Costs and Interventions Regarding Adolescent Pregnancy: A Brief Literature Review

Author: Pedro Henrique Chaves Maia

Edition: 1ª

Published in: September 2025

The Technical Note “Costs and Interventions on Pregnancy in Adolescence: A Brief Review of the Literature” reviews 40 studies in economic literature on the subject, focusing on causal effects on schooling, insertion in the labor market, intergenerational well-being and dependence on government assistance. Empirical evidence with greater power of causal identification was prioritized, such as models with instrumental variables, fixed effects, and quasi-experimental designs.

A recurring aspect in the literature is the heterogeneity of results between developed and developing countries. This asymmetry reinforces the urgency of expanding the body of empirical results on the subject in contexts of developing economies, even if at the expense of less power of causal identification.

The work also analyzes the main strategies of public intervention evaluated by the literature. Among them, engaging sex education, family planning programs, expanded access to contraceptives, and indirect policies, such as conditional cash transfers, stand out. In general, effectiveness depends not only on the supply of information and resources, but also on the form of communication with the target audience and the creation of clear incentives for preventive behavior.