Parental Leave and Intimate Partner Violence

Dan Anderberg, Line Hjorth Andersen, N.Meltem Daysal and Mette Ejrnaes
Additional contact information
Dan Anderberg: Royal Holloway, University of London
Line Hjorth Andersen: Rockwool Foundation, Research Unit
N.Meltem Daysal: Department of Economics, University of Copenhagen
Mette Ejrnaes: Department of Economics, University of Copenhagen

No 25-12, CEBI working paper series from University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics. The Center for Economic Behavior and Inequality (CEBI)

Abstract: We examine the impact of a 2002 Danish parental leave reform on intimate partner violence (IPV) using administrative data on assault-related hospital contacts. Using a regression discontinuity design, we show that extending fully paid leave increased mothers leave-taking and substantially reduced IPV, with effects concentrated among less-educated women. The reform also lengthened birth spacing, while separations remained unchanged and earnings effects were modest. The timing and heterogeneity of impacts point to fertility adjustments rather than exit options or financial relief as the key mechanism. Parental leave policy thus emerges as an underexplored lever for reducing IPV.

Keywords: Intimate partner violence; parental leave (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I38 J12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 34
Date: 2025-10-24
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eur, nep-hea and nep-lab
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