The legalization of abortion and women’s bargaining power: a marriage market analysis1

Innovations in birth control technology have largely affected women and their available fertility choices. We analyze the consequences of these innovation on intrahousehold allocation of resources in a simple model of frictionless matching on the marriage market, in which women differ in their taste for children. The qualitative feature of the equilibrium depend on whether men or women are in excess supply on the marriage market. When women are in excess supply, while the specific feature of the equilibrium vary with the taste distribution, an improvement in the birth control technology generally increases the ’power’, hence the welfare of all women, including those who are not interested in the new technology. However, this ’empowerment’ effect crucially relies on the avilability of the new technology to single women. Should the innovation be reserved to married women, the conclusion may be reversed.