Julia Andrea Behrman

Sociologist Julia Behrman’s research explores the relationship between inequality in educational opportunity and demographic processes, with emphasis on fertility and family formation. Much of her work is motivated by a central question: How does family background shape educational opportunities, and in turn, how does education shape fertility, family formation, and the intergenerational transmission of inequality? Her work takes an international comparative perspective that focuses on contexts in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia undergoing rapid economic, social, and demographic change. More recent work has explored the interplay between international migration and family change among migrants from high-fertility African and Asian countries to lower-fertility European countries.