Emilia Simeonova, John Hopkins, Carey Business School

Children of the Pill: The Long-term and Intergenerational Effects of Subsidizing Oral Contraceptives

Abstract

This paper uses a series of municipal-level experiments in Sweden between 1989 and 1998 and registry data on three generations of Swedes to study how improving access to oral contraception (the pill) affected fertility, family formation, women’s education and children’s health, education, and economic outcomes. Free and legal abortion was available to all up to the 12th gestational week since 1975. To identify the effects of the pill subsidy policy we make use of differences in subsidy exposure across municipality, time, and age eligibility. We first show that subsidized contraception for young women increased pill sales, leading to fewer abortions and lower short-term realized fertility for the eligible age groups. However, we find no differences in completed fertility – births are postponed to older ages, rather than avoided. Women affected by the subsidies were more likely to get some college education and have higher average incomes in their late 30s and early 40s. Their children are in better mental health and exhibit superior schooling outcomes, as measured by standardized education achievement scores in 3rd, 6th, and 9th grades. Investigating the possible mechanisms, we find evidence of higher family stability, with fewer number of life partners for the affected women and better parental involvement on behalf of the fathers of their children. These effects are stronger in the population of women coming from lower family socio-economic backgrounds.

Emilia Simeonova is Professor of Economics at John Hopkins, Carey Business School

Emilia’s research interests in the economics of health care delivery, patient adherence to therapy and the interaction between physicians and patients, racial disparities in health outcomes, the long-term effects of shocks to children's health and the intergenerational transmission of health. Her research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the Swedish Research Council and the Danish Academy of Sciences.

You can read more about Emilia Simeonova here

CEBI contact: Ida Lykke Kristiansen