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The spacing of births and women's subsequent earnings - evidence from a natural experiment

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  • Karimi, Arizo

    (IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy)

Abstract

This paper analyzes the consequences of the spacing of births for women’s subsequent labor income and wages. Spacing births in longer intervals may allow women to re-enter the labor market between childbearing events, thereby avoiding expanded work interruptions and, in turn, reducing the negative effects of subsequent children. Based on arguably exogenous variation in birth spacing induced by pregnancy loss between the first two live births, the evidence provided in this paper supports this hypothesis and suggest that delaying the second birth by one year, on average, increases the probability of re-entering the labor market between births. Moreover, spacing births are found to increase both labor market participation and labor income over a long time period after second birth. Also long-run wages are positively affected, with a more pronounced effect for highly educated mothers.

Suggested Citation

  • Karimi, Arizo, 2014. "The spacing of births and women's subsequent earnings - evidence from a natural experiment," Working Paper Series 2014:18, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2014_018
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Bhalotra, Sonia & Clarke, Damian & Mühlrad, Hanna & Palme, Mårten, 2021. "Health and Labor Market Impacts of Twin Birth : Evidence from a Swedish IVF Policy Mandate," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 1391, University of Warwick, Department of Economics.
    2. Kamila Cygan-Rehm, 2016. "Parental leave benefit and differential fertility responses: evidence from a German reform," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 29(1), pages 73-103, January.
    3. Andrei Barbos & Stefani Milovanska-Farrington, 2019. "The Effect of Maternity Leave Expansions on Fertility Intentions: Evidence from Switzerland," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 40(3), pages 323-337, September.
    4. Angelov, Nikolay & Johansson, Per & Lee, Myoung-jae, 2017. "The effect of fertility timing on labor market work duration," Working Paper Series 2017:13, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.
    5. Margaret Gough, 2017. "Birth spacing, human capital, and the motherhood penalty at midlife in the United States," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 37(13), pages 363-416.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Child spacing; female wages; female lifetime earnings; natural experiment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials

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