Abortion and Human Capital Accumulation A Contribution to the….pdfVIP

Abortion and Human Capital Accumulation: A Contribution to the Understanding of the Gender * Gap in Education ** Leonid V. Azarnert Department of Economics, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, 52900, Israel Abstract This article analyzes the relationship between abortion and female education. It provides new empirical evidence from sub-Saharan Africa to show that more liberal abortion policies are associated with a higher female secondary school enrollment. It is assumed in the model that easier access to abortion decreases probability of dropping out of school for a female child in the case of an occasional pregnancy. As a consequence, it enhances parental investments in human capital of their female offspring and helps to reduce the gender gap in education, as consistent with the evidence. Keywords: gender gap, abortion, fertility, human capital, economic growth JEL classification: I0, J1, O1 * I would like to thank Daniel Tsiddon and Arye L Hillman for helpful discussions. I am also gratefull to an anonymous referee for valuable suggestions. Comments of participants in Bar Ilan University seminar are gratefully acknowledged. ** Tel.: +972-3-5317534; Fax: +972-3-7384034 E-mail address: azarnel@mail.biu.ac.il 1 1. Introduction Gender inequality in education and the importance of female schooling has long been an important issue of public debates. The promotion of female education has been widely argued to be a particularly effective way to achi