Reexamining the Impact of Family Planning Programs on U.S. Fertility: Evidence from the War on Poverty and the Early Years of Title X / Martha J. Bailey.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bailey, Martha J.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w17343.

NBER working paper series no. w17343

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Other Title:

Reexamining the Impact of Family Planning Programs on U.S. Fertility

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2011.

Summary:

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.

Notes:

Print version record

August 2011.