The Socioeconomic Consequences of Teen Childbearing Reconsidered
通过比较姐妹首次生育年龄的差异，发现家庭背景异质性可能导致早期研究高估了青少年生育对母亲和子女的长期社会经济负面影响。
Teen childbearing is commonly believed to cause long-term socioeconomic disadvantages for mothers and their children. However, earlier cross-sectional studies may have inadequately accounted for marked differences in family background among women who have first births at different ages. We present new estimates that take into account unmeasured family background heterogeneity by comparing sisters who timed their first births at different ages. In two of the three data sets we examine, sister comparisons suggest that biases from family background heterogeneity are important, and, therefore, that earlier studies may have overstated the consequences of teen childbearing.