Causal Effects of Paternity Leave on Children and Parents
28 Pages Posted: 23 Jun 2015
There are 2 versions of this paper
Causal Effects of Paternity Leave on Children and Parents
Date Written: July 2015
Abstract
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