Income Inequality and Early Nonmarital Childbearing

• Autores: Melissa S. Kearney, Phillip Levine
• Localización: Journal of human resources, ISSN 0022-166X, Vol. 49, Nº 1, 2014, págs. 1-31
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Abstract:Using individual-level data from the United States, we empirically investigate the role of lower-tail income inequality in determining rates of early nonmarital childbearing among low socioeconomic status (SES) women. We present robust evidence that young low-SES women are more likely to have a nonmarital birth when they live in places with larger lower-tail income inequality, all else held constant. We calculate that differences in the level of inequality are able to explain a sizeable share of the geographic variation in teen fertility rates. We propose a model of adolescent decision-making that facilitates the interpretation of our results.