Life-Cycle Effects of Women's Education on their Careers and Children

We study the causal effect of women's education on their wages, non-wage job amenities, and spillovers to children.Using a regression discontinuity at the school entry birthdate cutoff, we find that women born just before the cutoff are more likely to complete some college, and experience multi-dimensional career gains that grow over the life cycle: greater employment and earnings, as well as more professional and higher-status jobs, more socially meaningful work, and better working conditions.Children's early-life health and prenatal inputs improve in tandem with career improvements, consistent with professional advances spurring-not hindering-infant investments.Career gains are concentrated in jobs that require exactly some college, the same schooling margin shifted by the cutoff, which indicates that increased post-secondary education is the primary channel for these effects.Together, the results show that women's college attendance generates large career returns-from both wages and amenities-that strengthen over time and produce meaningful benefits for children.