Identifying the Consequences of Teenage Childbearing

43 Pages Posted: 1 Sep 2001

Date Written: August 29, 2001

Abstract

Using miscarriage as an instrument for birth suffers from a censoring problem created by the fact that women wanting the pregnancy to end in an abortion frequently pre-empt an "assigned" miscarriage. I describe evidence that this problem is severe, creates a significant bias in IV estimates, and develop non-parametric estimators to correct for censoring. While simple IV estimates previously suggested teenage childbearing had little effect on high school completion or labor market outcomes later in life, non-parametric IV estimates indicate significant costs of teenage childbearing, particularly for high school aged girls.

JEL Classification: J13, J16, J22

Suggested Citation

Ashcraft, Adam B., Identifying the Consequences of Teenage Childbearing (August 29, 2001). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=281645 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.281645

Adam B. Ashcraft (Contact Author)

Federal Reserve Bank of New York ( email )

33 Liberty Street
New York, NY 10045-0001
United States
212-720-1617 (Phone)
212-720-8363 (Fax)

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