Full Citation
Title: More Power to the Pill: The Impact of Contraceptive Freedom on Women's Lifecycle Labor Force Participation
Citation Type: Working Paper
Publication Year: 2004
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Abstract: The release of Enovid in 1960, the first birth control pill, afforded U.S. women unprecedented freedom to plan childbearing and their careers, yet little is known about the impact of the pill on womens labor supply. This paper uses quasi-experimental variation in state consent laws to evaluate the causal impact of oral contraception on the timing of first births and extent and intensity of womens labor-force participation. With legal data that I compiled and fertility and labor market information from the Current Population Surveys, my results suggest that early legal access to the pill significantly reduced the likelihood of a first birth before age 22. Among women in their twenties, early access increased the number of women in the paid market as well as the number of annual hours and weeks worked. In contrast to a long literature in economics that emphasizes the importance of demand factors, my results suggest that legal access to birth control may have accelerated the growth in younger womens labor-force participation since 1970.
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Authors: Bailey, Martha J.
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Publication Number: 04-WG01R
Institution: Vanderbilt University
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Publisher Location: Nashville, TN
Data Collections: IPUMS CPS
Topics: Fertility and Mortality, Gender, Labor Force and Occupational Structure
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