Minimum Wages and Teenage Childbearing: New Estimates Using a Dynamic Difference-in-Differences Approach

Daniel Rees, Joseph J. Sabia and Rebecca Margolit

No 29334, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: The minimum wage is increasingly viewed as an important tool for improving public health outcomes, including reducing childbearing among teenagers. Taken at face value, recently reported estimates suggest that raising the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour could reduce the number of teenage births by 35,000 per year. Using an event study framework that accounts for dynamic and heterogeneous treatment effects, we find little evidence that minimum wages are causally related to teenage childbearing. Moreover, the estimated effects of minimum wages on teenage sexual behaviors, including contraception use, abstinence, and number of partners are consistently small and statistically insignificant.

JEL-codes: J13 J18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea, nep-lab and nep-ure
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