 Changes in parental leave and young children’s non-cognitive skillsReview of Economics of the Household, 2019, vol. 17, issue 1, No 4, 89-119 Abstract: Abstract This study examines the effect of substantial changes in parental leave regulations on the non-cognitive development of children aged between 0 and 3 years. I exploit a large and unanticipated parental leave reform in Germany as a natural experiment. Since the first of January 2007, the replacement of a means-tested by an earnings-related system led to a gain in benefits for wealthier families whereas needier parents receive a lower overall benefit amount than before the reform. I detect a significant negative effect of this change in the parental leave system on the socio-emotional development of newborns and it turns out that children from loser-families drive this effect. The parental leave reform does not have a significant impact on 2–3-year-olds’ skills and development on average and the difference between children from losers and winners does also not persist in the longer run. I only find suggestive evidence that an increase in benefits improves some skills of 2–3-year-olds if compared to those who experience reductions in benefits. Keywords: Children; Family policy; Parental leave; Non-cognitive skills (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:kap:reveho:v:17:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1007_s11150-017-9380-2 Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from DOI: 10.1007/s11150-017-9380-2 Access Statistics for this article Review of Economics of the Household is currently edited by Shoshana Grossbard More articles in Review of Economics of the Household from Springer |
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