The economic approach to modeling adolescent sexual behavior: Empirical implications

In reviewing the work by Manlove, Franzetta, Ryan, and Moore (this volume), I begin with a brief discussion of the economic approach to the modeling of adolescent sexual behavior and discuss its empirical implications. To illustrate this approach, I discuss several recent studies by economists of several aspects of the sexual behavior of teens. Then, I pay particular attention to the appropriateness of some of the empirical methods used by Manlove et al. in their study and the types of relationships they attempt to identify using these methods. Not discussed here is the authors’ organization of the data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) since that is covered in Upchurch (this volume).

Duke Scholars

Author V. Joseph Hotz Economics