Data for: How the other half lived: Marriage and emancipation in the age of the Pill

Abstract of associated article: The contraceptive Pill was FDA approved in 1960. However, it would be another decade before young unmarried women had full access. In the meantime, marriage constituted a way to the Pill. The later 1960s/early 1970s also saw a convergence on 18 as the minimum age of marriage, many states lowering it from 21. Exploiting these law changes, we find that a lowered minimum age precipitated marriage, delayed marital fertility, and improved women׳s educational and occupational outcomes. Marriage easing credit constraints combined with the contraceptive properties of the Pill form the hypothesized pathway.关联文章摘要：口服避孕药于1960年获得美国食品药品监督管理局（Food and Drug Administration，FDA）批准。但直至十年后，未婚年轻女性才得以完全获取该药物。在此期间，婚姻成为女性获取避孕药的途径。20世纪60年代末至70年代初，美国各州统一将最低结婚年龄定为18岁，多数州将此前的21岁法定婚龄下调。依托此次法律修订带来的政策契机，本研究发现，最低结婚年龄的下调推动了结婚行为增加，推迟了已婚女性的生育时机，并改善了女性的教育与职业发展表现。婚姻缓解信贷约束的效应与避孕药的避孕特性共同构成了本文提出的假设作用路径。