Caitlin Myers’s Research Explores Effects of Abortion Policy in the 1960s and 1970s

Associate Professor of Economics Caitlin Myers wondered what fueled the upheavals of the 1960s and 1970s. Her curiosity led to an interest in abortion policy during those decades and the publication of her paper, “The Power of Abortion Policy: Reexamining the Effects of Young Women’s Access to Reproductive Control,” in the December issue of the Journal of Political Economics. In the following Q&A, Myers discusses her findings.

It began with a very big question: What fueled the upheavals of the 1960s and 1970s? As I began to ponder this, I became more and more interested in abortion policy writ large and began a series of additional projects on contemporary policies. This research appeals to me as an empirical economist, but it also lets me try on or wear my other hats, those of historian, legal scholar, political scientist, geographer, woman, mother and citizen. It is interesting, intellectually stimulating work that piques my curiosity.