Incentives matter

The first and most basic lesson of economics is that incentives matter. As shown here:

Across race, teen childbearing leads to negative consequences for white teens but no significant negative effects for black or Hispanic and Latino teens.

That this does matter is shown here:

In 2017, the birth rate for Hispanic teens (29 per 1,000) was slightly higher than the rate for non-Hispanic black teens (28 per 1,000), and more than twice the rate for non-Hispanic white teens (13 per 1,000). Rates for other races are reported in the text.

People do more of less costly things, less of more costly. Incentives matter.

This is about something as basic as giving birth - in a world of contraception both pre- and post- actual conception. Leading to the idea that perhaps we should not try to have socioeconomic systems where there are no incentives, or they are ignored.

For prices are indeed prices, people really do react to them.