Did the legalization of abortion increase women’s household bargaining power? Evidence from labor supply

Sonia Oreffice

Review of Economics of the Household, 2007, vol. 5, issue 2, 207 pages

Abstract: I estimate the impact of abortion legalization on spouses’ labor supplies to test whether legalization increased women’s household bargaining power, in a collective household behavior framework. Based on CPS data, I find that wives’ labor supply decreased and their husbands’ increased, which is consistent with the bargaining hypothesis. This contrasts with most studies of abortion and birth control technologies, which predict a labor supply effect only for women, and of opposite sign. Also consistent with the bargaining interpretation, I estimate no significant impact on anti-abortion religious couples or on those who regularly used contraceptives. PSID data yield supportive evidence. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2007

Keywords: Legalization of abortion; Household bargaining power; Labor supply; D1; J22 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2007
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DOI: 10.1007/s11150-007-9009-y

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