The Paradox of the Pill
نویسندگان
چکیده
Dramatic improvements in fertility control mark some of the most significant technological changes of the twentieth century, and so it seems paradoxical that the same period saw widespread and large increases in non-marital births. We link these two trends and examine the effect of increased access to the birth control Pill on non-marital childbearing and shot-gun marriage rates, along with other labor, education and fertility outcomes of women. Using multiple data sources and legal reforms which generated plausibly exogenous variation in access to the Pill for both married women and minors, we find that increased marital access on net increased non-marital childbearing rates, primarily through a dramatic decrease in marriage rates following a birth. We also confirm and add to the evidence on the contributions of the Pill to increased female education and birth spacing already found in the literature, but find convincing evidence that the Pill had heterogenous effects for women. Minorities and women from less educated families primarily saw increased non-marital childbearing, while whites and women from more highly educated families saw higher levels education and increased birth spacing. Finally we examine how the Pill altered spousal sorting and show that the introduction of the Pill improved the marital prospects of women from more highly educated households, and hurt them among those from less educated families. The results are consistent with the prior theoretical literature that the Pill created winners and losers both through re-sorting in the marriage market and by eliminating shot-gun marriage as a norm. JEL Classification:
منابع مشابه
A Little Bit of Sugar Helps the Pill Go Down: Resilience, Peace, and Family Planning; Comment on “The Pill Is Mightier Than the Sword”
The article by Potts et al, “The Pill is Mightier than the Sword,” points out that family planning has an important role to play in building peace by increasing women’s empowerment and their agency, ultimately helping peacebuilding efforts. Evidence has demonstrated that family planning programs are cost effective, produce quick results, help women and couples meet their desired fertility level...
متن کاملThe Pill vs. the Sword: Additional Considerations; Comment on “The Pill Is Mightier Than the Sword”
In this paper, I present additional information for policy-makers and researchers to consider in response to the view proposed by Potts et al that “the pill is mightier than the sword.” I identify states with both high rates of terrorism and a youth bulge and discuss correlates of both these societal characteristics. The research examined supports the view that factors other than access to fami...
متن کاملBertrand’s Paradox Revisited: More Lessons about that Ambiguous Word, Random
The Bertrand paradox question is: “Consider a unit-radius circle for which the length of a side of an inscribed equilateral triangle equals 3 . Determine the probability that the length of a ‘random’ chord of a unit-radius circle has length greater than 3 .” Bertrand derived three different ‘correct’ answers, the correctness depending on interpretation of the word, random. Here we employ geomet...
متن کاملParadox in the Poetry of Hazin-e Lahiji
Paradox is one of the literary techniques in the poetry of the Safavid poets. Hazin-e Lahiji, like so many other poets of that age, employed this technique in his pursuit and showed that "unfamiliar meaning". Paradox is used in the poetry of Hazin-e Lahiji for the purpose of defamiliarization and exoticism. The poet in order to create new implications and subtle and insightful points and also t...
متن کاملLove, sex, freedom and the paradox of the pill.
New updated! The latest book from a very famous author finally comes out. Book of love sex freedom and the paradox of the pill a brief history of birth control, as an amazing reference becomes what you need to get. What's for is this book? Are you still thinking for what the book is? Well, this is what you probably will get. You should have made proper choices for your better life. Book, as a s...
متن کامل