Policy, Fertility, and Outcomes
Policy can have a profound impact on fertility and associated outcomes. In this proposed panel, the researchers explore the effects of policy that is designed to affect fertility specifically, but also may have spillover effects into other areas. In the first paper, the authors evaluate the effects of a state program in the State of Colorado which provided highly effective, no cost contraceptives to low income women. The authors analyze the effects on birth rates, abortion rates, STD rates, as well as consider educational completion rates. In the second paper, examine how China’s one child policy (OCP) has affected the subsequent fertility of Chinese women using data on Chinese-born women born before and after the OCP compared with the fertility of women from other Asian countries from the same birth cohorts. In the third (related) paper, the authors analyze the effects of the OCP on the educational attainment of Chinese migrants to the U.S., given the estimated effects on fertility found in the preceding paper.