IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/boc/bocoec/961.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Economic Consequences of Family Policies: Lessons from a Century of Legislation in High-Income Countries

Author

Listed:
  • Claudia Olivetti

    (Boston College
    NBER)

  • Barbara Petrongolo

    (Queen Mary University
    Centre for Economic Performance, LSE)

Abstract

We draw lessons from existing work and our own analysis on the effects of parental leave and other interventions aimed at aiding families. The outcomes of interest are female employment, gender gaps in earnings and fertility. We begin with a discussion of the historical introduction of family policies ever since the end of the nineteenth century and then turn to the details regarding family policies currently in effect across high-income nations. We sketch a framework concerning the effects of family policy to motivate our country- and micro-level evidence on the impact of family policies on gender outcomes. Most estimates of the impact of parental leave entitlement on female labor market outcomes range from negligible to weakly positive. The verdict is far more positive for the beneficial impact of spending on early education and childcare.

Suggested Citation

  • Claudia Olivetti & Barbara Petrongolo, 2016. "The Economic Consequences of Family Policies: Lessons from a Century of Legislation in High-Income Countries," Boston College Working Papers in Economics 961, Boston College Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:boc:bocoec:961
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://fmwww.bc.edu/EC-P/wp961.pdf
    File Function: main text
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Givord, Pauline & Marbot, Claire, 2015. "Does the cost of child care affect female labor market participation? An evaluation of a French reform of childcare subsidies," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 99-111.
    2. Kluve, Jochen & Schmitz, Sebastian, 2014. "Social Norms and Mothers' Labor Market Attachment: The Medium-Run Effects of Parental Benefits," IZA Discussion Papers 8115, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Asai, Yukiko, 2015. "Parental leave reforms and the employment of new mothers: Quasi-experimental evidence from Japan," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 72-83.
    4. Baum, Charles II, 2003. "The effect of state maternity leave legislation and the 1993 Family and Medical Leave Act on employment and wages," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 10(5), pages 573-596, October.
    5. Jochen Kluve & Marcus Tamm, 2013. "Parental leave regulations, mothers’ labor force attachment and fathers’ childcare involvement: evidence from a natural experiment," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 26(3), pages 983-1005, July.
    6. Elizabeth Cascio & Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach, 2013. "The Impacts of Expanding Access to High-Quality Preschool Education," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 44(2 (Fall)), pages 127-192.
    7. Goldin, Claudia, 1988. "Maximum Hours Legislation and Female Employment: A Reassessment," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 96(1), pages 189-205, February.
    8. Richard Blundell & Alan Duncan & Julian McCrae & Costas Meghir, 2000. "The labour market impact of the working families’ tax credit," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 21(1), pages 75-103, March.
    9. Welteke, Clara & Wrohlich, Katharina, 2019. "Peer effects in parental leave decisions," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 146-163.
    10. Charles F. Manski, 1993. "Identification of Endogenous Social Effects: The Reflection Problem," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 60(3), pages 531-542.
    11. Marianne Bertrand & Patricia Cortés & Claudia Olivetti & Jessica Pan, 2016. "Social Norms, Labor Market Opportunities, and the Marriage Gap for Skilled Women," NBER Working Papers 22015, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Jonah B. Gelbach, 2002. "Public Schooling for Young Children and Maternal Labor Supply," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(1), pages 307-322, March.
    13. Gordon B. Dahl & Katrine V. Løken & Magne Mogstad & Kari Vea Salvanes, 2016. "What Is the Case for Paid Maternity Leave?," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 98(4), pages 655-670, October.
    14. Gordon B. Dahl & Katrine V. L?ken & Magne Mogstad, 2014. "Peer Effects in Program Participation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(7), pages 2049-2074, July.
    15. Jesse Rothstein, 2010. "Is the EITC as Good as an NIT? Conditional Cash Transfers and Tax Incidence," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 2(1), pages 177-208, February.
    16. Uta Schönberg & Johannes Ludsteck, 2014. "Expansions in Maternity Leave Coverage and Mothers' Labor Market Outcomes after Childbirth," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 32(3), pages 469-505.
    17. Maya Rossin‐Slater & Christopher J. Ruhm & Jane Waldfogel, 2013. "The Effects of California's Paid Family Leave Program on Mothers’ Leave‐Taking and Subsequent Labor Market Outcomes," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(2), pages 224-245, March.
    18. Bettendorf, Leon J.H. & Jongen, Egbert L.W. & Muller, Paul, 2015. "Childcare subsidies and labour supply — Evidence from a large Dutch reform," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 112-123.
