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  4. May 2024
  5. Transgender Transitioning and Responsiveness to Policy: Evidence from the Netherlands

AEA Papers and Proceedings

ISSN 2574-0768 (Print) | ISSN 2574-0776 (Online)

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Transgender Transitioning and Responsiveness to Policy: Evidence from the Netherlands

  • Elisa de Weerd
  • John Cawley
  • Hans van Kippersluis
AEA Papers and Proceedings
vol. 114, May 2024
(pp. 364–68)
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Abstract

This study examines a 2014 policy change in the Netherlands that simplified the process to legally transition gender. Administrative data for 2006–2022 indicate that there was a 725 percent increase in transitions after the policy change, suggesting that legal gender transitions are elastic to costs and barriers. The policy change was followed by a ten-year reduction in the average age at transition and a reduction in the use of gender-affirming care in the three years prior to transitioning. This research sheds light on how policy changes can influence decisions related to gender transitioning and the use of gender-affirming care.

Citation

de Weerd, Elisa, John Cawley, and Hans van Kippersluis. 2024. "Transgender Transitioning and Responsiveness to Policy: Evidence from the Netherlands." AEA Papers and Proceedings, 114: 364–68. DOI: 10.1257/pandp.20241120

Additional Materials

JEL Classification

  • J16 Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
  • J18 Demographic Economics: Public Policy
  • K38 Human Rights Law; Gender Law; Animal Rights Law