Jim Devine wrote about an article by George Akerlof and Janet Yellen (of UC
Berkeley)
>As I understand their theory, the sudden increase in the
>availability of contraception technology and abortion in the US
>during the early 1970s (which isn't totally a technology shock
>but also a change in society) shook up relations between the
>sexes in a way that encouraged out-of-wedlock births. Part of
>this was the decline in forced ("shotgun") marriages of men with
>the women they had impregnated.
>
>"By making the birth of the child the _physical_ choice of the
>mother, the sexual revolution made marriage and child support a
>_social_ choice of the father," they write. "And while only a few
>unmarried mothers once kept their babies, only a few put them up
>for adoption today, because of the stigma of unwed motherhood has
>declined. Once shunned by their peers and whisked out of town,
>pregnant teen-agers now receive both encouragement and support to
>keep their babies, stay in school, and participate in other
>social activities." [probably not very good support in many
>cases, I'd say.]
>
>Note that they don't want to "turn back the technological clock
>by restricting abortion and contraception..."
Mayber Akerlof and Yellen should get together with Gary Becker and go bowling.
Arvind Jaggi
Department of Economics
Hamilton College
198 College Hill Road
Clinton, NY 13323
#(315) 859-4381
e-mail address: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
