Education, Married Women’s Participation Rate, Fertility and Economic Growth

We construct a model, via educational expenditure, linking female labor supply to fertility and economic growth. Our paper includes three main themes. First, increases in parental time of teaching at home and educational expenditure lead to an increase in the level of human capital stock. Both home education and school education are inputs of the human capital production function. Second, the rising opportunity cost of having children discourages parental demand for children and encourages married women’s participation. Finally, more investments in children’s human capital result in a higher growth rate. Our model closely follows the process of demographic transition. In the developed stage, an economy with a high rate of educational expenditure has a low fertility rate, high female participation rate and perpetual growth. Our model is empirically able to explain the case of Taiwan’s growth experience.