6 May
2024
Essentially Heterogeneous: The Consequences of Teen Childbearing on Ecuadorian Mothers and Children
I use deviations from the expected age at menarche to estimate the marginal treatment effects (MTEs) of teen childbearing on schooling and labor outcomes for Ecuadorian mothers and schooling and health outcomes for their firstborn children. Findings suggest that women with unobservable characteristics that make them less likely to become teen mothers are less likely to participate in the labor force, have fewer years of schooling, and are less likely to finish high school if they become teen mothers. Women with values of unobservables that make them more likely to become teen mothers do not have their schooling attainment negatively impacted and increase their labor force participation. I do not find evidence of effects on firstborn children. These findings help reconcile seemingly conflicting evidence from past studies and imply that there is potential to improve women's outcomes by reducing teen childbearing rates when opportunity costs are sufficiently high. However, these findings counter the belief that teen childbearing has been a significant source of intergenerational transmission of low socioeconomic status.