CHE Seminar Series: The Unequal Battle Against Infertility: Theory and evidence from IVF success and drop-out
Using Danish administrative data, we show that In-Vitro Feritilization (IVF) success is associated with maternal education: College-educated women have a 9% higher live birth chance than high school-educated women and 25% higher than dropouts.
We exclude infertility causes, health behaviors, occupations, clinics, finances, and partner attributes as drivers. Instead, we focus on latent factors like ability and psychological traits. First, we show how proxies for these factors like Grade Point Average (GPA) shape IVF success. Second, we build a structural dynamic model of post-IVF-failure dropout where women differ in latent ability and psychological costs. Our model counterfactuals imply that ability explains 87% of the education gradient in IVF success, prompting a policy discussion.
Speaker profile
Dr Anna Houštecká is a Post-Doctoral Fellow at CERGE-EI, Charles University in Prague. Dr Houštecká obtained her PhD in Economics at the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona and then continued with a Postdoc in Labor Economics at the Institute for Employment Research (IAB) in Nürnberg. Her research interests lie at the intersection of labor and health economics, with her work addressing diverse topics such as the impact of economic factors on flu incidence and the socio-economic determinants of IVF success. Dr Houštecká is also particularly interested in PhD mental health, and she created PeacehD, a website offering PhD students resources like support groups and access to psychotherapists familiar with academic struggles.
Weekly seminar series
As part of our Centre's vibrant research culture, we host a weekly seminar series. Visiting and invited researchers present current research relating to the economics of health and wellbeing, and the healthcare sector. Visitors are welcome to join these sessions where discussion and debate is encouraged.
For further information on our seminar series, please contact Trong-Anh.Trinh@monash.edu.
Event Details
- Date:
- 19 March 2025 at 12:15 pm – 1:15 pm
- Venue:
- Caulfield campus, Building B, level 2, room B2.22
- Categories:
- CHE Seminar; General
Description
Using Danish administrative data, we show that In-Vitro Feritilization (IVF) success is associated with maternal education: College-educated women have a 9% higher live birth chance than high school-educated women and 25% higher than dropouts.
We exclude infertility causes, health behaviors, occupations, clinics, finances, and partner attributes as drivers. Instead, we focus on latent factors like ability and psychological traits. First, we show how proxies for these factors like Grade Point Average (GPA) shape IVF success. Second, we build a structural dynamic model of post-IVF-failure dropout where women differ in latent ability and psychological costs. Our model counterfactuals imply that ability explains 87% of the education gradient in IVF success, prompting a policy discussion.
Speaker profile
Dr Anna Houštecká is a Post-Doctoral Fellow at CERGE-EI, Charles University in Prague. Dr Houštecká obtained her PhD in Economics at the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona and then continued with a Postdoc in Labor Economics at the Institute for Employment Research (IAB) in Nürnberg. Her research interests lie at the intersection of labor and health economics, with her work addressing diverse topics such as the impact of economic factors on flu incidence and the socio-economic determinants of IVF success. Dr Houštecká is also particularly interested in PhD mental health, and she created PeacehD, a website offering PhD students resources like support groups and access to psychotherapists familiar with academic struggles.
Weekly seminar series
As part of our Centre's vibrant research culture, we host a weekly seminar series. Visiting and invited researchers present current research relating to the economics of health and wellbeing, and the healthcare sector. Visitors are welcome to join these sessions where discussion and debate is encouraged.
For further information on our seminar series, please contact Trong-Anh.Trinh@monash.edu.