Car Seats as Contraception

Social Science Research Network ^ | September 22, 2020 | Jordan Nickerson and David H. Solomon

[karpov]

Abstract
Since 1977, U.S. states have passed laws steadily raising the age for which a child must ride in a car safety seat. These laws significantly raise the cost of having a third child, as many regular-sized cars cannot fit three child seats in the back. Using census data and state-year variation in laws, we estimate that when women have two children of ages requiring mandated car seats, they have a lower annual probability of giving birth by 0.73 percentage points. Consistent with a causal channel, this effect is limited to third child births, is concentrated in households with access to a car, and is larger when a male is present (when both front seats are likely to be occupied). We estimate that these laws prevented only 57 car crash fatalities of children nationwide in 2017. Simultaneously, they led to a permanent reduction of approximately 8,000 births in the same year, and 145,000 fewer births since 1980, with 90% of this decline being since 2000.

Keywords: Family Formation, Fertility, Car Seats, Safety Regulations

JEL Classification: J13, J18, R41

[Chode]

LOL

[the OlLine Rebel]

Loved it. Never had one always envied it. But my uncle and aunt had one (and then a van!), and we cousins would all pile in back there. Great times.

Now we are overtaken by the no-fun coalition of commies. Latest being muzzling us.

[Chode]

oooooh sh!!!!!!t!!! passenger seat fold back any?

[Songcraft]

"I'll be halfway out the window?!?!?!?"

---

[the OlLine Rebel]

Cars were great.

SUVs have become the big deal because so-called cars keep getting smaller and are, ultimately, very impractical.

The corps are able to leverage the truck chassis to compensate. Due to strangely the Gov NAZIs not regulating them like “cars”.

[frogjerk]

We had the same Ford Country Sedan way back but in blue. I believe it had a 351 Windsor under the hood.

[Dr. Sivana]

Don’t forget air bags, which make it unacceptable to put a child under 12 in the front seat, and those dopey giant center consoles that make it impossible to have three in the front seat of ANY size.

[null and void]

I had a Peugeot that had what the ads described as “Fully reclining bucket seats that turn into a cozy french bedroom after dark”...

[Dr. Sivana]

At my old church in Rockford, IL, the real status symbol was the 12 passenger van. A couple of families needed the 15 passenger version.

[DesertRhino]

In my experience, vehicle seats work very poorly as contraception. An unusually bad choice.

[Repeal The 17th]

!...backseat of a 1968 Volkswagen bug for me...!

[rlmorel]

Hahahaha, you have no idea. That car was probably built for S&M practices...

[newzjunkey]

Ah yes. The good ol’ Ford LTD Country Squire with seating for 10? I forget how many the rear facing seats could hold. I swear half my kindergarten class was packing in ours. When that V8 started it meant business! I’d love to drive one some day just to see what it was like.

[MadMax, the Grinning Reaper]

I thought his article was a rehash of the decades’ old theory that for truck drivers, cabbies, etc. who drive many hours a day, get less fertile because the heat from their seat is cooking their nuts and lowering the sperm count.

singing “Great Balls of Fire” and “Hot Nuts” re Doug Clark and the Hot Nuts” - the more you pay, the less we wear”.

[dennisw]

1970 Ford Ranch Wagon: The good, the bad and the ugly
Bruce Kunz Apr 24, 2020
https://www.stltoday.com/brandavestudios/1970-ford-ranch-wagon-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/article_cdb76a1c-8677-11ea-ab6e-6f41451c843a.html

FoMoCo ad men proclaimed in their 1970 sales brochure that Ford was the “World leader in station wagon sales,” and I don’t dispute their claim.

The 1970 lineup consisted of seven full-size models. The top dog of the ‘magnificent seven’ was the LTD Country Squire, the one with the simulated wood trim and interiors befitting the glitzy exteriors. At the bottom of the barrel is the lowly Custom Ranch Wagon, of which I am quite familiar, since I owned one back in the day. My father, an Oldsmobile salesman, called me one day saying, “I bought you a car. I took a Ford station wagon in on trade today and got you a good deal.” What could I say?

Quality was never an issue as Ford had been building station wagons by the score since before we had electricity and running water! So how did this car stack up to the competition?

The GOOD: It was a ‘hauler’ in more ways than one! (I’ll explain that later). Taking roughly the same acreage in a Schnucks parking spot as a Ford F-150, you could haul a lot in this baby. The Ranch Wagon’s ride was more......

[Grey182]

They did fold back almost flat. Another thing I miss is the way the doors would open a full 90°, I could fit a dresser in the back seat of a tiny 405.

[ZinGirl]

We had a 68 Ford station wagon..almost exactly like that one! We five kids just, like you, tossed around the back. In fact, for our summer vacays, dad had made a large mattress, folded down the middle seats, and we bounced around on the mattress as we rode around the country. Good times. 😃

[SamAdams76]

I used to ride in the back of open pickups as well as a kid. You couldn't get away with that today for more than five minutes before some Karen with a cell phone called the police on you.

Younger people have no conception of how wild and free we were in those days before cell phones and helicopter parenting. We all had bicycles and we went all over town - without helmets - without our parents having a clue where we were or what we did.

[KosmicKitty]

Somehow I managed to fit three car seats in the back of my Ford Tempo. Had the baby in the middle to keep the 3 year old and 4 year old from getting into fights while I was driving.

[9YearLurker]

Or maybe women with voters who back nanny states are just inclined to have fewer babies. Car seat and midsize car cost is nothing compared to all the other crap kiddos cost these days.