Effect of an abrupt change in sexual and reproductive health policy on teen birth rates in Ecuador, 2008–2017

Omar Galarraga and Jeffrey E. Harris

Economics & Human Biology, 2021, vol. 41, issue C

Abstract: Several countries have implemented “family-centered” abstinence-only policies for teenagers, as opposed to encouraging utilization and expansion of reproductive health services and education. Little is known, however, about the effects of these more restrictive policies on adolescent birth rates at the national level or their differential effects by race and ethnicity. The extant literature is even scarcer in low- and middle-income countries. We analyze an unexpected policy change in Ecuador that abruptly reversed course and restricted reproductive health services for teenage women in 2014. We use a canton- and time-fixed effects difference-in-differences analysis of Ecuador’s 221 cantons with time-varying controls to analyze the impact of the abrupt policy change on the difference of teen (15−19 years) minus young adult (20−24 years) birth rates. In a difference-in-difference-in-differences analysis, the policy change increases birth rates by 8.5 births per 1000 women in cantons with higher indigenous concentration. Results are robust to changes in the comparison population (young adults vs. women in their late 20 s or in their early 30 s), pre-intervention control periods, population weighting, serial correlation, logarithmic model specification, adjustments for intervention year, definition of indigenous concentration, and potential delays in policy implementation.

Keywords: Difference-in-differences; Teenage births; Ecuador; Sexual & reproductive health policy; Triple differences; Latin America (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I12 I18 J13 J18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ehbiol:v:41:y:2021:i:c:s1570677x20302379

DOI: 10.1016/j.ehb.2020.100967

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