This paper uses census data to examine the impact of child labor restrictions imposed by compulsory schooling laws and child labor regulation on fertility. By exploiting variation induced by changes in legislation across time and between US states during the early twentieth century, I show that parents chose to have fewer children in response to the constraints imposed on the labor supply of their potential children and the increase in their expected quality. My findings suggest that compulsory schooling laws and child labor regulation contributed to the demographic transition in the US and provide additional empirical support for the notion that financial incentives play a role in determining household fertility decisions.

本文使用人口普查数据来检验义务教育法律和童工法规对童工的限制对生育率的影响。通过利用 20 世纪初美国各州之间立法变化引起的变化，我表明父母选择少生孩子是为了应对对潜在孩子的劳动力供应施加的限制以及他们预期质量的提高. 我的研究结果表明，义务教育法和童工监管促进了美国的人口转变，并为财政激励在决定家庭生育决策中发挥作用的观点提供了额外的实证支持。