investment upfront — like pediatrics, or veterinary medicine — also happen to be fields whose work schedules allow for a healthy work-family balance. High-achieving women who want children may be discovering this, and making their career choices accordingly.
Are there other explanations for why the country’s most educated women are more likely to have children today than they were in the 1990s?
Selection effect.
That is, highly educated women today are not drawn from the same pool as highly educated women of yesterday.
40 year old female professional / PhD in the 1990s had to have started down that track in the late 70s when it was far more rare and they faced higher social costs.
It is likely that only those who really wanted to pursue professional / PhD careers endured those costs. They were then more likely to pursue their career to the exclusion of other things.
Now, the costs are lower and more women who want these career but also want children are choosing to pursue advanced degrees.
HT: Sullivan
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Monday ~ June 28th, 2010 at 7:43 pm
Sister Y
Why are those with low education less likely to have kids nowadays?
I assume those with low education who DO have kids are still much more likely to have what might be called a “litter” than those with a Bachelor’s degree or higher. But this gives us a little bit of hope regarding low-SES-women’s growing ability to perceive the distinction between a vagina and a clown car.
Monday ~ June 28th, 2010 at 9:45 pm
Noumenon
How about ideology? In the ’70s population control was a popular idea among the educated, and now it seems to be shifting back toward having all the kids you want because we trust the economy to let us have our cake and eat it too.