Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/149177 
Year of Publication: 
2016
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 10318
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
This paper presents a response to Jaeger, Joyce, and Kaestner's (JJK) recent critique (IZA Discussion Paper No. 10317) of our 2015 paper "Media Influences on Social Outcomes: The Impact of MTV's 16 and Pregnant on Teen Childbearing." In terms of replication, those authors are able to confirm every result in our paper. In terms of reassessment, the substance of their critique rests on the claim that the parallel trends assumption, necessary to attribute causation to our findings, is not satisfied. We present three main responses: (1) there is no evidence of a parallel trends assumption violation during our sample window of 2005 through 2010; (2) the finding of a false placebo test result during one particular earlier window of time does not invalidate the finding of a discrete break in trend at the time of the show's introduction; (3) the results of our analysis are robust to virtually all alternative econometric specifications and sample windows that JJK consider. We conclude that this critique does not pose a serious threat to the interpretation of our 2015 findings. We maintain the position that our earlier paper is informative about the causal effect of 16 and Pregnant on teen birth rates.
Subjects: 
teen childbearing
media
JEL: 
J13
L82
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
268.31 kB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.