In 1999, the United States Center for Disease Control (CDC) named family planning as one of the top ten """"""""Great Public Health Achievements"""""""" of the twentieth century. However, the lack of data and credible estimation strategies has limited social science knowledge about the benefits of these programs. Dramatic increases in federal investments in U.S. family planning programs under the War on Poverty (1964 to 1970) and Title X of the Public Health Service Act (1970-1980) presents an unrealized opportunity to evaluate the importance of these programs. This project will exploit discontinuities in federal family planning grants from 1964 to 1980 to create new estimates of these programs'impact on U.S. fertility and maternal and infant health. This project has four specific aims: (1) To compile, encode, link and disseminate the most comprehensive dataset on annual federal investments in family planning services from 1964 to 1980;fertility rates by race and county from 1950 to 1980;and maternal and infant health measures by race and county from 1950 to 1980;(2) To develop and test two alternative methodologies for estimating the benefits of family planning programs;(3) To quantify the impact of family planning programs on fertility and health outcomes;(4) To quantify the impact of family planning programs on disparities in fertility and health outcomes between racial groups, low-income and higher-income women, and between communities. Several additional features make this project particularly novel. First, a comprehensive summary of all (not just federally funded) family planning services in five program years allows an examination of federal crowd-out. Secondly, heterogeneity in the effectiveness service delivery can be analyzed by provider type, because the clinic censuses provide information on the location (hospital or elsewhere) and sector (nonprofit or public) of each program. Finally, the 1960s and 1970s in the U.S. are a particularly useful point of comparison for understanding the effectiveness of many of these programs today as well as in developing countries. By compiling, encoding and disseminating information on the U.S. during the 1960s and 1970s, this project will aid other researchers interested in these programs, fertility and maternal and infant health during this period.
This project contributes to public health knowledge in two main ways. First, by compiling, encoding and disseminating information on U.S. fertility and health by race and county from 1950 to 1970, it will aid researchers (other than the principal investigator) in understanding the evolution of U.S. fertility rates and maternal and infant health during this important period in U.S. history. Second, by quantifying the impact of family planning programs on changes in levels and disparities in fertility and health, this project will provide much better information on the shorter- and longer-term benefits of these programs in the U.S. Therefore, these estimates should assist policy-makers and philanthropists in making funding decisions about similar programs in the U.S. and abroad.
| Bailey, Martha J; Malkova, Olga; Norling, Johannes (2014) DO FAMILY PLANNING PROGRAMS DECREASE POVERTY? EVIDENCE FROM PUBLIC CENSUS DATA. CESifo Econ Stud 60:312-337 |
| Bailey, Martha J; Duquette, Nicolas J (2014) How Johnson Fought the War on Poverty: The Economics and Politics of Funding at the Office of Economic Opportunity. J Econ Hist 74:351-388 |
| Bailey, Martha J (2013) Fifty Years of Family Planning: New Evidence on the Long-Run Effects of Increasing Access to Contraception. Brookings Pap Econ Act 2013:341-409 |
| Bailey, Martha J (2012) Reexamining the Impact of Family Planning Programs on US Fertility: Evidence from the War on Poverty and the Early Years of Title X(). Am Econ J Appl Econ 4:62-97 |
