Education and second births in Hungary. The mediating role of union status

Tamás Bartus, Corvinus University of Budapest and Demographic Research Institute, Budapest

Several studies have documented a positive association between education and the transition to second births. This paper contributes to that literature by examining the mediating role of union status. More specifically, we examine the relationship between education and union status, on the one hand, and the effect of union status on second births, on the other hand. We use event-history data from the Hungarian Generations and Gender Survey to estimate the effect of education on second births. To account for selection effects and the endogeneity of union status, the conception hazard equations are estimated jointly with hazard equations for partnership formation and union dissolution.