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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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  • Salvanes, Kjell G
  • Carneiro, Pedro
  • Løken, Katrine

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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  • Salvanes, Kjell G & Carneiro, Pedro & Løken, Katrine, 2010. "A flying start? Long term consequences of maternal time investments in children during their first year of life," CEPR Discussion Papers 8124, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:8124
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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 17:42:12

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    Cited by:

    1. Felfe, Christina & Lalive, Rafael, 2012. "Early Child Care and Child Development: For Whom it Works and Why," IZA Discussion Papers 7100, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. 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.
    3. Natalia Danzer & Victor Lavy, 2013. "Parental Leave and Children's Schooling Outcomes: Quasi-Experimental Evidence from a Large Parental Leave Reform," CESifo Working Paper Series 4488, CESifo.
    4. González, Libertad, 2011. "The Effects of a Universal Child Benefit," IZA Discussion Papers 5994, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. repec:hum:wpaper:sfb649dp2011-024 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. repec:iae:iaewps:wp2016n9 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Washbrook Elizabeth & Ruhm Christopher J & Waldfogel Jane & Han Wen-Jui, 2011. "Public Policies, Women's Employment after Childbearing, and Child Well-Being," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 11(1), pages 1-50, July.
    8. Broadway, Barbara & Kalb, Guyonne & McVicar, Duncan & Martin, Bill, 2016. "The Impact of Paid Parental Leave on Labour Supply and Employment Outcomes," IZA Discussion Papers 9801, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    9. 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.
    10. Michael Baker, 2011. "Innis Lecture: Universal early childhood interventions: what is the evidence base?," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 44(4), pages 1069-1105, November.
    11. Peter Funk & Thorsten Kemper, 2016. "Leisure and Learning - Activities and Their Effects on Child Skill Development," Working Paper Series in Economics 85, University of Cologne, Department of Economics.
    12. Rossin, Maya, 2011. "The effects of maternity leave on children's birth and infant health outcomes in the United States," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 221-239, March.
    13. Christina Felfe & Natalia Nollenberger & Núria Rodríguez-Planas, 2015. "Can’t buy mommy’s love? Universal childcare and children’s long-term cognitive development," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 28(2), pages 393-422, April.
    14. Ruhm, Christopher J. & Waldfogel, Jane, 2011. "Long-Term Effects of Early Childhood Care and Education," IZA Discussion Papers 6149, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    15. Michael Baker & Kevin Milligan, 2015. "Maternity leave and children’s cognitive and behavioral development," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 28(2), pages 373-391, April.
    16. Stearns, Jenna, 2015. "The effects of paid maternity leave: Evidence from Temporary Disability Insurance," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 85-102.
    17. Scheffel, Juliane, 2013. "Does Work-Time Flexibility Really Improve the Reconciliation of Family and Work?," VfS Annual Conference 2013 (Duesseldorf): Competition Policy and Regulation in a Global Economic Order 79992, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    18. Scheffel, Juliane, 2011. "Identifying the effect of temporal work flexibility on parental time with children," SFB 649 Discussion Papers 2011-024, Humboldt University Berlin, Collaborative Research Center 649: Economic Risk.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Child development; Maternity leave;

    JEL classification:

    • J0 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General

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