Work

The Power of the Pill: Evidence from Oral Contraceptive Sales

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: The introduction of oral contraception (‘the pill’) was a watershed in fertility control. Yet, the pill’s impact on childbearing has been hard to establish due to limited data. I exploit rich data on pill sales across markets and time to characterise how Swedish teens’ access to pharmacies shaped pill sales and fertility after the pill’s introduction. Pill sales are highly sensitive to pharmacy access, and teen fertility responds strongly to pill sales. The unique data establish an important link in the causal chain from pill access to women’s fertility. Estimated fertility responses to the pill could explain the halving of teen births after the pill’s introduction, a finding that is robust to accounting for trends in female education, abortion provision and other factors.

Source: The Economic Journal

DOI: 10.1093/ej/ueaf017

Author: Kelly Suzanne Ragan

Institution: Stockholm School of Economics

Language: English

Topic: Reproductive Health and Contraception

Subfield: Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health

Field: Medicine

Domain: Health Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $4,463