[Brownbag] Paper and Abstract - Demography Brown Bag Seminar October 22: Melissa Kearney

[Monique Verrier]

Dear Brown Bag Community,

Here is the abstract and paper (attached) for Melissa Kearney's 
presentation, "Media Influences in Social Outcomes: The Impact of MTV's 
'16 and Pregnant' on Teen Childbearing," (coauthored by Phillip B. Levine) 
which will be take place on Wednesday, October 22.

Abstract: This paper explores the impact of the introduction of the widely 
viewed MTV show 16 and Pregnant on teen childbearing. The reality TV show 
follows the lives of pregnant teenagers during the final months of their 
pregnancy and early months of motherhood. We match Vital Statistics birth 
data to Nielson television ratings data to investigate whether exposure to 
the show had an impact on teen childbearing rates. We implement an 
instrumental variables (IV) strategy using local area MTV ratings data 
from a pre-period to predict local area 16 and Pregnant ratings. We also 
introduce event study methods, utilizing the specific timing of the show’s 
introduction to identify a causal effect. The results of this analysis 
imply that the introduction of this MTV show led to a 5 percent reduction 
in teen births in the 18 months following its initial airing. This 
accounts for 28 percent of the overall decline in teen births in the 
United States during that period. We supplement these findings with an 
examination of data from Google Trends and Twitter, which suggest that 
this show led to increased interest in contraceptive use and abortion, as 
captured by internet search and tweeting behavior.

Thank you,

Monique


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The Demography Brown Bag Seminars take place usually on Wednesdays from 12:10 
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for an up-to-date list of future Brown Bag Seminars visit our website at 
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provided by the Berkeley Population Center and The Center for the Economics and 
Demography of Aging (CEDA).



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Monique M. Verrier
Graduate Student Services Adviser
UC Berkeley, Department of Demography
Tel. 510-642-9800  FAX 510-643-8558
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