SCHOOL-ENROLLMENT RATES AND TRENDS, GENDER, AND FERTILITY - A CROSS-NATIONAL ANALYSIS

London and Hadden (1989) used Thai province-level data to test aspects of Caldwell's "wealth-flows" theory of the decline in fertility, specifically the hypothesis that the spread of education produces declines in fertility. They found strong support for the hypothesis, but could only speculate regarding the degree to which this finding could be generalized beyond the Thai case. This study reports the results of a cross-national analysis (N = 51-59) that assessed the generality of "the spread of education effect." Although only modest additional support was found for Caldwell's "spread" hypothesis, strong support was found for Caldwell's (1982, p. 305) assertion that "demographic change is unlikely if the movement towards mass schooling is confined largely to males."