Fertility, Child Work and Schooling Consequences of Family Planning Programs: Evidence from an Experiment in Rural Bangladesh

Nistha Sinha, Yale University

Since the mid-1970s Bangladesh has relied on its family planning program to deliver modern contraceptive methods as well as information about these methods to households. It can be expected that the net reduction in price of fertility regulation induced by such a program influences not only households’ fertility but also choices closely related to it. Using data from a randomized family planning program experiment in rural Bangladesh, this paper evaluates the program’s impact on fertility. It also estimates the effect of this program on children’s labor force participation and schooling. Women’s exposure to the program significantly lowered their fertility. The program appears to have no statistically significant effects on school enrollments of sons or daughters. However, it appears to significantly raise labor force participation by sons.