The Power of the Pill: Oral Contraceptives and Women’s

Career and Marriage DecisionsClaudia Goldin and Lawrence F

Katz

Presented by Jennifer Windh

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 women’s access to pill across states

The Pill and Single Women:Diffusion of the Pill among Single

Women• Pill rapidly adopted by married women;

legal and social barriers blocked single women’s access

• Late 60’s – early 70’s: 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

The Pill and Single Women:Diffusion of the Pill among Single

Women

The Pill and Single Women:State 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

The Pill and Single Women:The Impact of State Laws on Pill Use

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– Women’s marriage desirability as a

function of “nurturing” and career– Preferences not fully formed until older

The Effect of the Pill on Marriage and Career

Evidence for the Power of the Pill:

Time Series – Career Investment

Evidence for the Power of the Pill:

Time Series – Age at First Marriage

Evidence for the Power of the Pill:

Formal Analyses – Age at First Marriage & State Law Changes

Evidence for the Power of the Pill:

Formal Analyses – Career and Marital Status Outcomes

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