Professor Curtis to Present on Fertility Timing at PAA Conference

BUSSW Professor Marah Curtis will present a paper, "Explaining Variation in Fertility Timing: Evidence from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study," with co-author Dr. Jane Waldfogel of Columbia University at the 2007 Annual Program Meeting for the Population Association of American (PAA). The conference is being held at the Marriott Marquis in New York City, March 29 to 31.

The paper examines the determinants of variation in fertility timing using a new and diverse birth cohort study, the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, drawn from 20 cities in the United States. The study found considerable variation in the time to next birth among comparable mothers who live in different cities. Some of this variation is explained by variation in labor markets, housing costs, and welfare policies, particularly for unmarried women who already have two or more children, whose fertility is more sensitive to these contextual variables than is the fertility of married women, or unmarried women with just one child.