I estimate the model using data from the 1995 National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG), the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) and the Current Population Survey (CPS). By matching aggregate education-specific fertility and abortion profiles, I find that fertility risk (the degree to which individuals fail to obtain their desired outcomes) differs markedly by education groups and is an important ingredient in explaining the differences observed in the data. This result shows that fertility risk is a source of lifetime inequality -since it is more prevalent among lower educated individuals- and highlights the importance of incorporating endogenous and imperfect fertility decisions into life-cycle models when the studied environments exhibit incomplete insurance.
