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The contraceptive pill wasn鈥檛 just socially revolutionary, it also allowed women to delay marriage, motherhood and invest in their careers. The consequences of that are profound.

The contraceptive pill had profound social consequences. Everyone agrees with that. But 鈥 as Tim Harford explains 鈥 the pill wasn鈥檛 just socially revolutionary. It also sparked an economic revolution, perhaps the most significant of the late twentieth century. A careful statistical study by the Harvard economists Claudia Goldin and Lawrence Katz strongly suggests that the pill played a major role in allowing women to delay marriage, delay motherhood and invest in their own careers. The consequences of that are profound.

Producer: Ben Crighton
Editors: Richard Knight and Richard Vadon

(Image: Oral contraceptive pill, Credit: Areeya_ann/Shutterstock)

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9 minutes

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Mon 10 Apr 2017 03:50GMT

Sources and related links

Jonathan Eig - "The Birth of the Pill" London: Macmillan (2014) p7

James Trussell -听鈥淐ontraceptive Failure In the United States鈥 Contraception 2011; 83(5): pp. 397鈥404听

Claudia Goldin and Lawrence Katz -听鈥淭he Power of the Pill: Oral Contraceptives and Women鈥檚 Career and Marriage Decisions鈥 Journal of Political Economy 2002 vol 110 No 4听

Amalia R. Miller - 鈥淭he effects of motherhood timing on career path鈥 Journal of Population Economics Vol. 24, No. 3 (July 2011), pp. 1071-1100听听

Slate, Dec 2005

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  • Sat 8 Apr 2017 02:50GMT
  • Sat 8 Apr 2017 19:50GMT
  • Mon 10 Apr 2017 03:50GMT

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