The effect of spending cuts on teen pregnancy

Paton, David; Wright, Liam

Abstract

In recent years, English local authorities have been forced to make significant cuts to devolved expenditure. In this paper, we examine the impact of reductions in local expenditure on one particular public health target: reducing rates of teen pregnancy. Contrary to predictions made at the time of the cuts, panel data estimates provide no evidence that areas which reduced expenditure the most have experienced relative increases in teenage pregnancy rates. Rather, expenditure cuts are associated with small reductions in teen pregnancy rates, a result which is robust to a number of alternative specifications and tests for causality. Underlying socio-economic factors such as education outcomes and alcohol consumption are found to be significant predictors of teen pregnancy.

Citation

Paton, D., & Wright, L. (2017). The effect of spending cuts on teen pregnancy. Journal of Health Economics, 54, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhealeco.2017.05.002

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: May 15, 2017
• Online Publication Date: May 17, 2017
• Publication Date: Jul 31, 2017
• Deposit Date: Jun 21, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 18, 2018
• Journal: Journal of Health Economics
• Print ISSN: 0167-6296
• Electronic ISSN: 1879-1646
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 54
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhealeco.2017.05.002
• Keywords: Spending cuts; Teen pregnancy; Conceptions; Abortion
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/875111
• Publisher URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhealeco.2017.05.002