IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ces/ceswps/_11795.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Leave and Let Leave: Workplace Peer Effects in Fathers’ Take-up of Parental Leave

Author

Listed:
  • Alessandra Casarico
  • Edoardo Di Porto
  • Joanna Kopinska
  • Salvatore Lattanzio

Abstract

Relying on a reform that increased parental leave generosity, we estimate workplace peer effects in the use of leave, with a focus on fathers. Coworker fathers are more likely to take parental leave when exposed to a higher share of peer fathers, who are exogenously affected by the reform. This effect is stronger in larger establishments, those with higher levels of social capital and higher use of parental leave before the reform. We also document that own-gender peer effects are larger than cross-gender influences, and show the absence of career costs for fathers exposed to the reform, which provides an explanation for our findings. Peer effects extend to coworker fathers' partners, who experience an increase in earnings and labor supply. Peer effects are observed also for mothers, but the response of their partners is less pronounced.

Suggested Citation

  • Alessandra Casarico & Edoardo Di Porto & Joanna Kopinska & Salvatore Lattanzio, 2025. "Leave and Let Leave: Workplace Peer Effects in Fathers’ Take-up of Parental Leave," CESifo Working Paper Series 11795, CESifo.
  • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11795
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.ifo.de/DocDL/cesifo1_wpNr11795.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sara Cools & Jon H. Fiva & Lars J. Kirkebøen, 2015. "Causal Effects of Paternity Leave on Children and Parents," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 117(3), pages 801-828, July.
    2. Rita Ginja & Arizo Karimi & Pengpeng Xiao, 2023. "Employer Responses to Family Leave Programs," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 15(1), pages 107-135, January.
    3. Thomas Cornelissen & Christian Dustmann & Uta Schönberg, 2017. "Peer Effects in the Workplace," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(2), pages 425-456, February.
    4. Hosny Zoabi & Libertad González, 2021. "Does Paternity Leave Promote Gender Equality within Households?," Working Papers 1302, Barcelona School of Economics.
    5. 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.
    6. George A. Akerlof & Rachel E. Kranton, 2000. "Economics and Identity," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 115(3), pages 715-753.
    7. Dottori, Davide & Modena, Francesca & Tanzi, Giulia Martina, 2024. "Peer effects in parental leave: Evidence from Italy," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    8. Farré, Lídia & González, Libertad, 2019. "Does paternity leave reduce fertility?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 172(C), pages 52-66.
    9. Ann P. Bartel & Maya Rossin†Slater & Christopher J. Ruhm & Jenna Stearns & Jane Waldfogel, 2018. "Paid Family Leave, Fathers’ Leave†Taking, and Leave†Sharing in Dual†Earner Households," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 37(1), pages 10-37, January.
    10. Battisti, Michele, 2017. "High wage workers and high wage peers," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 47-63.
    11. Patricia Cortés & Jessica Pan, 2023. "Children and the Remaining Gender Gaps in the Labor Market," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 61(4), pages 1359-1409, December.
    12. Patricia Cortés & Jessica Pan, 2023. "Children and the Remaining Gender Gaps in the Labor Market," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 61(4), pages 1359-1409, December.
    13. Magnus Carlsson & Abdulaziz Abrar Reshid, 2022. "Co‐worker peer effects on parental leave take‐up," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 124(4), pages 930-957, October.
    14. Canaan, Serena & Lassen, Anne Sophie & Rosenbaum, Philip & Steingrimsdottir, Herdis, 2022. "Maternity Leave and Paternity Leave: Evidence on the Economic Impact of Legislative Changes in High Income Countries," IZA Discussion Papers 15129, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    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. Hatsor, Limor & Shurtz, Ity, 2024. "Breastfeeding and the return to work after childbirth of new mothers: evidence from a baby formula scare," MPRA Paper 122603, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Dottori, Davide & Modena, Francesca & Tanzi, Giulia Martina, 2024. "Peer effects in parental leave: Evidence from Italy," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    3. Glogowsky, Ulrich & Hansen, Emanuel & Sachs, Dominik & Lüthen, Holger, 2025. "The evolution of child-related gender inequality in Germany and the role of family policies, 1960–2018," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    4. Jessen, Jonas, 2022. "Culture, children and couple gender inequality," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    5. Hélène Périvier & Gregory Verdugo, 2021. "Can parental leave be shared?," Working Papers hal-03364048, HAL.
    6. Ariane Pailhé & Anne Solaz & Maxime Tô, 2024. "Can Daddies Learn to Care for Babies? The Effect of A Short Paternity Leave on the Division of Childcare and Housework," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 43(3), pages 1-48, June.
    7. Patrick Schneider & Lídia Farré & Libertad González, 2022. "Changing Gender Norms across Generations: Evidence from a Paternity Leave Reform," Working Papers 1310, Barcelona School of Economics.
    8. Cecilia Machado & Valdemar Neto & Christiane Szerman, 2023. "Firm and Worker Responses to Extensions in Paid Maternity Leave," CESifo Working Paper Series 10736, CESifo.
    9. Magnus Carlsson & Abdulaziz Abrar Reshid, 2022. "Co‐worker peer effects on parental leave take‐up," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 124(4), pages 930-957, October.
    10. Dahl, Gordon & Loken, Katrine V., 2024. "Families, public policies, and the labor market," Handbook of Labor Economics,, Elsevier.
    11. Matti Keloharju & Samuli Knüpfer & Joacim Tåg, 2022. "What prevents women from reaching the top?," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 51(3), pages 711-738, September.
    12. Gordon Dahl & Katrine Loken, 2024. "Families, Public Policies, and the Labor Market," RF Berlin - CReAM Discussion Paper Series 2423, Rockwool Foundation Berlin (RF Berlin) - Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration (CReAM).
    13. Welteke, Clara & Wrohlich, Katharina, 2019. "Peer effects in parental leave decisions," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 146-163.
    14. Maria De Paola & Roberto Nisticò & Vincenzo Scoppa, 2024. "Workplace Peer Effects in Fertility Decisions," CSEF Working Papers 714, Centre for Studies in Economics and Finance (CSEF), University of Naples, Italy.
    15. Janna Bergsvik & Agnes Fauske & Rannveig K. Hart, 2020. "Effects of policy on fertility. A systematic review of (quasi)experiments," Discussion Papers 922, Statistics Norway, Research Department.
    16. Shaofeng Xu & Jie Feng, 2024. "Home production and time use in an epidemic," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 57(4), pages 1391-1433, November.
    17. Baertsch, Laurenz & Sandner, Malte, 2024. "Reducing the Child Penalty by Incentivizing Maternal Part-Time Work?," IZA Discussion Papers 17109, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    18. Healy, Olivia & Heissel, Jennifer A., 2024. "Baby Bumps in the Road: The Impact of Parenthood on Job Performance, Human Capital, and Career Advancement," IZA Discussion Papers 16743, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    19. Farré, Lídia & González, Libertad, 2019. "Does paternity leave reduce fertility?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 172(C), pages 52-66.
    20. Bana, Sarah & Bedard, Kelly & Rossin-Slater, Maya & Stearns, Jenna, 2023. "Unequal use of social insurance benefits: The role of employers," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 233(2), pages 633-660.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    parental leave; peer effects; career costs; female labor market participation.;
    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
    • K31 - Law and Economics - - Other Substantive Areas of Law - - - Labor Law
    • M52 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Personnel Economics - - - Compensation and Compensation Methods and Their Effects

    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:ces:ceswps:_11795. 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: Klaus Wohlrabe (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cesifde.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.