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Does biology drive child penalties? Evidence from biological and adoptive families

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  • Kleven, Henrik Jacobsen
  • Landais, Camille
  • Søgaard, Jakob Egholt

Abstract

This paper investigates whether the impact of children on the labor market outcomes of women relative to men—child penalties—can be explained by the biological links between mother and child. We estimate child penalties in biological and adoptive families using event studies around the arrival of children and almost 40 years of adoption data from Denmark. Short-run child penalties are slightly larger for biological mothers than for adoptive mothers, but their long-run child penalties are virtually identical and precisely estimated. This suggests that biology is not a key driver of child-related gender gaps.

Suggested Citation

  • Kleven, Henrik Jacobsen & Landais, Camille & Søgaard, Jakob Egholt, 2021. "Does biology drive child penalties? Evidence from biological and adoptive families," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 107556, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
  • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:107556
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    Cited by:

    1. Li, Jiaqi, 2021. "Racial Difference in Child Penalty," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 1382, University of Warwick, Department of Economics.
    2. de la Vega, Noa, 2022. "The differential effect of childbirth on men's and women's careers," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    3. Artmann, Elisabeth & Oosterbeek, Hessel & van der Klaauw, Bas, 2022. "Household specialization and the child penalty in the Netherlands," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    4. Oreffice, Sonia & Sansone, Dario, 2022. "Commuting to Work and Gender-Conforming Social Norms: Evidence from Same-Sex Couples," IZA Discussion Papers 15332, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Bazen, Stephen & Joutard, Xavier & Périvier, Hélène, 2021. "Measuring the Child Penalty Early in a Career: The Case of Young Adults in France," IZA Discussion Papers 14763, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Stephen Bazen & Xavier Joutard & Hélène Périvier, 2021. "Measuring the Child Penalty Early in a Career," Working Papers hal-03451099, HAL.
    7. Stern, Charlotta & Madison, Guy, 2022. "Sex differences and occupational choice Theorizing for policy informed by behavioral science✰," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 202(C), pages 694-702.
    8. Albanese, Andrea & Nieto, Adrián & Tatsiramos, Konstantinos, 2022. "Job Location Decisions and the Effect of Children on the Employment Gender Gap," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1113, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    9. Krapf, Matthias & Roth, Anja & Slotwinski, Michaela, 2020. "The effect of childcare on parental earnings trajectories," ZEW Discussion Papers 20-050, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    10. Inés Berniell & Lucila Berniell & Dolores de la Mata & María Edo & Yarine Fawaz & Matilde P. Machado & Mariana Marchionni, 2020. "Motherhood and the Allocation of Talent," CEDLAS, Working Papers 0270, CEDLAS, Universidad Nacional de La Plata.
    11. Jon H. Fiva & Max-Emil M. King, 2022. "Child Penalties in Politics," CESifo Working Paper Series 9611, CESifo.
    12. Moberg, Ylva & van der Vleuten , Maaike, 2022. "Mothers’ birth giving status and the division of parental leave. A comparison of adoptive and biological parents," Working Paper Series 2022:18, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.
    13. Duchini, Emma & Van Effenterre, Clémentine, 2020. "School Schedule and the Gender Pay Gap," IZA Discussion Papers 13791, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    14. Nieto, Adrián, 2021. "Native-immigrant differences in the effect of children on the gender pay gap," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 183(C), pages 654-680.
    15. Jessen, Jonas, 2022. "Culture, children and couple gender inequality," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    16. Peter Ganong & Pascal J. Noel, 2020. "Why Do Borrowers Default on Mortgages?," NBER Working Papers 27585, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Peter Ganong & Pascal J. Noel, 2020. "Why Do Borrowers Default on Mortgages? A New Method For Causal Attribution," Working Papers 2020-100, Becker Friedman Institute for Research In Economics.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure
    • 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

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