A new paper published online in the Journal of Population Economics finds that individuals whose mothers were affected by an abortion ban Romania employed in the mid-1960s had a significantly lower demand for children than those who were not.

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The inter-generational fertility effect of an abortion ban
by Federico Gutierrez

Published ONLINE: Journal of Population Economics, scheduled for 2021. Free Readlink

GLO Fellow Federico Gutierrez

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Author Abstract: This study examines the extent to which banning women from having abortions affected the fertility of their children, who did not face a similar legal constraint. Using multiple censuses from Romania, I follow men and women born around the time Romania banned abortion in the mid-1960s to investigate the demand for children over their life cycle. The empirical approach combines elements of regression discontinuity design and the Heckman selection model. The results indicate that individuals whose mothers were affected by the ban had significantly lower demand for children than those who were not. One-third of the decline is explained by inherited socio-economic status.

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Journal of Population Economics 33, 1127–1172 (2020). OPEN ACCESS
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