Mastodawn

Is the iPhone Birth Control? Causal Evidence from AT&T’s 2007–2011 Carrier Monopoly
https://www.nber.org/papers/w35310

Backround: From the launch 2007
through Feb 2011, the iPhone was limited to AT&T subscribers in the US. Smarphone exposure was limited to AT&T’s cellular network making natural experiment possible

Treated counties are systematically more urban than controls. They address this imbalance through the
SDID estimator’s pre-treatment reweighting of controls and using a complementary entropy-balanced Poisson specification.

... Entropy-balanced Poisson and synthetic difference-in-differences event studies imply that access to the iPhone reduced births by 4.5–8.0% at ages 15–19 and 3.2–6.6% at ages 20–24, with statistically significant but smaller declines among older cohorts. Placebo analyses applied to Verizon and Sprint’s pre-2011 coverage footprint are null. .... National-survey evidence on time use and sexual behavior is consistent with the iPhone reducing in-person interactions, increasing pornography use, and reducing sexual frequency.

#economics #demographics #socialMedia #socialScience

Bruce MacDonald 1d ago

'They are the most recent efforts to explain the sweeping fertility rate decline in the United States and other countries over the past 20 years. Researchers have already looked at contraception use, abortion rates, rising levels of female education and even the popular television show “16 and Pregnant.”'

Two New Studies Ask: Did the iPhone Cause Birthrates to Decline?
By Sabrina Tavernise
The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/08/us/iphone-birthrate-decline-studies.html

#phones #birthrates #demographics

Two New Studies Ask: Did the iPhone Cause Birthrates to Decline?

Modern smartphones rolled out in 2007, the year that fertility rates began falling. Two studies say that is not a coincidence.

The New York Times

Hacker News 2d ago

The iPhone explains 33-52% of fertility decline among women aged 15-44

https://www.nber.org/papers/w35310

#HackerNews #Tech #Demographics

Is the iPhone Birth Control? Causal Evidence from AT&T’s 2007–2011 Carrier Monopoly

Founded in 1920, the NBER is a private, non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to conducting economic research and to disseminating research findings among academics, public policy makers, and business professionals.

NBER

Mathrubhumi English 2d ago

India’s baby bust begins: India’s demographic shift explained and why Elon Musk is worried https://english.mathrubhumi.com/news/india/india-fertility-rate-decline-2026-analysis-ss17f0gq?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon #India #ElonMusk #FertilityRate #Demographics #Population

NYT > Home Page 2d ago

Two New Studies Ask: Did the iPhone Cause Birthrates to Decline?

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/08/us/iphone-birthrate-decline-studies.html

#Technology #Society #Demographics

Two New Studies Ask: Did the iPhone Cause Birthrates to Decline?

Modern smartphones rolled out in 2007, the year that fertility rates began falling. Two studies say that is not a coincidence.

The New York Times

NYT > Technology 2d ago

Two New Studies Ask: Did the iPhone Cause Birthrates to Decline?

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/08/us/iphone-birthrate-decline-studies.html

#Technology #Society #Demographics

Two New Studies Ask: Did the iPhone Cause Birthrates to Decline?

Modern smartphones rolled out in 2007, the year that fertility rates began falling. Two studies say that is not a coincidence.

The New York Times

NYT > U.S.2d ago

Two New Studies Ask: Did the iPhone Cause Birthrates to Decline?

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/08/us/iphone-birthrate-decline-studies.html

#Society #Technology #Demographics

Two New Studies Ask: Did the iPhone Cause Birthrates to Decline?

Modern smartphones rolled out in 2007, the year that fertility rates began falling. Two studies say that is not a coincidence.

The New York Times

ABC Feeds 2d ago

Tasmania's population boom has gone bust — and it spells trouble
By Fiona Blackwood

From being a hot destination 10 years ago, Tasmania's population growth has ground to a halt — and big changes will be needed to reverse the trend, experts say.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-06-08/people-arent-moving-to-tasmania-anymore/106762906

#Demographics #CommunityandSociety #StateandTerritoryGovernment #EconomicTrendsandIndicators #SocialPolicy #RegionalDevelopmentandPlanning #FionaBlackwood

Tasmania's population boom has gone bust — and it spells trouble

From being a hot destination 10 years ago, Tasmania's population growth has ground to a halt — and big changes will be needed to reverse the trend, experts say.