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The Effects of Contraception on Female Poverty

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  • Stephanie P. Browne
  • Sara LaLumia

Abstract

Poverty rates are particularly high among households headed by single women, and childbirth is often the event preceding these households’ poverty spells. This paper examines the relationship between legal access to the birth control pill and female poverty. We rely on exogenous cross‐state variation in the year in which oral contraception became legally available to young, single women. Using census data from 1960 to 1990, we find that having legal access to the birth control pill by age 20 significantly reduces the probability that a woman is subsequently in poverty. We estimate that early legal access to oral contraception reduces female poverty by 0.5 percentage points, even when controlling for completed education, employment status, and household composition.

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  • Stephanie P. Browne & Sara LaLumia, 2014. "The Effects of Contraception on Female Poverty," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(3), pages 602-622, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:jpamgt:v:33:y:2014:i:3:p:602-622
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1002/pam.21761
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    Cited by:

    1. M. Paula Fitzgerald & Jeff Langenderfer & Megan Lynn Fitzgerald, 2020. "Is It Ethical for For-profit Firms to Practice a Religion? A Rawlsian Thought Experiment," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 166(1), pages 159-174, September.
    2. Cragun, Randy, 2019. "Effects of lower ages of majority on oral contraceptive use: Evidence on the validity of The Power of the Pill," MPRA Paper 100871, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 03 Jun 2020.
    3. Polina Zvavitch & Michael S. Rendall & Constanza Hurtado-Acuna & Rachel M. Shattuck, 2021. "Contraceptive Consistency and Poverty After Birth," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 40(6), pages 1277-1311, December.

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