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Child Penalty Estimation andMothers Age at First Birth

Author

Listed:
  • Valentina Melentyeva

    (Tilburg University)

  • Lukas Riedel

    (ZEW Mannheim)

Abstract

We show that the widespread approach to estimate the career costs of motherhood – so-called “child penalties†– is prone to produce biased results, as it pools first-time mothers of all ages without accounting for their differences in characteristics and outcomes. We propose a novel method building on the recent advances in the difference-in-differences literature to address this issue. Applied to German administrative data, our method yields 30 percent larger post-birth earnings losses than the conventional approach. We document meaningful effect heterogeneity by maternal age in both magnitude and interpretation, highlighting its key role in understanding the impact of motherhood.

Suggested Citation

  • Valentina Melentyeva & Lukas Riedel, 2025. "Child Penalty Estimation andMothers Age at First Birth," RFBerlin Discussion Paper Series 2519, Rockwool Foundation Berlin (RF Berlin).
    • Handle: RePEc:crm:wpaper:2519
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    Keywords

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    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
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • C23 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models

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