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Parental Leave and Children's Schooling Outcomes: Quasi-Experimental Evidence from a Large Parental Leave Reform

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  • Danzer, Natalia

    (Freie Universität Berlin)

  • Lavy, Victor

    (Hebrew University, Jerusalem)

Abstract

This paper investigates the question whether long-term human capital outcomes are affected by the duration of maternity leave, i.e. by the time mothers spend at home with their newborn before returning to work. Employing RD and difference-in-difference approaches, this paper exploits an unanticipated reform in Austria which extended the maximum duration of paid and job protected parental leave from 12 to 24 months for children born on July 1, 1990 or later. We use test scores from the Austrian PISA test of birth cohorts 1990 and 1987 as measure of human capital. The evidence suggest no significant overall impact of the extended parental leave mandate on standardized test scores at age 15, but that the subgroup of boys of highly educated mothers have benefited from this reform while boys of low educated mothers were harmed by it.

Suggested Citation

  • Danzer, Natalia & Lavy, Victor, 2013. "Parental Leave and Children's Schooling Outcomes: Quasi-Experimental Evidence from a Large Parental Leave Reform," IZA Discussion Papers 7626, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7626
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    Cited by:

    1. Cheti Nicoletti & Kjell G. Salvanes & Emma Tominey, 2023. "Mothers Working during Preschool Years and Child Skills: Does Income Compensate?," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 41(2), pages 389-429.
    2. James, Jonathan & Vujić, Sunčica, 2019. "From high school to the high chair: Education and fertility timing," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 1-24.
    3. Felfe, Christina & Kocher, Martin G. & Rainer, Helmut & Saurer, Judith & Siedler, Thomas, 2021. "More opportunity, more cooperation? The behavioral effects of birthright citizenship on immigrant youth," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 200(C).
    4. Saurer, Judith & Felfe, Christina, 2014. "Granting Birthright Citizenship - A Door Opener for Immigrant Children's Educational Participation and Success?," VfS Annual Conference 2014 (Hamburg): Evidence-based Economic Policy 100548, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    5. Beuchert, Louise Voldby & Humlum, Maria Knoth & Vejlin, Rune, 2016. "The length of maternity leave and family health," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 55-71.
    6. Christina Felfe & Helmut Rainer & Judith Saurer, 2016. "Why Birthright Citizenship Matters for Immigrant Children: Impacts on Parental Educational Choice," CESifo Working Paper Series 6037, CESifo.
    7. 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.
    8. Barbara Broadway & Guyonne Kalb, 2015. "The Effect of Paid Parental Leave on Child Health in Australia," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2015n09, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne.
    9. Katrin Huber, 2015. "Moving to an earnings-related parental leave system – do heterogeneous effects on parents make some children worse off?," Working Papers 160, Bavarian Graduate Program in Economics (BGPE).
    10. Mathieu Narcy & Florent Sari, 2018. "Effet d'une réduction de la durée d'indemnisation du congé parental sur l'activité des mères : une évaluation de la réforme de 2015," Working Papers hal-02162446, HAL.
    11. Dejan Kovac, 2017. "Do Fathers Matter?: Paternal Mortality and Children's Long-Run Outcomes," Working Papers 609, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section..
    12. Barbara Broadway & Guyonne Kalb & Daniel Kuehnle & Miriam Maeder, 2017. "Paid Parental Leave and Child Health in Australia," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 93(301), pages 214-237, June.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    child development; parental leave reform; maternal employment; human capital; cognitive skills;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply

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