THE ECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES OF UNWED MOTHERHOOD - USING TWIN BIRTHS AS A NATURAL EXPERIMENT

We estimate the short-run and life-cycle effects of unplanned children on unwed mothers by comparing unmarried women who first gave birth to twins with unwed mothers who bore singletons. We find large short-ter m effects of unplanned births on labor-force participation, poverty, a nd welfare recipiency among unwed mothers, but not among married mothe rs. Although most of the adverse economic effects of unplanned motherh ood dissipate over time for whites, there are larger and more persiste nt negative effects on black unwed mothers.