Graduated Driver Licensing and Teen Fertility

Using the National Vital Statistics System (NVSS) data on births and a triple differences approach, this paper finds that the nighttime driving curfews imposed by the Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL) system reduced births among teen mothers by approximately 2%. GDL is a system that phases in driving privileges for teenagers by imposing driving curfews and limitation on the number of minor passengers in the motor vehicle, and to date, all 50 states and the District of Columbia have implemented it. Previous cost-benefit analyses of GDL implementation underestimate the full benefits of GDL.