Effects of Vietnam’s Universal Primary Education Law on Women’s Education, Marriage, Fertility, and Labor Market Outcomes

Abstract Using data from the Vietnam Household Living Standards Surveys from 2014, 2016, and 2018, and the Vietnam Population and Housing Census from 2019, I apply a differences-in-differences framework to assess the impacts of Vietnam’s 1991 universal primary education policy on women’s education, marriage, fertility, and employment. Results from the reduced form estimates suggest that the policy increased the probability of having at least primary education by 3.10 percentage points (3.69%) – 16 percentage points (17.02%) and the probability of having at least secondary education by 6.30 percentage points (8.51%) – 10.50 percentage points (14.19%). There is a 6.5 percentage point (12.75%) increase in women’s probability of being literate in the post-policy period. The policy decreased the number of child deaths. However, there is no evidence of the effects of the policy on women’s marriage, the probability of having a job, and the probability of having at least one child. The IV estimates on the effects of education on fertility and child mortality suggest that having more education may decrease women’s fertility and child mortality. The IV estimates of the effects of education on wages further indicate that having more education may increase women’s annual wages.