This paper investigates the causal relationship between women’s education and fertility by
exploiting variation generated by the removal of school fees in Ethiopia. The increase in
schooling caused by this reform is identified using both geographic variation in the intensity of
the reform’s impact and the temporal variation generated by the implementation of the
reform. The model finds that the removal of school fees in Ethiopia led to an increase of over
1.5 years of schooling for women affected by the reform. A two-stage least squares approach
is used to measure the impact of the exogenous increase in schooling on fertility. Each
additional year of schooling led to a reduction in fertility, a delay in sexual activity, marriage,
and the timing of at least their first, second, and third births. There is also evidence that the
increase in schooling led to improved labor market outcomes, and a reduction in the desired
number of children. Additionally, there is evidence of strategic use of hidden forms of
contraception, only after family size becomes sufficiently large or after two sons have been
born