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  5. Economic Demography
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Economic Demography

Paper Session

Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025 2:30 PM - 4:30 PM (PST)

Hilton San Francisco Union Square, Golden Gate 4
Hosted By: American Economic Association & Committee on the Status of Women in the Economics Profession
  • Chair: Mary Lopez, Occidental College

The Intergenerational Health Effects of Child Marriage Bans

Teresa Molina
,
University of Hawaii-Manoa
Dung Le
,
Keio University
Yoko Ibuka
,
Keio University
Rei Goto
,
Keio University

Abstract

Using a sample of over 200,000 women across 18 countries, we investigate the effects of child marriage bans on infant and under-5 mortality rates of the next generation. We exploit variation in mothers' exposure to the ban across cohorts within each country, as well as subnational regional variation in “treatment intensity,” which we define based on the prevalence of and average age among child marriages prior to the ban. We find that child marriage bans reduced infant and under-5 mortality, with magnitudes of 14.3 and 19.9 percent corresponding to a one standard deviation change in treatment intensity, respectively. Reductions were driven by low-income countries and less wealthy households. Increases in age at first marriage and first birth, which may have led to better bargaining power and agency for these mothers during the prenatal and postnatal period, appear to be the main drivers of the mortality reductions documented.

Marital Sorting, Social Security Benefits, and Retirement Behaviors of Married Women

Zhixiu Yu
,
Louisiana State University
Siha Lee
,
Hankuk University of Foreign Studies

Abstract

Married-down wives, compared to married-same and married-up wives, exhibit significantly higher labor force participation rates and are more likely to be breadwinners during their prime working years. However, little is known about how these differences during prime working ages translate into disparities in late-life labor supply and retirement behaviors. This paper examines how the retirement behavior of married women differs by educational assortative mating and identifies key drivers in understanding the patterns. We particularly focus on two mechanisms: leisure complementarities and Social Security (spousal) benefits.
To this end, we employ the Health and Retirement Study linked with administrative Social Security data for our analyses. First, we document that “married-down” wives have a higher number of quarters of Social Security-covered employment and are less likely to receive Social Security spousal benefits. Furthermore, they are less likely to retire jointly with their husbands or claim retirement benefits early. In contrast, husbands of “married-down” wives are more likely to receive spousal benefits and claim retirement benefits earlier. These differences are robust to controlling for the age gap between spouses. Motivated by these patterns, we construct a structural model to identify the key factors shaping retirement outcomes across different marriage types. This dynamic structural model of married women incorporates leisure complementarities and institutional details of Social Security benefits. The model is estimated by simulated method of moments and then used to investigate how married women from different marriage types respond to policy counterfactuals related to Social Security spousal benefits.

Minding Your Business or Your Child? Motherhood and the Entrepreneurship Gap

Valentina Rutigliano
,
University of British Columbia

Abstract

Women are less likely than men to start firms and female entrepreneurs are less likely to succeed. This paper studies the effect of childbirth on women’s entrepreneurial activity. Drawing on rich administrative data from Canada and using an event study and instrumental variable design, I show that childbirth has substantial negative effects on women’s founding rates and firm performance, accounting for a large share of the gender gap in entrepreneurship. The impact spills over onto workers, who experience a decrease in earnings. The effects are permanent: entrepreneurial outcomes never recover to their pre-birth levels. The results are not due to a reduction in risk-taking and cannot be fully explained by household specialization based on labor market advantage. Childcare availability, progressive gender norms, and access to credit reduce the adverse effect of childbirth on the entrepreneurship gap.

Birth Order in the Very Long-Run: Estimating First-Born Premiums between 1850 and 1940

Siobhan O'Keefe
,
Davidson College
Angela Cools
,
Davidson College
Anthony Wray
,
University of Southern Denmark
Krzysztof Karbownik
,
Emory University
Joseph Price
,
Brigham Young University

Abstract

The nineteenth-century American family experienced tremendous demographic, economic, and institutional changes. By using birth order effects as a proxy for family environment, and linked census data on men born between 1835 and 1910, we study how the family's role in human capital production evolved over this period. We find firstborn premiums for occupational outcomes, marriage, and fertility that are similar across census waves. Our results indicate that the returns to investments in the family environment were stable over a long period.

Discussant(s)
Ashley Wong
,
Tilburg University
Kelly Ragan
,
Stockholm School of Economics
Reem Zaiour
,
Vanderbilt University
Meredith Paker
,
Grinnell College
JEL Classifications
  • J1 - Demographic Economics
  • I1 - Health