Parenting Potential
Family, Community, and the Rural Social Mobility Advantage
Dylan Connor et al.
Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, forthcoming
Abstract:
This article investigates the puzzle of why children from lower-income backgrounds in rural America experience higher levels of intergenerational mobility than their urban counterparts. Utilizing multilevel modelling, new spatial measures of rurality, and place-level intergenerational mobility data, we investigate the source of this "rural advantage" in social mobility. We find that high rates of rural intergenerational mobility are principally driven by the outcomes of boys growing up in rural communities with a predominance of two-parent households and marital stability. The largest associations are observed for White and Hispanic boys, as well as those who grew up in the middle of the country. These associations are more nuanced for girls. In fact, girls from lower-income rural households exhibit a disadvantage in terms of their personal income attainment. These findings emphasize the importance of communities with high household and marital stability in facilitating later-life income mobility, particularly among boys. They also challenge emerging conventional wisdom that the rural social mobility advantage is primarily a result of migration from poorer rural areas to wealthier towns and cities.
Exposure to Nearby Homicides and Young Women's Reproductive Lives during the Transition to Adulthood
Abigail Weitzman et al.
American Journal of Sociology, forthcoming
Abstract:
We merge information on the date and location of homicides in Flint, Michigan, with georeferenced weekly panel data from the Relationship Dynamics and Social Life study to assess how and why nearby homicides immediately impact young women's risk of pregnancy. Women's probability of conceiving a pregnancy increased in weeks when homicides occurred within .25 miles of their homes relative to in other weeks. This increase in pregnancy risk reflected decreases in contraceptive use, especially of short-acting hormonal methods. Contraceptive changes, however, were not accompanied by immediate changes in feelings about pregnancy or contraception or by immediate changes in contraceptive access or forgetfulness. Rather, in weeks when nearby homicides occurred, women were less likely to use contraception "just because," suggesting a marked decline in their reproductive vigilance. Although the small sample causes uncertainty about the magnitude of these differences, when they culminate in pregnancy, the immediate consequences of nearby homicides can have lifelong ramifications for young adults.
Education Gradients in Parental Time Investment and Subjective Well-being
Ariel Kalil et al.
NBER Working Paper, September 2023
Abstract:
College-educated mothers spend substantially more time in intensive childcare than less educated mothers despite their higher opportunity cost of time and working more hours. Using data from the 2010-2013 and 2021 waves of the Well-being Module of the American Time Use Survey, we investigate this puzzle by testing the hypothesis that college-educated mothers enjoy childcare more. We find that among all mothers, spending time in childcare is associated with higher positive feelings compared to spending time in other activities. However, college-educated mothers experience no more positive feelings and no fewer negative feelings during intensive childcare than other mothers. Moreover, college-educated mothers report substantially fewer positive feelings for time spent in management activities and substantially more negative feelings for time spent in educational activities with their child. Findings are robust to controlling for a rich set of covariates, mother fixed effects, and simulations to account for selection into intensive childcare.
Parenting with Patience: Parental Incentives and Child Development
Daniela Del Boca et al.
NYU Working Paper, September 2023
Abstract:
We construct a dynamic model of child development where forward-looking parents and children jointly take actions to increase the child's cognitive and non-cognitive skills within a Markov Perfect Equilibrium framework. In addition to time and money investments in their child, parents also choose whether to use explicit incentives to increase the child's self-investment, which may reduce the child's future intrinsic motivation to invest by reducing the child's discount factor. We use the estimated model parameters to show that the use of extrinsic motivation has large costs in terms of the child's future incentives to invest in themselves.
Anticipatory Impacts of the Repeal of Roe v. Wade on Female College Applicants
Brigham Walker et al.
Economics Letters, forthcoming
Abstract:
We examined the relative impact of the anticipated repeal of Roe v. Wade on the share of female applicants to universities in states where abortion was banned compared with universities in states where abortion remained legal. Using the Common Data Sets from 71 of the top 100 institutions in the United States spanning 27 states from academic years 2018-2022, we found that there was a nearly one percentage point relative decrease in the share of female undergraduate applicants to institutions in ban states compared with states in which abortion remained legal. This suggests that undergraduate applicants are sensitive to state reproductive health policies and that this may impact the demographic composition of colleges and the future labor pool of the affected states.
Forecasts for a post-Roe America: The effects of increased travel distance on abortions and births
Caitlin Myers
Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, forthcoming
Abstract:
I compile novel data measuring county-level travel distances to abortion facilities and resident abortion rates from 2009 through 2020. Using these data, I implement a difference-in-difference research design measuring the effects of driving distance to the nearest abortion facility on abortions and births. The results indicate large but diminishing effects: an increase from 0 to 100 miles is estimated to reduce abortion rates by 19.4% and increase birth rates by 2.2%, while the next 100 miles reduces abortions by an additional 12.8% and increases births by an additional 1.6%. Based on this evidence, I forecast the effects of post-Roe abortion bans on abortion rates by county, state, and region. In a scenario in which total abortion bans take effect in 24 states, about one-quarter of residents seeking abortions are predicted to become trapped by distance and about three-quarters of those who are trapped are predicted to give birth as a result.
Roe v. Rates: Reproductive Healthcare and Public Financing Costs
Runjing Lu & Zihan Ye
University of Tennessee Working Paper, September 2023
Abstract:
After the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, states with abortion "trigger" bans tied to the decision see an increase in municipal bond yields relative to states with preexisting laws protecting abortion. The effects are stronger in counties where access to abortion services decrease more after the court ruling, where residents are more accepting of abortion, and which rely more on female workforce. Using the stock market's reaction following the Court's decision and the staggered state-level adoption of laws targeting abortion providers, we identify deteriorated firm value, worsening business dynamism, and net out-migration of residents as key factors underlying the rise in municipal bond yields. Together, our results highlight the importance of reproductive healthcare policies in driving local economies and public financing costs.
Sex differences in birth weight depending on the mother's condition: Testing the Trivers-Willard hypothesis in Indian twins
Ryoko Takikawa & Yasuyuki Fukukawa
Evolution and Human Behavior, forthcoming
Abstract:
According to the Trivers-Willard hypothesis, mothers who give birth to sons when their general condition is good and daughters when their condition is bad have an advantage in fitness. The purpose of this study was to test this hypothesis in humans by examining sex differences in birth weight according to maternal age based on a comparison of the birth weights of twins. A total of 2138 Indian twins (668 opposite sex, 2940 same sex) from the 2015-2016 National Family Health Survey IV database were identified for analysis. In total, 3700 mothers were at low risk for having low-birth-weight babies in terms of maternal age (ages 20-34 years) and 576 mothers were at high risk in terms of maternal age (20 years younger or 35 years or older). The results of the analysis of covariance showed that: 1) the birth weight ratio of opposite-sex twins is small (female newborns are heavier) when the mothers are at a high risk age. 2) At a high risk age, female newborns in opposite-sex twins, who can receive sex-based discriminatory investments, are heavier at birth than female babies in same-sex twins. These results remained significant after controlling for variables potentially related to birth weight. This study provides potential evidence that in utero selection is retained by the mother as a countermeasure against threats in terms of fitness.