Dear All,

I’ve been asked to rephrase my comments in a more historical vein, so let
me do so.

I certainly would love to see such a conference includes a discussion on
the history of research on the effects of abortion. Such a study could
trace how conservative (especially Christian) funding and conservative
academic mores shaped the research practices (especially the use of very
dissimilar comparison groups) that led to the findings Hammond alludes to -
and how more recent research, shaped by developments in causal inference
(such as quasi experimental methods and natural experiments) and funded by
less conservative sources has documented the opposite. For example, the
highly regarded Turn Away study* (which compares women who sought an
abortion but did not receive one with those who did secure abortion care,
thus eliminating many of the problems plaguing earlier studies) found that:

“receiving an abortion does not harm the health and wellbeing of women, but
in fact, being denied an abortion results in worse financial, health and
family outcomes.”

In this sense, the research domain likely parallels work in demography more
generally (see, for example, Emily Merchant or Jamie Budnick’s works on the
history of demography) which has seen repeated instances of conservative
funding producing conservative findings that were overturned or challenged
when approached with new, more rigorous, methodologies and less
conservative funding streams.

Best,
Dan Hirschman
Assistant Professor of Sociology
Cornell University

* link:
https://www.ansirh.org/research/ongoing/turnaway-study

On Tue, Dec 20, 2022 at 5:41 PM Hammond, Daniel <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> I would hope that organizers of the webinars on "reproductive rights"
> will be open to all the evidence on the effects of abortion. The emotional
> and spiritual consequences for women who have their unborn children killed
> are well documented. These include higher rates of anxiety and depression,
> alcohol and drug addiction, suicidal thoughts, and self-destructive
> behavior.
>
> Dan Hammond
>
> J. Daniel Hammond
> Hultquist Family Professor, Emeritus
> Wake Forest University
> Winston-Salem, NC 27109
>
> On Mon, Dec 19, 2022 at 12:35 PM Marianne Johnson <[log in to unmask]>
> wrote:
>
>> Reproductive Rights in Contemporary Economics and
>>
>> the History of Economic Thought
>>
>>
>> [Please share.]
>>
>>
>>
>> With the support of History of Economic Society and the Masters program
>> in the Theory and History of Economics at the University of Lyon 2, we are
>> hosting a series of webinars that bring together historians of economic
>> thought, applied economists, demographers, and political and critical
>> theorists to consider the economics of reproductive rights in contemporary
>> and historical context around the world. The discussion of rights to safe
>> and legal abortion was recently reopened in Kenya, India, Brazil,
>> Macedonia, Russia, South Korea, and Poland. In the United States, the
>> recent Supreme Court ruling on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization
>> is likely to have profound implications for women’s health and
>> socioeconomic opportunities. As economists writing on behalf of Jackson
>> Women’s Health argued, “there is a substantial body of well-developed and
>> credible research that shows that abortion legalization and access in the
>> United States has had – and continues to have – a significant effect on
>> birth rates as well as broad downstream social and economic effects,
>> including on women’s educational attainment and job opportunities.” Those
>> cited include Claudia Goldin, Francine Blau, Jonathan Gruber, and Joshua
>> Angrist.
>>
>>
>>
>> Linking reproductive rights to economic well-being is not a new
>> phenomenon. The right of choice in childbearing has long been understood to
>> contribute to women’s economic independence (Wollstonecraft 1798; J.S. Mill
>> 1869; Wicksell 1880; Perkins Gilman 1898) and family limitation was also
>> viewed as a component of improved living standards (Marshall 1890; Pareto
>> 1896). Contemporary studies evince what was well understood by earlier
>> economists – that effective family planning, including access to legal
>> abortion, is associated with increased wages, higher family incomes,
>> greater labor force participation rates, and expanded human capital
>> investment (Goldin 1990; Gruber et al. 1999; Kleven et al. 2019; Lindo et
>> al. 2020; Myers 2017; Meyers et al. 2019). It is also important to consider
>> whether and how undermining reproductive rights might compromise the lives
>> of LGBTQ+ people and their families in ways that are different to cisgender
>> women or to heterosexual families.
