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Liberalization of Birth Control and the Unmarried Share of Births. Evidence from Single Mothers in the Marriage Market

Author

Listed:
  • John Kennes

    (Department of Economics and Business Economics, Aarhus University, Denmark)

  • John Knowles

    (Simon Fraser University, Canada)

Abstract

Half of unmarried births are to women who are already mothers, and a quarter to women who were previously married. We develop a model of equilibrium matching and fertility to replicate these facts. We use the model to revisit the hypothesis that liberalization of the Pill and abortion caused the massive increase since 1960 in the share of US births to unmarried women. Our results suggest that liberalization alone is ineffective; what matters are interactions between liberalization and the decline in the stability of marriage, and, secondarily, the rising status of single mothers.

Suggested Citation

  • John Kennes & John Knowles, 2015. "Liberalization of Birth Control and the Unmarried Share of Births. Evidence from Single Mothers in the Marriage Market," Economics Working Papers 2015-25, Department of Economics and Business Economics, Aarhus University.
    • Handle: RePEc:aah:aarhec:2015-25
    as

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    File URL: https://repec.econ.au.dk/repec/afn/wp/15/wp15_25.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    Cited by:

    1. John Knowles & Guillaume Vandenbroucke, 2019. "Fertility Shocks And Equilibrium Marriage‐Rate Dynamics," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 60(4), pages 1505-1537, November.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Search/Matching; Demographic Economics; Household Formation; Marriage; Fertility;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D10 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - General
    • E13 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General Aggregative Models - - - Neoclassical
    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics
    • J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search

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