The Power of the Pill: Oral Contraceptives and Women

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The Power of the Pill Oral Contraceptives and
Womens Career and Marriage Decisions

• Claudia Goldin and Lawrence F Katz
• Presented by Jennifer Windh

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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 womens access to
  pill across states

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The Pill and Single WomenDiffusion of the Pill
among Single Women

• Pill rapidly adopted by married women legal and
  social barriers blocked single womens access
• Late 60s early 70s 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

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The Pill and Single WomenDiffusion of the Pill
among Single Women
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The Pill and Single WomenState 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

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The Pill and Single WomenThe Impact of State
Laws on Pill Use
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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
• Womens marriage desirability as a function of
  nurturing and career
• Preferences not fully formed until older

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The Effect of the Pill on Marriage and Career
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Evidence for the Power of the PillTime Series
Career Investment
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Evidence for the Power of the PillTime Series
Age at First Marriage
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Evidence for the Power of the PillFormal
Analyses Age at First Marriage State Law
Changes
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Evidence for the Power of the PillFormal
Analyses Career and Marital Status Outcomes
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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