Working Paper: NBER ID: w17343
Authors: Martha J. Bailey
Abstract: Almost 50 years after domestic U.S. family planning programs began, their effects on childbearing remain controversial. Using the county-level roll-out of these programs from 1964 to 1973, this paper reevaluates their shorter- and longer-term effects on U.S. fertility rates. I find that the introduction of family planning is associated with significant and persistent reductions in fertility driven both by falling completed childbearing and childbearing delay. Although federally-funded family planning accounted for a small portion of the post-baby boom U.S. fertility decline, the estimates imply that they reduced childbearing among poor women by 21 to 29 percent.
Keywords: Family Planning; Fertility; Poverty; U.S. Policy; Childbearing
JEL Codes: J1; J13; J18
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Introduction of family planning programs (J13) | Reductions in fertility rates (J13) |
| Introduction of family planning programs (J13) | Delay in childbearing (J13) |
| Introduction of family planning programs (J13) | Decrease in completed childbearing (J13) |
| Introduction of family planning programs (J13) | Reductions in teen births (J13) |
| Introduction of family planning programs (J13) | Reductions in births to women in their early twenties (J13) |
| Introduction of family planning programs (J13) | Reductions in childbearing among poor women (J13) |
| Introduction of family planning programs (J13) | Decline in fertility rates among populations served (J13) |