Does Biology Drive Child Penalties? Evidence from Biological and Adoptive Families

30 Pages Posted: 8 May 2020

See all articles by Henrik Kleven

Henrik Kleven

Princeton University - Princeton School of Public and International Affairs

Camille Landais

London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE) - London School of Economics; Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

Jakob Egholt Søgaard

University of Copenhagen

Multiple version iconThere are 3 versions of this paper

Date Written: May 2020

Abstract

This paper investigates if the impact of children on the labor market trajectories 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 forty years of adoption data from Denmark. Long-run child penalties in earnings and its underlying determinants are virtually identical in biological and adoptive families. This implies that biology is not important for child-related gender gaps. Based on additional analyses, we argue that our results speak against the importance of specialization based on comparative advantage more broadly.

Suggested Citation

Kleven, Henrik and Landais, Camille and Søgaard, Jakob Egholt, Does Biology Drive Child Penalties? Evidence from Biological and Adoptive Families (May 2020). CEPR Discussion Paper No. DP14704, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3594339

Henrik Kleven (Contact Author)

Princeton University - Princeton School of Public and International Affairs ( email )

Princeton University
Princeton, NJ 08544-1021
United States

Camille Landais

London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE) - London School of Economics ( email )

United Kingdom

Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

London
United Kingdom

Jakob Egholt Søgaard

University of Copenhagen ( email )

Nørregade 10
Copenhagen, København DK-1165
Denmark

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