Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/35475 
Year of Publication: 
2009
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 4176
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
Previous studies have suggested that more liberal abortion laws should lead to a decrease in marriage rates among young women as 'shotgun weddings' are no longer necessary. Empirical evidence from the United States lends support to that hypothesis. This paper presents an alternative theory of abortion access and marriage based on asymmetric information, which suggests that more liberal abortion laws may actually promote young marriage. An empirical examination of marriage data from Eastern Europe shows that countries that liberalized their abortion laws saw an increase in marriage rates among non-teenage women.
Subjects: 
Abortion
marriage asymmetric information
JEL: 
J12
J13
K0
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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