>>
>>
>>
>> Building on recent efforts that have revealed the depth and breadth of
>> economic thought on gender disparities in education, labor conditions, pay,
>> and ownership rights (e.g., Becchio 2020; Chassonnery-Zaïgouche and Cot
>> 2021; Madden 2019; Badgett 2020), we seek to encourage dialog on the
>> economics of reproductive rights with the goal of encouraging
>> collaborations between scholars of diverse disciplinary backgrounds (with a
>> focus on collaborations between historians of economic thought and applied
>> economists). We also hope the webinars will support the development of
>> materials that could be used for teaching special topics courses and
>> seminars.
>>
>>
>>
>> Organization:
>>
>> The webinars will be held online at a variety of different times to give
>> the greatest opportunity for public attendance globally. Seminars will be
>> moderated by Miriam Bankovsky (La Trobe University), Rebeca
>> Gomez-Betancourt (University of Lyon 2), and/or Marianne Johnson
>> (University of Wisconsin Oshkosh).
>>
>>
>> Zoom links will be made available in January.
>>
>>
>> Schedule of Webinars
>>
>> January - May 2023
>>
>>
>>
>>    1.
>>
>>    Marianne Johnson, Historian of Economics, University of Wisconsin
>>    Oshkosh
>>
>> The Wicksells on Procreation and Population
>>
>> Monday January 30 at 9am EST (GMT -05). 9am in New York; 15h in Lyon; 2pm
>> in London; 1am (Tues) in Melbourne.
>>
>>
>>
>>    1.
>>
>>    Miriam Bankovsky, Political Theorist and Historian of Economics, La
>>    Trobe University
>>
>> Alfred Marshall Weighs in on the Victorian Family Limitation Debates:
>> Principles for Improved Living Standards and the Politics of “Voluntary
>> Restraint”
>>
>> Tuesday February 07 at 4am EST (GMT -05). 4am in New York; 10h in Lyon;
>> 9am in London; 8pm in Melbourne.
>>
>>
>>
>>    1.
>>
>>    Caitlin Myers, Economist, Middlebury College
>>
>> From Roe to Dobbs: 50 years of Abortion Policy and the Economic Research
>> that has Studied it
>>
>> Wednesday February 15 at 1pm EST (GMT - 05) New York; 19h in Lyon; 6pm in
>> London; 5am in Melbourne.
>>
>>
>>
>>    1.
>>
>>    Mayra Pineda-Torres, Microeconomist, Georgia Institute of Technology
>>
>> Legal Access to Reproductive Control Technology and Women’s Education:
>> The Economic Impacts of Abortion Access
>>
>> Friday February 24 at 8am EST (GMT - 05). 8am in New York; 14h in Lyon;
>> 1pm in London; midnight in Melbourne
>>
>>
>>
>>    1.
>>
>>    Jemima Repo, Reader in Political and Feminist Theory, Newcastle
>>    University
>>
>> The Multiple Legacies of Gary Becker’s Economics of Reproduction:
>> Refiguring Reproduction and the Governance of Populations (A Discussion).
>>
>> Thursday March 02 at 5am EST (GMT - 05). 5am in New York; 11h in Lyon;
>> 10am in London; 9pm in Melbourne.
>>
>>
>>
>>    1.
>>
>>    Edith Kuiper, Feminist Economist, State University of New York at New
>>    Paltz
>>
>> Eugenics, Abortion, and Progressivism
>>
>> March date to be announced
>>
>>
>>
>>    1.
>>
>>    Melanie Guldi, Economist, University of Central Florida
>>
>> Legal Access to Abortion and Contraception in the United States in the
>> 1960s and 1970s
>>
>> Friday March 31 at 12:30pm EST (GMT -05). 12.30pm in New York; 18h in
>> Lyon; 5pm in London; 3am (Sat) in Melbourne
>>
>>
>>
>>    1.
>>
>>    Cléo Chassonnery-Zaïgouche, Historian of Economics, University of
>>    Bologna
>>
>> Emotion vs. Argument: Roy Harrod and Joan Robinson’s Controversy Over
>> Abortion Rights
>>
>> April date to be announced
>>
>>
>>
>> * References and Related Works   Becchio, Giandomenica. 2020. A History
>> of Feminist and Gender Economics. New York: Routledge.   Blau, Francine
>> (1998). Trends in the well-being of American Women, 1970–1995. Journal of
>> Economic Literature, 36, 112–165.   Chassonnery-Zaïgouche, Cléo. 2019. Is
>> Equal Pay Worth It? In Robert Dimand and Kirsten Madden (eds.), The
>> Routledge Handbook of the History of Women’s Economic Thought. New York:
>> Routledge, 129 – 149.    Chassonnery-Zaïgouche, Cléo and Annie Cot. 2021.
>> Sentiment and Prejudice: Francis Ysidro Edgeworth on Women’s Wages. History
>> of Political Economy 53(5): 799 – 832.   Davis, Angela. 1982. Racism, Birth
>> Control and Reproductive Rights, in Angela Davis (ed.), Women, Race and
>> Class. New York: Random House, 202 – 271.   Durand-Vallot, Angeline. 2016.
>> A Historical Approach to the Birth Control Movement in the United States.
>> 10ème Colloque Européen d’Histoire des Sciences Sociales (ESSHC),
>> Université de Vienne, Vienne, Autriche, 23 to 26 April.    Ehrlich, Paul.
>> 1968. The Population Bomb. New York: Ballentine Books.   Ekerwald, E. 2000.
>> Alva Myrdal: Making the Private Public. Acta Sociologica 43(4): 343-352.
