Benefit-cost analysis of family planning

A stochastic model is developed to estimate the expected social costs with and without a family planning program provided to a population. By examining the tradeoffs between the program costs and the costs of unwanted pregnancies, it is possible to estimate the costs and benefits of alternative family planning programs. Several extensions of the basic model are presented which permit the selection of optimal treatment variables for administration of a particular program as well as determining the long range effects of a particular family planning program.