Stopping the Biological Clock: Infertility Treatments and the Career-family Tradeoff

Career women who want children weigh two competing forces. The fact that fecundity declines with age pushes them to have children earlier. On the other hand, career motives encourage them to delay childbirth. This paper examines the impact of recently developed infertility treatments, which relax the biological time constraint on childbearing. I use state time-series/cross-section variation in insurance coverage for infertility treatments to show that improved access to the technologies does result in changes in fertility outcomes. Most notably, I find that improved access to infertility treatments increases the incidence of multiple births and the birth rate among older women. I then use the same technique to explore the possibility that an extended biological clock will lead to changes in women’s investment in human capital and pursuit of careers. Mandating insurance coverage increases labor force participation for women under 35, and decreases participation for women over 35 while increasing their wages. Therefore, it appears that extending the biological window for childbearing does improve the career-family tradeoff for women by making delay less costly. J130 Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth J200 Time Allocation; Work Behavior; Employment Determination and Creation; Human Capital; Retirement: I180 Health: Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health