The Power of the Pill Oral Contraceptives and

The Power of the Pill: Oral Contraceptives and Women’s Career and Marriage Decisions Claudia Goldin and Lawrence F Katz Presented by Jennifer Windh

Background • Birth Control Pill approved by FDA in 1960 • Removed penalties of abstinence and uncertainty about pregnancy, thereby decreasing the costs of investing in human capital for women • Analyzes effect on age of first marriage and career choices • Proposes a natural experiment is created by differential changes in single women’s access to pill across states

The Pill and Single Women: Diffusion of the Pill among Single Women • Pill rapidly adopted by married women; legal and social barriers blocked single women’s access • Late 60’s – early 70’s: age of majority lowered and mature minor laws adopted • Data is very limited on this topic • Laws were not necessarily perfectly enforced • Decision to focus on college graduate women

The Pill and Single Women: Diffusion of the Pill among Single Women

The Pill and Single Women: State Variation in Laws Affecting Contraceptive Services • Age of majority lowered • Mature minor laws • Family Planning available without parental consent • University health services tended to conform to state laws

The Pill and Single Women: The Impact of State Laws on Pill Use

The Effect of the Pill on Marriage and Career • Direct Effect: reduce cost of marriage delay and career investment • Indirect Effect: lower cost of career investment through “thickening” of marriage market • Rest: better marriage matches – Women’s marriage desirability as a function of “nurturing” and career – Preferences not fully formed until older

The Effect of the Pill on Marriage and Career

Evidence for the Power of the Pill: Time Series – Career Investment

Evidence for the Power of the Pill: Time Series – Age at First Marriage

Evidence for the Power of the Pill: Formal Analyses – Age at First Marriage & State Law Changes

Evidence for the Power of the Pill: Formal Analyses – Career and Marital Status Outcomes

Alternative Explanations • Abortion Reform; Availability of other methods of birth control • Resurgence in feminism • Anti-discrimination legislation • Advancement and affordability of home production technology • Sex-ratio changes • End of draft deferments for graduate students