Increased education affects market and non-market outcomes. This paper investigates the causal impact of the extension of compulsory education from 6 to 9 years on females’ education, marriage, and fertility outcomes in Thailand. Using data from the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) and a donut-hole Regression Discontinuity (RD) design, we show that the new law increases lower secondary school completion in girls, leading to decreased probabilities of giving birth in the school-age years (14–17 years). The policy primarily affects the marginal child leading to the postponement of the timing of their fertility to after-school years. We also document heterogeneity and show that the fertility effects are stronger for Muslim women. The policy leads to a consistent drop in the probability of marriage and cumulative births for Muslim women, which sustain beyond the completion of schooling years. The results hold with alternative empirical model specifications and falsification tests.

教育的增加会影响市场和非市场结果。本文调查了泰国义务教育从 6 年延长至 9 年对女性教育、婚姻和生育结果的因果影响。利用多指标聚类调查 (MICS) 和圆环孔回归断点 (RD) 设计的数据，我们表明新法律提高了女童初中毕业率，导致学龄期生育概率下降（14-17 岁）。该政策主要影响边缘儿童，导致他们的生育时间推迟到放学后的时间。我们还记录了异质性，并表明穆斯林女性的生育效应更强。该政策导致穆斯林女性的结婚概率和累计生育率持续下降，持续到完成学年之后。结果适用于替代经验模型规范和证伪测试。