Educational hypogamy and second births in Hungary

Abstract

Recently, a growing body of literature examined the implications of the reversal of gender gap in education end educational hypogamy for family  formation. However, less is known about the effect of educational  hypogamy on second birth rates. In the present paper, we examine the effect of educational hypogamy on second birth rates in Hungary. Drawing on the economic theory of fertility and available data on sex- and education-specific average wages, we hypothesize that (1) educational hypogamy has a negative effect on second birth rates, and (2) the magnitude of that effect increases with female education. The hypotheses are tested using event history data from the first four waves of the Hungarian Generations and Gender Survey. The analyses are restricted to women born 1951-1980 who were partnered at the time of first birth. We find that educational hypogamy decreases second birth rates, especially among women born between 1971 and 1980. However, we do not find evidence which would support the second hypothesis. Rather, the effect of hypogamy is the largest among women with secondary education, but only in the 1971-1980 cohort. The findings may explain the U-shaped relationship between education and second birth rates.