How Would 'Tempo Policies' Work? Exploring the Effect of School Reforms on Period Fertility in Europe

Governments and NGOs in many industrialized countries are concerned about the long-term demographic impacts of low fertility levels. We discuss how "tempo policies," reforms that shift the timing of childbearing, affect period and possibly cohort fertility levels. One such policy is a school reform that decreases the educational completion age, which could be achieved through an earlier school entrance age and compression of the school duration. Such policies are currently in focus in several low fertility countries, although for reasons not related to family issues. We show that a younger initiation of childbearing would have a rejuvenating effect on the age composition and increase the size of the population. Even if just the timing and not the levels of fertility increase, a younger timing of fertility could soften the trends of shrinking and ageing populations.

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