Teen families, welfare transfers, and the minimum wage: evidence from Canada
利用加拿大1990-2005年省级数据，研究发现福利转移对青少年生育影响有限，而最低工资提高10%与青少年生育率上升3%-5%显著相关，机制是提高了男性青少年收入、结婚率和已婚青少年生育率。
Abstract This study evaluates the impacts of welfare transfers and the minimum wage on teen family formation by pooling provincial data from Canada between 1990 and 2005. OLS estimates suggest that welfare transfers have had limited impact on teen births. On the other hand, a 10% increase in the minimum wage is significantly correlated with a 3%–5% rise in teen birth rates. This finding is explained by further regressions, which reveal that an increase in the minimum wage is significantly associated with (1) higher earnings among male teens, (2) an increase in teen marriage rates, and (3) an increase in fertility among married teens but not among unmarried females. Finally, estimates based on the 2003 and 2005 waves of the Canadian Community Health Surveys demonstrate that married teens are more likely to engage in sex as well as unprotected intercourse in comparison with single teens.