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Abortions, Inequality and Intergenerational Mobility: A Quantitative Evaluation

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  • Georgi Kocharkov

    (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid)

Abstract

In the last three decades over a million abortions are performed annually in the United States. Empirical studies such as Donohue and Levitt (2001) and Gruber, Levine and Staiger (1999) assess the impact of legalization of abortions on crime and living conditions of children. They argue that legalization of abortions provides better living conditions and human capital endowments to surviving children. This paper takes seriously the hypothesis that the improved living conditions of children due to legalized abortion will alter their labor market outcomes. The main question of the paper is what are the aggregate implications of abortions for income inequality and intergenerational transmission of income? A model of fertility, human capital transmission, contraception and abortion decisions is built to answer this question quantitatively.

Suggested Citation

  • Georgi Kocharkov, 2010. "Abortions, Inequality and Intergenerational Mobility: A Quantitative Evaluation," 2010 Meeting Papers 974, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    • Handle: RePEc:red:sed010:974
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    References listed on IDEAS

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