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The Baby Year Parental Leave Reform in the GDR and Its Impact on Children’s Long-Term Life Satisfaction

Author

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  • Katharina Heisig
  • Larissa Zierow

Abstract

This article investigates the effects of an increase in paid parental leave — twelve months instead of six months — on children’s long-term life satisfaction. The historical setting under study, namely the former German Democratic Republic (GDR), allows us to circumvent problems of selection of women into the labor market and an insufficient or heterogeneous non-parental child care supply, which are issues many other studies on parental leave reforms face. Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) we analyze the birth cohorts from 1980 to 1989 at adult age, and apply a difference-in-difference design making use of the very specific timing of the GDR’s parental leave reforms in 1976 and 1986. We find significant and robust positive parental leave effects on life satisfaction. We also analyze whether the increase in life satisfaction is driven by a positive development of personality, health factors, schooling or labor market outcomes. Our results suggest that the increase in life satisfaction might be partially explained by personality development for individuals from low socioeconomic backgrounds and boys. For individuals from high socioeconomic backgrounds, it might be driven by a better health.

Suggested Citation

  • Katharina Heisig & Larissa Zierow, 2019. "The Baby Year Parental Leave Reform in the GDR and Its Impact on Children’s Long-Term Life Satisfaction," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 1059, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    • Handle: RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp1059
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    File URL: https://www.diw.de/documents/publikationen/73/diw_01.c.698607.de/diw_sp1059.pdf
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Houmark, Mikkel Aagaard & Jørgensen, Cecilie Marie Løchte & Kristiansen, Ida Lykke & Gensowski, Miriam, 2022. "Effects of Extending Paid Parental Leave on Children's Socio-Emotional Skills and Well-Being in Adolescence," IZA Discussion Papers 15421, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Jessen, Jonas, 2022. "Culture, children and couple gender inequality," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    3. Katharina Heisig & Larissa Zierow, 2020. "Extended Parental Leave in the GDR: Children Show Higher Life Satisfaction in the Long Run," ifo Dresden berichtet, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 27(02), pages 07-09, April.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    parental leave; child care; child development; well-being; happiness; socio-emotional development;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being

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