TY  - JOUR
AU  - Fletcher,Jason M.
AU  - Wolfe,Barbara L.
TI  - Education and Labor Market Consequences of Teenage Childbearing: Evidence Using the Timing of Pregnancy Outcomes and Community Fixed Effects
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 13847
PY  - 2008
Y2  - March 2008
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w13847
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w13847.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Jason Fletcher
Yale University
School of Public Health
60 College Street, #303
New Haven, CT 06510
Tel: (203) 785-5670
Fax: (203) 785-6287
E-Mail: jason.fletcher@yale.edu

Barbara L. Wolfe
1225 Observatory Dr
University of Wisconsin
Madison, WI 53706
Tel: 608/263-2029
Fax: 608/265-3119
E-Mail: BWolfe@wisc.edu
AB  - The question of whether giving birth as a teenager has negative economic consequences for the mother remains controversial despite substantial research. In this paper, we build upon existing literature, especially the literature that uses the experience of teenagers who had a miscarriage as the appropriate comparison group. We show that miscarriages are not random events, but rather are likely correlated with (unobserved) community-level factors, casting some doubt on previous findings.  Including community-level fixed effects in our specifications lead to important changes in our estimates.  By making use of information on the timing of miscarriages as well as birth control choices preceding the teenage pregnancies we construct more relevant control groups for teenage mothers.  We find evidence that teenage childbearing likely reduces the probability of receiving a high school diploma by 5 to 10 percentage points, reduces annual income as a young adult by $1,000 to $2,400, and may increase the probability of receiving cash assistance and decrease years of schooling.
ER  -