Abigail Dow

Econ PhD @bu_economics, via @EconUCL and @UniofOxford | Health, Labour & Family |

[Abigail Dow @abi_dow]

My research on childcare prices and fertility got a mention in the @nytimes in a piece featuring couples weighing the cost of childcare alongside housing and other rising expenses in their decisions about having children. Thank you @onlykailyn!

https://t.co/UPYyF8pQ3Z

[Abigail Dow @abi_dow]

New coverage of my research on childcare prices and fertility by @The74, also highlighting further survey evidence showing parents cite childcare as unaffordable and a barrier to having children. Thank you, @brycecovert!

[Bryce Covert @brycecovert]

New research finds high childcare prices make mothers rethink whether and when to have kids https://t.co/bkSOfa6ds6

[Abigail Dow @abi_dow]

I also enjoyed the AEA Mentoring and Networking Luncheon! Thank you to our mentors Janet Currie and @eucascio, who gave some great advice and guidance to myself and fellow mentees Rebecca Jack, Futing Chen, Merve Ezgi Ertugrul, Jon Denton-Schneider, and Jiaxin Li.

[Abigail Dow @abi_dow]

I was delighted to have the opportunity to present my Job Market Paper, 'The Price of Parenthood: Childcare Costs and Fertility' at the ASSA Annual Meeting in Philadelphia #ASSA2026 in a great session on fertility. Draft available on my website: https://t.co/NyHYpyd6G0

[Abigail Dow @abi_dow]

As always, I had a great time at #appam2025!

I presented my JMP 'The Price of Parenthood: Childcare Costs and Fertility' (see thread below) and saw some great papers on childcare markets, fertility, healthcare access, and more.

@APPAM_DC

[Daniele Paserman @DanielePaserman]

Nice writeup of @abi_dow 's paper on child care and fertility. She's on the market, have a look at her work!

[Abigail Dow @abi_dow]

#econtwitter #fertility

[Abigail Dow @abi_dow]

How?

📊 I construct a new dataset of US state childcare regulations (group size limits, staff-child ratios) for 2010-2022, and use an IV approach that exploits changes in the regulations that shift the price of childcare.

[Abigail Dow @abi_dow]

Thanks for reading!

Full paper on my website: https://t.co/NyHYpyd6G0

📄 “The Price of Parenthood: Childcare Costs and Fertility”

I'm a health and labour economist, check out my other papers!

[Abigail Dow @abi_dow]

I ask...

How do childcare prices affect…

👶🏻 Whether to have children?

⏰ When to have them?

👶🏽👶🏽 How many to have?

[Abigail Dow @abi_dow]

👋 I'm on the #EconJobMarket!

My JMP explores a factor that often comes up when talking to people about having children - childcare costs

🗣️ “It’s frustrating to read articles asking why people aren’t having kids - have they looked at the cost of childcare?”

🧵...

[Abigail Dow @abi_dow]

📈 Empirical evidence is limited, especially in the US, as it’s hard to find exogenous price variation.

My JMP provides the first causal evidence on how childcare prices impact fertility rates and shows empirically that childcare costs are a barrier to having children in the US