You are kindly invited to de Economics Department's seminar, where it will be presented the article called "Religious Mayors, Teenage Pregnancy, and Sexual Education in Schools"..

Presents: Marcela Mello, Asistant Professor, Universidad de los Andes.

Abstract: I investigate the impact of local Pentecostal politicians on teenage pregnancy rates in Brazil. I employ a regression discontinuity design that compares close mayoral races between Evangelical and non-Evangelical parties. I find that an Evangelical party victory leads to an additional 2.86 births per 1,000 teenage girls—a 10% increase from the baseline. I explore one possible mechanism: municipal schools under Evangelical governance are 11.4 percentage points less likely to offer sexual education, while state schools, whose curricula remain independent of mayoral influence, show no such difference. I also document an increase in STD incidence among teenagers. Finally, my evidence demonstrates that these results stem specifically from religious ideology rather than from general political conservatism.

The event will be held in the 1605 classroom.

Kind regards,

Research Direction