The Effect of Education on Second Births in Hungary: A Test of the Time-Squeeze, Self-Selection, and Partner-Effect Hypotheses

The effect of education on the transition to second births is examined using three waves of the Hungarian GGS data. We hypothesize that higher education increases the hazard of second conception and this effect is due to the presence of highly educated partner. Parity-specific survival models are estimated using women born between 1946 and 1983. Higher education decreases the time to second conception. The partner’s education reduces the waiting time to second conception. The results remain robust after controlling for sample selection. The findings support the partner effect hypothesis (Kreyenfeld 2002).