Title: Population Economics The Power of the Pill: Oral Contraceptives and Women
1Population Economics The Power of the Pill
Oral Contraceptives and Womens Career and
Marriage Decisions
2Objective Exploring the Effects of the Pill
on Marriage and Career of young, single and
college educated Women
- Contents
- Background of the Pill and its Legislation for
Young Women - Framework of the Effect of the Pill on Marriage
and Career - Coincidence of the Pills Diffusion with the
Change of - Womens Decision on Marriage and Career
3I. The Pill and the Single Women
- A. The Birth of the pill
- In 1960, FDAs approval the use of oral
contraceptives, the Pill - Rapid diffusion among married women
- Peak around 1967
- But it was just beginning to be used by young
single women
4- B. Pill Diffusion among Single Women
-
- Delayed until the early 1970s
- Legal problem
- Obtainable since the early 1970s.
- The age of majority
- Mature minors
- The cohort born in and after 1948 were most
affected by these - changes.
- Two surveys
- National Health Interview Study (1990)
- National Survey of Family Growth, Cycle
III (1982)
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7- C. State Laws and Pills
-
- State laws were altered after 1969 in three
ways. - The age of majority
- Classification of minors as mature
- Legislation of Laws
- The availability of family planning services
in college - A crucial input to career change
- In 1966 ?? In 1973
-
- States with more lenient regulations had
greater pill use (table5) - 30-45 greater use among young
8II. Framework of the effect of the pill on
marriage and career
- How could the pill affect the variable
of interest, investment - in a professional career?
- ? Through two routes, the direct and the
indirect effects. -
- Direct effect
- Reduction in the cost of marriage
delay - Thus career investment become cheaper
- Indirect effect (Social multiplier
effect) - Thickening of the marriage market
- Lead to better matches for women who
invest in careers, - as well as for some others.
9The model of effect of the pill
a contribution through a career ?
utility loss from delaying marriage
(impatience factor) ?0 utility loss
before the pill ?P utility loss after
the pill Group I(a gt ?0) delay marriage
and have a career with or without pill
Group II(?0 gt a gt ?P) Without the pill, marry
in period 1, but delay marriage and have a
career with the pill. Group III(a lt
?P) do not have a career with or without
the pill
? From this model we can assume
increase in the fraction of career women
increase in the average age at first
marriage.
10- Lessons from the model
-
- Far more than control the timing of
births. - It altered womens career and marriage
choices. - The decrease in the cost of marriage delay
- ? The increased number of individuals
delaying marriage - ? creating a thicker marriage market
- The indirect effect of a thicker marriage
led more women to - career and delay marriage (social
multiplier effect).
11III. Evidence for the Power of the Pill
- A. Career Investment
- Womens career investment on the
professions began to - climb steeply around 1970. (Figure 4a,
4b) - Career decisions of young women changed
abruptly around - 1970. (Figure 5a, 5b)
-
- A sharp rise in womens presence in law,
medicine, and other - professional across the past three
decades.
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14- B. Age at first marriage, sex, and fertility
expectation - Marriage delay beginning with the birth
cohorts of the late - 1940s (Figure 6)
-
- Decrease of the moment of first sexual
relations also line - with the cohorts (Figure 7)
- Increase of marriage delay of
college-educated women - ?? The greater legal access to the pill
(Table 5)
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17IV. Summary
- The impact of the pill on young womens
career decisions and on marriage - was significant in the 1970s.
- The pill decreased the cost of remaining
unmarried while investing in a - professional career.
- The pill further reduced the cost of
career investment by serving to increase - the age at first marriage.
- The pills affecting womens careers was
magnified by its impact on the age - at first marriage.
- Pills diffusion coincided with the
increase in the age at first marriage and - with the increase in women in professional
degree programs.
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