Family-Friendly Policies and Fertility: What Firms Have to Do With It?

Olympia Bover, Nezih Guner (), Yuliya Kulikova, Alessandro Ruggieri and Carlos Sanz
Additional contact information
Olympia Bover: CEMFI
Nezih Guner: CEMFI
Yuliya Kulikova: Bank of Spain
Alessandro Ruggieri: CUNER Universidad
Carlos Sanz: Banco de Espana

No 2025-006, Working Papers from Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group

Abstract: Family-friendly policies aim to help women balance work and family life, encouraging them to participate in the labor market. How effective are such policies in increasing fertility? We answer this question using a search model of the labor market where firms make hiring, promotion, and firing decisions, taking into account how these decisions affect workers’ fertility incentives and labor force participation decisions. We estimate the model using administrative data from Spain, a country with very low fertility and a highly regulated labor market. We use the model to study family-friendly policies and demonstrate that firms' reactions result in a trade-off: policies that increase fertility reduce women's participation in the labor market and lower their lifetime earnings.

Keywords: flexibility; search and matching; human capital accumulation; gender gap; welfare (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E24 J08 J13 J18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dem, nep-dge, nep-eur, nep-lab and nep-mac
Note: FI
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http://humcap.uchicago.edu/RePEc/hka/wpaper/Bover_ ... -fertility-firms.pdf First version, July 16, 2025 (application/pdf)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hka:wpaper:2025-006

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