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A flying start? Long term consequences of maternal time investments in children during their first year of life

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  • Pedro Carneiro

    () (Institute for Fiscal Studies and University College London)

  • Katrine V. Loken
  • Kjell G. Salvanes

Abstract

We study the impact of increasing the time that the mother spends with her child in the first year of her life. In particular, we examine a reform that increased paid and unpaid maternity leave entitlements in Norway. In response to this reform, maternal leave increased on average by 4 months and family income was unaffected. We find that this increase in maternal time with the child led to a 2.7 percentage points decline in high school dropout rates, going up to 5.2 percentage points for those whose mothers have less than 10 years of education. This effect is especially large for children of mothers who, in the absence of the reform, would take very low levels of unpaid leave. Finally, there is a weak impact on college attendance. The results also suggest that much of the impact of early time with the child is at low levels of maternal education.

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Paper provided by Centre for Microdata Methods and Practice, Institute for Fiscal Studies in its series CeMMAP working papers with number CWP38/10.

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Date of creation: Dec 2010
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Handle: RePEc:ifs:cemmap:38/10

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  1. James Heckman & Seong Hyeok Moon & Rodrigo Pinto & Peter Savelyev & Adam Yavitz, 2010. "Analyzing social experiments as implemented: A reexamination of the evidence from the HighScope Perry Preschool Program," Quantitative Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 1(1), pages 1-46, 07.
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  3. Raj Chetty & John N. Friedman & Nathaniel Hilger & Emmanuel Saez & Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach & Danny Yagan, 2010. "How Does Your Kindergarten Classroom Affect Your Earnings? Evidence From Project STAR," NBER Working Papers 16381, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  4. Gruber, Jonathan, 1994. "The Incidence of Mandated Maternity Benefits," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(3), pages 622-41, June.
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  6. Imbens, Guido & Lemieux, Thomas, 2008. "Special issue editors' introduction: The regression discontinuity design--Theory and applications," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 142(2), pages 611-614, February.
  7. Marit RÃnsen & Marianne SundstrÃm, 1996. "Maternal employment in Scandinavia: A comparison of the after-birth employment activity of Norwegian and Swedish women," Journal of Population Economics, Springer, vol. 9(3), pages 267-285.
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  12. Liu, Qian & Nordström Skans, Oskar, 2009. "The duration of paid parental leave and children’s scholastic performance," Working Paper Series 2009:14, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.
  13. James Heckman & Pedro Carneiro, 2003. "Human Capital Policy," NBER Working Papers 9495, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  14. Hahn, Jinyong & Todd, Petra & Van der Klaauw, Wilbert, 2001. "Identification and Estimation of Treatment Effects with a Regression-Discontinuity Design," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 69(1), pages 201-09, January.
  15. Bernal, Raquel & Keane, Michael P., 2010. "Quasi-structural estimation of a model of childcare choices and child cognitive ability production," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 156(1), pages 164-189, May.
  16. Long Mark C, 2010. "Affirmative Action at Nearby Colleges: Temporal and Regional Changes," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 10(1), pages 1-31, July.
  17. Raquel Bernal, 2008. "The Effect Of Maternal Employment And Child Care On Children'S Cognitive Development," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 49(4), pages 1173-1209, November.
  18. Michael Baker & Kevin S. Milligan, 2007. "Maternal employment, breastfeeding, and health: Evidence from maternity leave mandates," NBER Working Papers 13188, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  19. Ronsen, Marit & Sundstrom, Marianne, 1996. "Maternal Employment in Scandinavia: A Comparison of the After-Birth Employment Activity of Norwegian and Swedish Women," Journal of Population Economics, Springer, vol. 9(3), pages 267-85, August.
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  1. A Flying Start? Long Term Consequences of Maternal Time Investments in Children During Their First Year of Life
    by maximorossi in NEP-LTV blog on 2010-12-27 11:42:12
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Cited by:
  1. Christina Felfe & Rafael Lalive, 2012. "Early Child Care and Child Development: For Whom it Works and Why," CESifo Working Paper Series 4043, CESifo Group Munich.
  2. Catherine HAECK, 2011. "Increased paid maternitiy leave and children's development measured at age four to five. An empirical analysis," Center for Economic Studies - Discussion papers ces11.15, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Centrum voor Economische Studiën.
  3. Libertad González, 2011. "The Effects of a Universal Child Benefit," Working Papers 574, Barcelona Graduate School of Economics.
  4. Juliane Scheffel, 2011. "Identifying the Effect of Temporal Work Flexibility on Parental Time with Children," SFB 649 Discussion Papers SFB649DP2011-024, Sonderforschungsbereich 649, Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany.
  5. Sara Cools & Jon H. Fiva & Lars J. Kirkebøen, 2011. "Causal Effects of Paternity Leave on Children and Parents," CESifo Working Paper Series 3513, CESifo Group Munich.
  6. Christina Felfe & Natalia Nollenberger & Núria Rodríguez-Planas, 2013. "Can't Buy Mommy's Love? Universal Childcare and Children's Long-Term Cognitive Development," CESifo Working Paper Series 4069, CESifo Group Munich.
  7. Michael Baker & Kevin S. Milligan, 2011. "Maternity Leave and Children’s Cognitive and Behavioral Development," NBER Working Papers 17105, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

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