>> Gilman, Nils. 2017. The Myrdals’ Eugenicist Roots. Humanity: An
>> International Journal of Human Rights, Humanitarianism, and
>> Development 8(1): 133 – 143.    Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. 1966 [1898].
>> Women and Economics. New York: Harper.    Glendon, Mary Ann. 1987. Abortion
>> and Divorce in Western Law. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.   Goldin,
>> Claudia and Lawrence Katz. 2002. The Power of the Pill: Oral Contraceptives
>> and Women’s Career and Marriage Decisions. Journal of Political
>> Economy 110(4): 730–770.   Goldin, Claudia and Lawrence Katz. 2000. Career
>> and Marriage in the Age of the Pill. American Economic Review90(2):
>> 461–465.   Gruber, Jonathan, Phillip Levine, and Douglas Staiger. 1999.
>> Abortion Legalization and Child Living Circumstances: Who is the ‘Marginal
>> Child’? Quarterly Journal of Economics 114(1): 263 – 291.    Kleven,
>> Henrik. 2019. Child Penalties Across Countries: Evidence and Explanations.
>> AEA Papers and Proceedings109(2): 122 – 126.   Levy, David and Sandra
>> Peart. 2005. The Vanity of the Philosopher. Ann Arbor: University of
>> Michigan Press.   Leonard, Thomas. 2016. Illiberal Reformers: Race,
>> Eugenics and American Economics in the Progressive Era. Princeton:
>> Princeton University Press.   Lindo, Jason, Mayra Pineda-Torres, David
>> Pritchard, and Hedieh Tajali. 2020. Legal Access to Reproductive Control
>> Technology, Women’s Education, and Earnings Approaching Retirement. AEA
>> Papers and Proceedings 110(2): 231 – 235.    Madden, Kirsten. 2019.
>> Introduction. In Robert Dimand and Kirsten Madden (eds.), The Routledge
>> Handbook of the History of Women’s Economic Thought. New York: Routledge, 1
>> - 9.    Malthus, Thomas Robert. 1798. An Essay on the Principle of
>> Population. London: J. Johnson.   Mill, John Stuart. 1869. On the
>> Subjection of Women. London: Longman, Green, Reader, and Dyer.   Montaigne,
>> Maxine. 2016. How Malthusian was the Malthusian League? Charles Bradlaugh,
>> Annie Besant and the Rhetoric of Family Limitation in the Late
>> Nineteenth-Century Britain. Paper presented at The History of Economic
>> Thought Society of Australia Conference. Melbourne, 13-14 July.
>> Montaigne, Maxine. 2017. The Malthusian and the Anti-Malthusian: The Use of
>> Economic Ideas and Language in the Public Discourse of Nineteenth Century
>> Britain. MPhil Thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science.
>> Moore, Brittany, Yana van der Meulen Rodgers, Ernestina Coast, Samantha R.
>> Lattof, and Cheri Poss. 2021. History and Scientific Background on the
>> Economics of Abortion, PLOS ONE.
>> https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0257360
>> <https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0257360>
>>   Myers, Caitlin Knowles. 2017, The Power of Abortion Policy: Reexamining
>> the Effects of Young Women’s Access to Reproductive Control. Journal of
>> Political Economy 125(6): 2178 – 2224.   Myers, Caitlin, Rachel Jones, and
>> Ushma Upadhyay. 2019. Predicted Changes in Abortion Access and Incidence in
>> a Post-Roe World. Contraception 100(5): 367 – 373.    Myrdal, Alva. 1947.
>> Nation and Family. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner.   Myrdal, Alva and
>> Viola Klein. 1956. Women’s Two Roles: Home and Work. London: Routledge and
>> Kegan Paul.   Myrdal, Alva and Gunnar Myrdal. 1934. Kris I
>> Befolkningsfrågan (Crisis in the Population Question). Stockholm:
>> Bonniers.
>> https://archive.org/details/MyrdalMyrdal1934KrisIBefolkningsfragan/page/n331/mode/2up
>> <https://archive.org/details/MyrdalMyrdal1934KrisIBefolkningsfragan/page/n331/mode/2up>
>>   Wicksell, Anna Bugge. 1888. De Praktiske Reformer. Nylænde: Tidsskrift
>> for Kvindernes Sak 2(24): 369 – 374.     Wicksell, Knut. 1979 [1910]. The
>> Theory of Population, Its Composition and Changes (trans. Göran Ohlin). In
>> Steinar Strøm and Bjorn Thalberg (eds.), The Theoretical Contributions of
>> Knut Wicksell. New York: Palgrave McMillan, 122 – 151.   Wicksell, Knut.
>> 1999 [1880]. A Few Remarks on the Chief Cause of Social Misfortunes and the
>> Best Means to Remedy Them, With Particular Reference to Drunkenness. In Bo
>> Sandelin (ed.), Knut Wicksell: Selected Essa ys in Economics, Volume 2. New
>> York: Routledge, 83 – 116.   Wicksell, Knut. 1999 [1914]. Can a Country
>> Become Underpopulated? In Bo Sandelin (ed.), Knut Wicksell: Selected Essays
>> in Economics, Volume 2. New York: Routledge, 125 – 135.   Wollstonecraft,
>> Mary. 1994 [1898]. Maria: or, the Wrongs of Woman. New York: W.W. Norton.
>> *
>>
>>
>>
>
> --
>
> --
Dan Hirschman (he/him)
Assistant Professor
Department of Sociology
Cornell University