2026 Reproduction of Society: Fertility, Family Planning, and Policy Design Conference
Organizers: Martha Bailey and Yana Gallen
The 2026 Reproduction of Society: Fertility, Family Planning, and Policy Design Conference will examine how contraception, fertility preferences, and policy design shape the modern fertility decline. How do evolving contraceptive technologies change the way people plan, delay, or pursue childbearing? How do individuals form and update fertility intentions? How do they learn about pregnancy risk, career impact, and family well-being? We will bring together researchers across disciplines and fields to better understand the evolving relationship between contraceptive choice and lifetime fertility. This conference will be hosted by the Becker Friedman Institute for Economics on August 27-28, 2026, in Hyde Park.
If you have any questions, please contact bfi-events@uchicago.edu.
30 minute presentations with 5 minutes for Q&A
Agenda
All times are listed in CST
Thursday, August 27, 2026
| 8:30 am – 9:00 am | Registration and Breakfast 6th Floor Lounge |
| 9:00 am – 10:10 am | Session 1: Global & Macroeconomic Forces |
| 9:00 am – 9:35 am | Improving Human Development Fully Explains Large Decreases in Global Fertility Rates over Three Decades Michael Geruso, University of Texas, Austin |
| 9:35 am – 10:10 am | Falling Fertility: Freedom, Fulfillment, and Family in the 21st Century Raquel Fernández, New York University |
| 10:10 am – 10:25 am | Break |
| 10:25 am – 12:10 pm | Session 2: Costs, Constraints and Technology |
| 10:25 am – 11:00 am | Is the iPhone Birth Control? Causal Evidence from AT&T’s 2007–2011 Carrier Monopoly Caitlin Myers, Middlebury College |
| 11:00 am – 11:35 am | Work From Home and Fertility Katelyn Cranney, Stanford University |
| 11:35 am – 12:10 pm | The Child Cost Index Heather Sarsons, University of Chicago |
| 12:10 pm – 1:10 pm | Lunch 1st Floor Dining Room |
| 1:10 pm – 2:55 pm | Session 3: Contraceptive Choice |
| 1:10 pm – 1:45 pm | Post-Roe Planning: The Effect of Dobbs v. Jackson on Contraceptive and Sterilization Choices Yana Gallen, University of Chicago |
| 1:45 pm – 2:20 pm | Does Increasing Financial Access to Contraception in the U.S. Reduce Undesired Pregnancies? Evidence from the M-CARES Randomized Control Trial at Two Years Emilia Brito, University of California, Los Angeles |
| 2:20 pm – 2:55 pm | Reproductive Policy Shocks and Defensive Investments in Contraception Joanna Venator, Boston College |
| 2:55 pm – 3:10 pm | Break |
| 3:10 pm – 4:55 pm | Session 4: Education, Employment, and Family Planning |
| 3:10 pm – 3:45 pm | Family Planning, Now and Later: Infertility Fears and Africa’s Stalled Contraceptive Revolution Bryce Steinberg, Brown University |
| 3:45 pm – 4:20 pm | Family Planning, Women’s Employment, and Household Labor Supply Daniel Maggio, Rutgers University |
| 4:20 pm – 4:55 pm | The Impact of Delaying Early School Tracking on Fertility and Marriage Outcomes Serena Canaan, Simon Fraser University |
| 6:30 pm | Conference Dinner |
Friday, August 28, 2026
| 8:30 am – 9:00 am | Breakfast 6th Floor Lounge |
| 9:00 am – 10:10 am | Session 5: Beliefs, Investments, and Fertility |
| 9:00 am – 9:35 am | Who Calls the Shots? Financial Incentives and Provider Influence in the Adoption of a New Health Technology Carlos Paramo, Boston University |
| 9:35 am – 10:10 am | Fewer Kids, More School: Evidence from the Early 20th Century U.S. Birth Control Movement Patrizia Massner, Johns Hopkins University |
| 10:10 am – 10:25 am | Break |
| 10:25 am – 11:35 am | Session 6: Household Bargaining & Parenthood Timing |
| 10:25 am – 11:10 am | Parenthood Timing and Gender Inequality Julius Ilciukas, The Chinese University of Hong Kong |
| 11:00 am – 11:35 am | How Partner Disagreement Shapes Fertility: Gender, Timing, and the Resolution of Competing Preferences Ester Bøckmann, Fafo |
| 11:35 am – 12:30 pm | Lunch 1st Floor Dining Room |
| 12:30 pm | Conference Concludes |