Table 4.
Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) and Two-Stage Least Squares (2SLS) Estimates of the Effect of Family Size on Children’s Educational Level: 1990 Chinese Population Census (rural vs. urban)
| Independent Variable | Dependent Variable: Educational Levela |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rural |
Urban |
|||||
| OLS (1) | First Stage (2) | 2SLS (3) | OLS (4) | First Stage (5) | 2SLS (6) | |
| Twins at the First Delivery | ||||||
| All nontwin children | ||||||
| Number of observations | 593,186 | 79,021 | ||||
| Number of children | –0.030** (−43.69) | 0.505** (33.61) | –0.042* (−2.46) | –0.003 (−1.37) | 0.785** (37.81) | –0.024 (−1.13) |
| Twins at the Second Delivery | ||||||
| Nontwin children in families with two or more births | ||||||
| Number of observations | 529,511 | 23,927 | ||||
| Number of children | –0.038** (−47.22) | 0.689** (54.93) | –0.013 (−1.21) | –0.022 (−4.96) | 0.849** (21.04) | –0.008 (−0.25) |
| First children in families with two or more births | ||||||
| Number of observations | 312,378 | 14,985 | ||||
| Number of children | –0.030** (−27.91) | 0.771** (53.64) | 0.000 (0.04) | –0.027** (−4.16) | 0.922** (22.52) | 0.007 (0.23) |
| Number of children (control for spacing) | –0.031** (−29.27) | 0.826** (58.85) | 0.001 (0.11) | –0.026** (−3.93) | 0.947** (23.52) | 0.006 (0.18) |
| Twins at the Third Delivery | ||||||
| Nontwin children in families with three or more births | ||||||
| Number of observations | 250,646 | 5,841 | ||||
| Number of children | –0.044** (−29.06) | 0.824** (50.51) | –0.026† (−1.85) | –0.023** (−2.31) | 0.680** (7.89) | –0.050 (−0.50) |
| First and second children in families with three or more births | ||||||
| Number of observations | 200,538 | 4,403 | ||||
| Number of children | –0.038** (−21.38) | 0.856** (50.81) | –0.021 (−1.49) | –0.012** (−0.93) | 0.803** (8.88) | –0.049 (−0.55) |
| Second child | –0.030** (−16.78) | –0.032** (−11.70) | 0.004 (0.39) | 0.009 (0.58) | ||
| Number of children (control for spacing) | –0.040** (−22.26) | 0.885** (53.38) | –0.020 (−1.44) | –0.012** (−0.96) | 0.790** (8.95) | –0.049 (−0.56) |
| Second child (control for spacing) | –0.028** (−15.73) | –0.032** (−10.71) | 0.005 (0.42) | 0.011 (0.59) | ||
Notes: Robust t statistics, which allow for correlation of errors within family, are shown in parentheses. All regressions include age, age squared, age cubed, indicators for male and Han, parents’ age and age squared, parents’ educational level, and provincial dummy variables.
a
1 = illiterate; 2 = primary school; and 3 = junior high school or above.
†
p < .10;
*
p < .05;
**
p < .01