The Opt-In Revolution? Contraception and the Gender Gap in Wages

被引：98

作者：

Bailey, Martha J. ^{[1
]}

Hershbein, Brad ^{[1
]}

Miller, Amalia R. ^{[2
]}

机构：

[1] Univ Michigan, Dept Econ, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 USA

[2] Univ Virginia, Dept Econ, Charlottesville, VA 22904 USA

来源：

AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL-APPLIED ECONOMICS | 2012年 / 4卷 / 03期

关键词：

WOMENS RELATIVE WAGES; BIRTH-CONTROL; MARRIAGE; PILL; POWER; PREGNANCY; TEENAGERS; FERTILITY; ABORTION; CAREER;

D O I：

10.1257/app.4.3.225

中图分类号：

F [经济];

学科分类号：

02 ;

摘要：

Decades of research on the US gender gap in wages describes its correlates, but little is known about why women changed their career paths in the 1960s and 1970s. This paper explores the role of "the Pill" in altering women's human capital investments and its ultimate implications for life-cycle wages. Using state-by-birth-cohort variation in legal access, we show that younger access to the Pill conferred an 8 percent hourly wage premium by age 50. Our estimates imply that the Pill can account for 10 percent of the convergence of the gender gap in the 1980s and 30 percent in the 1990s.

引用

页码：225 / 254

页数：30

共 45 条

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