Causal Effects of Paternity Leave on Children and Parents

Reserving a share of the parental leave period for fathers is considered necessary in order to induce fathers to take leave, and to increase men's participation in child‐rearing. We investigate how a parental leave reform directed towards fathers affected leave‐taking, and, in turn, children's and parents' long‐term outcomes. A paternal leave quota greatly increases the share of men taking paternity leave. We find evidence that children's school performance improves as a result, particularly in families where the father has higher education than the mother. We find no evidence that paternity leave counters the traditional allocation of parents' labor supply.

Keywords: Child development, labor supply, parental leave

JEL Classification: I21, J13, J22, J24

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Cools, Sara and Fiva, Jon H. and Kirkebøen, Lars J., Causal Effects of Paternity Leave on Children and Parents (July 2015). The Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Vol. 117, Issue 3, pp. 801-828, 2015, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2621834 or http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/sjoe.12113