    19. Blau, Francine D. & Kahn, Lawrence M., 2013. "Female Labor Supply: Why is the US Falling Behind?," IZA Discussion Papers 7140, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    20. Francine D. Blau & Lawrence M. Kahn, 2013. "Female Labor Supply: Why Is the United States Falling Behind?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(3), pages 251-256, May.
    21. Paul Gregg & Susan Harkness & Sarah Smith, 2009. "Welfare Reform and Lone Parents in the UK," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 119(535), pages 38-65, February.
    22. Geyer, Johannes & Haan, Peter & Wrohlich, Katharina, 2015. "The effects of family policy on maternal labor supply: Combining evidence from a structural model and a quasi-experimental approach," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 84-98.
    23. Marianne Bertrand & Patricia Cortés & Claudia Olivetti & Jessica Pan, 2016. "Social Norms, Labor Market Opportunities, and the Marriage Gap for Skilled Women," NBER Working Papers 22015, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    24. Christopher J. Ruhm, 1998. "The Economic Consequences of Parental Leave Mandates: Lessons from Europe," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 113(1), pages 285-317.
    25. Angela Cipollone & Eleonora Patacchini & Giovanna Vallanti, 2014. "Female labour market participation in Europe: novel evidence on trends and shaping factors," IZA Journal of European Labor Studies, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 3(1), pages 1-40, December.
    26. Lefebvre, Pierre & Merrigan, Philip & Verstraete, Matthieu, 2009. "Dynamic labour supply effects of childcare subsidies: Evidence from a Canadian natural experiment on low-fee universal child care," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(5), pages 490-502, October.
    27. Sebastian Schmitz & Jochen Kluve, "undated". "Social Norms and Mothers' Labor Market Attachment: The Medium-run Effects of Parental Benefits," BDPEMS Working Papers 2014001, Berlin School of Economics.
    28. Willem Adema & Nabil Ali & Olivier Thévenon, 2014. "Changes in Family Policies and Outcomes: Is there Convergence?," OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers 157, OECD Publishing.
    29. Anna Raute, 2017. "Can Financial Incentives Reduce the Baby Gap? Evidence from a Reform in Maternity Leave Benefits," NBER Working Papers 23793, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    30. Cipollone, Angela & Patacchini, Eleonora & Vallanti, Giovanna, 2013. "Women Labor Market Participation in Europe: Novel Evidence on Trends and Shaping Factors," IZA Discussion Papers 7710, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    31. Anna, Petrenko, 2016. "Мaркування готової продукції як складова частина інформаційного забезпечення маркетингової діяльності підприємств овочепродуктового підкомплексу," Agricultural and Resource Economics: International Scientific E-Journal, Agricultural and Resource Economics: International Scientific E-Journal, vol. 2(1), March.
    32. Rafael Lalive & Josef Zweimüller, 2009. "How Does Parental Leave Affect Fertility and Return to Work? Evidence from Two Natural Experiments," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 124(3), pages 1363-1402.
    33. Haeck, Catherine & Lefebvre, Pierre & Merrigan, Philip, 2015. "Canadian evidence on ten years of universal preschool policies: The good and the bad," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 137-157.
    34. Eissa, Nada & Hoynes, Hilary Williamson, 2004. "Taxes and the labor market participation of married couples: the earned income tax credit," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(9-10), pages 1931-1958, August.
    35. Michael Baker & Kevin Milligan, 2008. "How Does Job-Protected Maternity Leave Affect Mothers' Employment?," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 26(4), pages 655-691, October.
    36. Pierre Lefebvre & Philip Merrigan, 2008. "Child-Care Policy and the Labor Supply of Mothers with Young Children: A Natural Experiment from Canada," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 26(3), pages 519-548, July.
    37. Wen-Jui Han & Christopher Ruhm & Jane Waldfogel & Elizabeth Washbrook, 2009. "Public Policies and Women's Employment after Childbearing," NBER Working Papers 14660, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    38. Marco Francesconi & Wilbert van der Klaauw, 2007. "The Socioeconomic Consequences of "In-Work" Benefit Reform for British Lone Mothers," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 42(1).
    39. Mike Brewer & Marco Francesconi & Paul Gregg & Jeffrey Grogger, 2009. "Feature: In‐work Benefit Reform in a Cross‐National Perspective ‐ Introduction," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 119(535), pages 1-14, February.
    40. Kluve, Jochen & Schmitz, Sebastian, 2014. "Social Norms and Mothers' Labor Market Attachment – The Medium-run Effects of Parental Benefits," Ruhr Economic Papers 481, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    41. Nicole M Fortin, 2005. "Gender Role Attitudes and the Labour-market Outcomes of Women across OECD Countries," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 21(3), pages 416-438, Autumn.
