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HOW DO STATE INFERTILITY INSURANCE MANDATES AFFECT DIVORCE?
Author(s) -
Cintina Inna,
Wu Bingxiao
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
contemporary economic policy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.454
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1465-7287
pISSN - 1074-3529
DOI - 10.1111/coep.12416
Subject(s) - subsidy , infertility , affect (linguistics) , demographic economics , fertility , health insurance , subsidized housing , state (computer science) , economics , business , economic growth , medicine , environmental health , health care , psychology , population , pregnancy , genetics , communication , algorithm , computer science , market economy , biology
The technological developments in infertility treatments have increased the success of childbearing among women with impaired fertility. Fifteen U.S. states have mandated insurance coverage of assisted reproductive technology, thus subsidizing and increasing the use of the technology. We exploit the variation of mandates across states and over time to examine the relationship between state mandates and the likelihood of divorce. Using individual‐level data from the 1984–2008 Survey of Income and Program Participation, we find that women are less likely to divorce after the state adopts infertility insurance mandates. We find the effect is larger among women in their 40s, covered by private insurance, with a college degree, and without children. ( JEL J12, J13, J18, I13, I18)