In brief...Blackout babies: the impact of power cuts on fertility

Thiemo Fetzer, Oliver Pardo and Amar Shanghavi

CentrePiece - The magazine for economic performance from Centre for Economic Performance, LSE

Abstract: A rolling blackout in Colombia in the early 1990s led to a rise in unplanned births, according to research by Amar Shanghavi and colleagues. What's more, young women who became mothers after the blackout had worse outcomes in later life. The impact of power outages on fertility is an important policy issue. For example, barriers of access to family planning may translate a temporary increase in fertility into a permanent increase in the population. In addition, if a woman is at a critical stage of life, say in her teens or early adulthood, having an unintended birth could damage her educational attainment, her career development and even her romantic relationships.

Keywords: Fertility; infrastructure; blackouts; unplanned parenthood (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H41 J13 J16 O18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dem
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cep:cepcnp:403

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