The impact of trade on schooling over the last five decades in developing countries.

I use an instrumental variables design to estimate the effect that trade has on schooling in developing countries by exploiting a panel model with over 50 years of data. I find that trade reduces schooling at all levels in developing countries. Female education more than male tends to be more responsive to the adverse effect of trade in developing countries. Trade has negative influence on schooling for both prime working age and older cohorts. The adverse effect of trade is more pronounced with imports than exports, and trade exerts differential response from schooling between developing countries and high-income countries. I provide further evidence that the trade-schooling relationship operates through fertility. These results inform the debate about the role of globalization in human capital formation in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]