The impact of an abortion ban on socioeconomic outcomes of children: Evidence from Romania

Type Journal Article - Journal of Political Economy
Title The impact of an abortion ban on socioeconomic outcomes of children: Evidence from Romania
Author(s)
Volume 114
Issue 4
Publication (Day/Month/Year) 2006
Page numbers 744-773
URL https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Cristian_Pop-Eleches/publication/24104466_The_Impact_of_an_Abor​tion_Ban_on_Socioeconomic_Outcomes_of_Children_Evidence_from_Romania/links/00463528a0152d950e000000.​pdf
Abstract
This study examines educational and labor outcomes of children a®ected by a ban on abortions. I use evidence from Romania, where in 1966 dictator Nicolae Ceausescu declared abortion and family planning illegal. Birth rates doubled in 1967 because abortion was the primary method of birth control. Children born after the abortion ban attained more years of schooling and greater labor market success. This is because urban, educated women were more likely to have abortions prior to the policy change, and the relative number of children born to this type of woman increased after the ban. However, controlling for composition using observable background variables, children born after the ban on abortions had worse educational and labor market achievements as adults. Additionally, I provide evidence of crowding in the schooling system and some suggestive evidence that cohorts born after the introduction of the abortion ban had higher infant mortality and increased criminal behavior later in life. While in the shortrun the abortion ban di®erentially increased fertility of more educated women, in the long-run the ban di®erentially increased fertility among less educated women. This suggests that educated women changed their behavior more drastically as a result of the ban.

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