IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/jku/econwp/2026-04.html

Family Spillovers of Miscarriage

Author

Listed:
  • Lea-Karla Matic

Abstract

Using Austrian administrative data, I estimate the causal effect of miscarriage on women’s labor market and health outcomes, as well as spillover effects on close family members. To do so, I construct counterfactuals for affected individuals from those who experience a miscarriage at a later point in time. The results show that affected women experience short-term labor market detachment, worsening mental health, and increased investment in future fertility. Subsequent fertility shapes these effects, with more persistent adverse outcomes among women without a subsequent birth. For spouses, I find suggestive evidence of mental health effects, but no significant changes in labor supply or fertility-related investments beyond those observed prior to the loss. For sisters, the results indicate increased preventive reproductive healthcare use that is not explained by their own pregnancies.

Suggested Citation

  • Lea-Karla Matic, 2026. "Family Spillovers of Miscarriage," Economics working papers 2026-04, Department of Economics, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria.
    • Handle: RePEc:jku:econwp:2026-04
    Note: English
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.jku.at/fileadmin/gruppen/117/WorkingPapers/econ/2026/wp2604.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sarah Bögl & Jasmin Moshfegh & Petra Persson & Maria Polyakova, 2024. "The Economics of Infertility: Evidence from Reproductive Medicine," NBER Working Papers 32445, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Itzik Fadlon & Torben Heien Nielsen, 2021. "Family Labor Supply Responses to Severe Health Shocks: Evidence from Danish Administrative Records," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 13(3), pages 1-30, July.
    3. Aline Bütikofer & Deirdre Coy & Orla Doyle & Rita Ginja, 2024. "The Consequences of Miscarriage on Parental Investments," CESifo Working Paper Series 11003, CESifo.
    4. Tomáš Sobotka, 2009. "Sub-Replacement Fertility Intentions in Austria [Intentions de fécondité inférieures au seuil de remplacement en Autriche]," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 25(4), pages 387-412, November.
    5. Alexander Ahammer & Ulrich Glogowsky & Martin Halla & Timo Hener, 2023. "The Parenthood Penalty in Mental Health: Evidence from Austria and Denmark," CESifo Working Paper Series 10676, CESifo.
    6. John Ermisch & David Pevalin, 2005. "Early motherhood and later partnerships," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 18(3), pages 469-489, September.
    7. Ahammer, Alexander & Pruckner, Gerald J. & Stiftinger, Flora, 2026. "The labor and health economics of breast cancer," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    8. V. Joseph Hotz & Susan Williams McElroy & Seth G. Sanders, 2005. "Teenage Childbearing and Its Life Cycle Consequences: Exploiting a Natural Experiment," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 40(3).
    9. Sun, Liyang & Abraham, Sarah, 2021. "Estimating dynamic treatment effects in event studies with heterogeneous treatment effects," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 225(2), pages 175-199.
    10. Simen Markussen & Marte Strøm, 2022. "Children and labor market outcomes: separating the effects of the first three children," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 35(1), pages 135-167, January.
    11. Zhang, Junfu & Song, Xue, 2007. "Fertility Differences between Married and Cohabiting Couples: A Switching Regression Analysis," IZA Discussion Papers 3245, IZA Network @ LISER.
    12. Sara Rellstab & Pieter Bakx & Pilar Garci‡-G—mez, 2022. "Human Capital Formation: The Effect of a Miscarriage on Mental Health, Labour Market, and Family Outcomes," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 22-027/V, Tinbergen Institute.
    13. Zafer Buyukkececi & Thomas Leopold & Ruben Gaalen & Henriette Engelhardt, 2020. "Family, Firms, and Fertility: A Study of Social Interaction Effects," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 57(1), pages 243-266, February.
    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. Wolfgang Frimmel & Rene Wiesinger, 2024. "Sick Happens: The Effect of Worker Health Shocks on Coworkers' Employment and Health Behavior," Economics working papers 2024-12, Department of Economics, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria.
