Working Paper: NBER ID: w29334
Authors: Daniel I. Rees; Joseph J. Sabia; Rebecca Margolit
Abstract: The minimum wage is increasingly viewed as an important tool for improving public health outcomes, including reducing childbearing among teenagers. Taken at face value, recently reported estimates suggest that raising the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour could reduce the number of teenage births by 35,000 per year. Using an event study framework that accounts for dynamic and heterogeneous treatment effects, we find little evidence that minimum wages are causally related to teenage childbearing. Moreover, the estimated effects of minimum wages on teenage sexual behaviors, including contraception use, abstinence, and number of partners are consistently small and statistically insignificant.
Keywords: minimum wage; teenage childbearing; public health; dynamic difference-in-differences
JEL Codes: J13; J18
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Minimum Wages (J38) | Teenage Childbearing (J13) |
| Increase in Minimum Wage (J38) | Teenage Birth Rate (J13) |
| Minimum Wage Increase (J38) | Teenage Sexual Behavior (J13) |
| Minimum Wage Increase (J38) | Contraception Use (J13) |
| Minimum Wage Increase (J38) | Marriage Rates (J12) |