    42. Elizabeth U. Cascio, 2009. "Maternal Labor Supply and the Introduction of Kindergartens into American Public Schools," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 44(1).
    43. repec:zbw:rwirep:0481 is not listed on IDEAS
    44. Brewer, Mike & Duncan, Alan & Shephard, Andrew & Suarez, Maria Jose, 2006. "Did working families' tax credit work? The impact of in-work support on labour supply in Great Britain," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(6), pages 699-720, December.
    45. Nollenberger, Natalia & Rodríguez-Planas, Núria, 2015. "Full-time universal childcare in a context of low maternal employment: Quasi-experimental evidence from Spain," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 124-136.
    46. Robert A. Moffitt, 2003. "Means-Tested Transfer Programs in the United States," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number moff03-1.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Claudia Olivetti & Barbara Petrongolo, 2017. "The Economic Consequences of Family Policies: Lessons from a Century of Legislation," Working Papers 811, Queen Mary University of London, School of Economics and Finance.
    2. Jones, Kelly & Wilcher, Britni, 2024. "Reducing maternal labor market detachment: A role for paid family leave," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    3. Annette Bergemann & Regina T. Riphahn, 2023. "Maternal employment effects of paid parental leave," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 36(1), pages 139-178, January.
    4. Girsberger, Esther Mirjam & Hassani-Nezhad, Lena & Karunanethy, Kalaivani & Lalive, Rafael, 2023. "Mothers at work: How mandating a short maternity leave affects work and fertility," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    5. Monica Costa Dias & Robert Joyce & Francesca Parodi, 2019. "The gender pay gap in the UK: children and experience in work," Carlo Alberto Notebooks 594, Collegio Carlo Alberto.
    6. de Boer, Henk-Wim & Jongen, Egbert L.W. & Kabatek, Jan, 2022. "The effectiveness of fiscal stimuli for working parents," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    7. Huebener, Mathias & Kuehnle, Daniel & Spiess, C. Katharina, 2019. "Parental leave policies and socio-economic gaps in child development: Evidence from a substantial benefit reform using administrative data," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    8. Jennifer Glass & Carolyn E. Waldrep, 2023. "Child Allowances and Work-Family Reconciliation Policies: What Best Reduces Child Poverty and Gender Inequality While Enabling Desired Fertility?," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 42(5), pages 1-57, October.
    9. Matthias Krapf & Anja Roth & Michaela Slotwinski, 2020. "The Effect of Childcare on Parental Earnings Trajectories," CESifo Working Paper Series 8764, CESifo.
    10. Sarah H. Bana & Kelly Bedard & Maya Rossin‐Slater, 2020. "The Impacts of Paid Family Leave Benefits: Regression Kink Evidence from California Administrative Data," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 39(4), pages 888-929, September.
    11. Shintaro Yamaguchi, 2017. "Family Policies and Female Employment in Japan," The Japanese Economic Review, Springer, vol. 68(3), pages 305-322, September.
    12. Francesca Carta, 2019. "Female labour supply in Italy: the role of parental leave and child care policies," Questioni di Economia e Finanza (Occasional Papers) 539, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    13. Asai, Yukiko, 2015. "Parental leave reforms and the employment of new mothers: Quasi-experimental evidence from Japan," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 72-83.
    14. Welteke, Clara & Wrohlich, Katharina, 2019. "Peer effects in parental leave decisions," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 146-163.
    15. Katharine G. Abraham & Melissa S. Kearney, 2020. "Explaining the Decline in the US Employment-to-Population Ratio: A Review of the Evidence," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 58(3), pages 585-643, September.
    16. Shintaro Yamaguchi, 2016. "Family Policies and Female Employment in Japan," Department of Economics Working Papers 2016-06, McMaster University.
    17. Homroy, Swarnodeep & Mukherjee, Shibashish, 2021. "The role of employer learning and regulatory interventions in mitigating executive gender pay gap," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    18. Cortes, Patricia & Pan, Jessica, 2020. "Children and the Remaining Gender Gaps in the Labor Market," IZA Discussion Papers 13759, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    19. Paule-Paludkiewicz, Hannah, 2024. "Does the right to work part-time affect mothers' labor market outcomes?," Discussion Papers 12/2024, Deutsche Bundesbank.
    20. Shintaro Yamaguchi, 2017. "Family Policies and Female Employment in Japan," The Japanese Economic Review, Japanese Economic Association, vol. 68(3), pages 305-322, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    parental leave; childcare; family policies; gender gaps;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • 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
    • J18 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Public Policy

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:boc:bocoec:961. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Christopher F Baum (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/debocus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.