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Postpartum Job Loss: Transitory Effect on Mothers, Long-run Damage to Children

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  • Willage, Barton
  • Willén, Alexander

Abstract

The first year after childbirth involves dramatic changes to parents’ lives and is crucial for children's development. Using plausibly exogenous job loss from mass layoffs and establishment closures, we provide novel evidence on the effect of adverse shocks in the first postpartum year on mothers and children. Our results reveal that effects of adverse labor shocks among females are significantly larger in the first postpartum year. No such differential effects are present among males. Additionally, we find long-lasting harm to children's educational outcomes 15 years after the displacement event took place. The child effects are not present among those who experience paternal labor shocks. To better understand these results, we investigate several potential mechanisms, including income, mobility, spousal labor supply responses, fertility, and marital dissolution.

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  • Willage, Barton & Willén, Alexander, 2022. "Postpartum Job Loss: Transitory Effect on Mothers, Long-run Damage to Children," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:eecrev:v:150:y:2022:i:c:s0014292122001751
    DOI: 10.1016/j.euroecorev.2022.104287
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    Cited by:

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    3. Ranveig Falch, 2021. "How Do People Trade Off Resources Between Quick and Slow Learners?," Discussion Paper Series of the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods 2021_04, Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods.
    4. Sulin Sardoschau, 2023. "In-utero Exposure to Violence and Child Health in Iraq," Rationality and Competition Discussion Paper Series 452, CRC TRR 190 Rationality and Competition.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Job Loss; Maternal Labor Supply; Education; Early Childhood; Fertility;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General
    • I24 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Inequality
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J63 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Turnover; Vacancies; Layoffs

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