Economic Innovation Group

New Capabilities

Published supporting research on remote work and family formation

The United States has been having fewer babies every year since 2007. Recessions make it worse. So when the worst economic shock in decades hit in 2020, demographers expected another steep drop. Instead, something unusual happened: births to American-born mothers rose by 71,000 in 2021, the first reversal in over a decade. A team of economists from Northwestern, Princeton, and the University of California, Los Angeles traced the increase to a single variable—whether a woman's job could be done from home.

Updated Mar 6