Can technological change account for the sexual revolution?
Can technological change account for the sexual revolution?
By reducing the risk of unwanted parenthood, better contraception reduces the cost of unmarried sex, increasing the value of single life. A simple one-period example suggests this could explain why marriage and birth rates have declined since 1970. We extend the analysis to allow for repeated matching over many periods, modelling the shotgun-marriage, contraception-method and abortion margins. We use US survey data on contraception, sexual activity and family dynamics to calibrate the model to the 1970s; we find that the effects of liberalizing access to contraception and abortion account for 60% of the behavioural shifts associated with the sexual revolution.
Two-Sided Search, Divorce, Family, Family Economics, Household Formation, marriage, marriage rate, premarital, single mother, single parent, fertility
ESRC Centre for Population Change
Kennes, John
43f62d6d-a9fa-45ec-aec0-da1553994634
Knowles, John
0c41d933-fc6d-4a91-9e0f-0b07e5db84ac
July 2013
Kennes, John
43f62d6d-a9fa-45ec-aec0-da1553994634
Knowles, John
0c41d933-fc6d-4a91-9e0f-0b07e5db84ac
Kennes, John and Knowles, John
(2013)
Can technological change account for the sexual revolution?
(ESRC Centre for Population Change Working Paper Series, 34)
Southampton, GB.
ESRC Centre for Population Change
58pp.
Record type:
Monograph
(Working Paper)
Abstract
By reducing the risk of unwanted parenthood, better contraception reduces the cost of unmarried sex, increasing the value of single life. A simple one-period example suggests this could explain why marriage and birth rates have declined since 1970. We extend the analysis to allow for repeated matching over many periods, modelling the shotgun-marriage, contraception-method and abortion margins. We use US survey data on contraception, sexual activity and family dynamics to calibrate the model to the 1970s; we find that the effects of liberalizing access to contraception and abortion account for 60% of the behavioural shifts associated with the sexual revolution.
Text
2013_WP34_Can_Technological_Change_Account_for_the_Sexual_Revolution_Kennes_et_al.pdf
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More information
Published date: July 2013
Keywords:
Two-Sided Search, Divorce, Family, Family Economics, Household Formation, marriage, marriage rate, premarital, single mother, single parent, fertility
Organisations:
Social Statistics & Demography, Centre for Population Change
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 354974
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/354974
ISSN: 2042-4116
PURE UUID: 803a2d1f-cc24-48e5-92f0-7fbaa31fdddb
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Date deposited: 14 Aug 2013 11:29
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 14:26
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Contributors
Author:
John Kennes
Author:
John Knowles
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