    2. Nadja van 't Hoff & Giovanni Mellace & Seetha Menon, 2025. "Gender Differences in Healthcare Utilisation: Causal Evidence from Unexpected Adverse Health Shocks," Papers 2509.01310, arXiv.org, revised Aug 2026.
    3. Guignet, Dennis & Jenkins, Robin R. & Belke, James & Mason, Henry, 2023. "The property value impacts of industrial chemical accidents," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    4. Aguilar-Gomez, Sandra & Arceo-Gomez, Eva O. & De la Cruz Toledo, Elia, 2026. "Inside the black box of child penalties: Unpaid work and household structure," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 178(C).
    5. Hamid Noghanibehambari & David Slusky & Hoa Vu, 2025. "From Access to Wellness: Early Life Exposure to Abortion Legalization and the Next Generation’s Health," NBER Working Papers 33571, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Aline Bütikofer & Deirdre Coy & Orla Doyle & Rita Ginja, 2024. "The Consequences of Miscarriage on Parental Investments," CESifo Working Paper Series 11003, CESifo.
    7. Nisén, Jessica & Tassot, Johanna & Iacoella, Francesco & Eibich, Peter, 2024. "Does Early Timing of First Birth Lead to Lower Earnings in Midlife in Britain?," IZA Discussion Papers 17494, IZA Network @ LISER.
    8. Anand, Priyanka & Kahn, Lisa B., 2024. "The effect of a peer’s teen pregnancy on sexual behavior," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    9. repec:osf:osfxxx:2m4xb_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Wen, Jiayi & Huang, Haili, 2024. "Parental health penalty on adult children’s employment: Gender differences and long-term consequences," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    11. Alexander Ahammer & Lea-Karla Matic, 2026. "End-of-life medical spending: Patterns and household spillovers," Economics working papers 2026-02, Department of Economics, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria.
    12. Nicholas A. Jolly & Nikolaos Theodoropoulos, 2023. "Health shocks and spousal labor supply: an international perspective," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 36(2), pages 973-1004, April.
    13. Janys, Lena & Siflinger, Bettina, 2024. "Mental health and abortions among young women: time-varying unobserved heterogeneity, health behaviors, and risky decisions," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 238(1).
    14. Volha Lazuka, 2022. "Household and individual economic outcomes of different health shocks: The role of medical innovations," Papers 2206.03306, arXiv.org, revised Feb 2026.
    15. Manudeep Bhuller & Gordon B. Dahl & Katrine V. Løken & Magne Mogstad, 2024. "Domestic Violence Reports and the Mental Health and Well-Being of Victims and Their Children," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 59(S), pages 152-186.
    16. John Tomkinson, 2019. "Age at first birth and subsequent fertility: The case of adolescent mothers in France and England and Wales," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 40(27), pages 761-798.
    17. Claudia Olivetti & Jessica Pan & Barbara Petrongolo, 2024. "The Evolution of Gender in the Labor Market," Economics Series Working Papers 1063, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    18. Simon Bensnes & Ingrid Huitfeldt & Edwin Leuven, 2023. "Reconciling estimates of the long-term earnings effect of fertility," Discussion Papers 1004, Statistics Norway, Research Department.
    19. Albertini, Mattia & Bakx, Pieter & Mazzonna, Fabrizio, 2025. "Health and Labor Market Consequences of Low-Value Care: The Role of Practice Style," IZA Discussion Papers 17771, IZA Network @ LISER.
    20. Léa Cimelli & Carole Bonnet & Anne Solaz, 2024. "Do late-life divorces produce greater gender inequalities? Evidence from administrative data," Working Papers 292, French Institute for Demographic Studies.
    21. Fu, Liping & Wang, Ruizhen & He, Chaoying, 2025. "Gender differences in later life: Labor supply responses to spousal disability," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 366(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General
    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply

    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:jku:econwp:2026-04. 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: René Böheim (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vlinzat.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.