Effects of Early Childhood Intervention on Fertility and Maternal Employment: Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial

Malte Sandner

No 1606, CINCH Working Paper Series from Universitaet Duisburg-Essen, Competent in Competition and Health

Abstract: This paper presents the results of a randomized study of a home visiting programme implemented in Germany for low-income, first-time mothers. A major goal of the programme is to improve the participants’ economic self-sufficiency and family planning. I use administrative data from the German social security system and detailed telephone surveys to examine the effects of the intervention on maternal employment, welfare benefits, and household composition. The study reveals that the intervention decreased maternal employment and increased subsequent births. These results contradict those of previous studies from the United States, where home visiting programmes successfully increased employment and decreased fertility. Low employment incentives and generous welfare state arrangements for disadvantaged mothers with young children in Germany may explain the different results.

Keywords: Early Childhood Intervention; Randomized Experiment; Fertility (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H52 I21 J12 J13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 54 pages
Date: 2016-11, Revised 2016-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-exp and nep-lab
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Effects of early childhood intervention on fertility and maternal employment: Evidence from a randomized controlled trial (2019)
Working Paper: Effects of Early Childhood Intervention on Fertility and Maternal Employment: Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial (2017)
Working Paper: Effects of Early Childhood Intervention on Fertility and Maternal Employment: Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial (2015)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:duh:wpaper:1606

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