Too much power to the pill? The tale of a second revolution

The contraceptive pill is one of the most used drugs around the world, with 100 million

users in 2000. The economic literature documents liberalizing effects of the contraceptive

pill on women’s fertility, career and education choices. Access to the pill delayed fertility

and marriage. It also led to increased labor supply, larger human capital investment as well

as improved educational outcomes for the next generation. One important aspect of the pill

that has not received attention is the potential downside of long-term, continuous hormonal

intake. Medical studies document a strong link between pill usage and depression.

This project will analyse long-term conseuqences of the contracpetiv pill on later life mental health.

In order to identify this effect I use variation in laws goverinng early access to the pill in the 1960s and 1970s. 

In order to use this information, I want to use state of residence information for the participants of the Health and Retirement Survey (HRS). 

This residence information is restricted and needs proof of an ethical review by the institution. I will only use the residence information to create an indicator on whether or not an individual had early access to the pill, which I will use as the main explanatory variable. I will not use the the residence information for anything else. There is thus no thread to data privacy.