The role of parental leave policies in mitigating child penalties: insights from Italy

Paola Biasi and Maria De Paola

Economics Letters, 2025, vol. 253, issue C

Abstract: This study examines child penalties for mothers and fathers in Italy by using novel administrative data. Relying on an event study approach, we find that childbirth affects mothers' earnings negatively, while fathers' earnings remain largely unaffected. However, when leave allowances are included in earnings, the child penalty for women nearly disappears in the year of childbirth and drops by more than half in the following year. Subsequently mothers’ earnings quickly return to pre-birth levels, but never catch up to fathers' earnings, which follow an upward trajectory, increasing by approximately 46 % seven years after childbirth.

Keywords: Italy; Child penalty; Event study; Gender gap; Labour market; Welfare (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J16 J18 J31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:253:y:2025:i:c:s0165176525001922

DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112355

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