Maternity benefits and marital stability after birth: evidence from the Soviet Baltic republics

Elizabeth Brainerd and Olga Malkova

Journal of Population Economics, 2023, vol. 36, issue 4, No 10, 2309-2345

Abstract: Abstract Can a policy intervention in the stressful first year after a birth affect marital stability? We examine this question using a large expansion in maternity benefits in 1982 in the Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. The program provided partially paid leave until the child’s first birthday and included a small cash payment at birth. We use individual-level panel data and compare the Baltics with similar East European countries using a difference-in-differences framework. Maternity benefits decrease divorce within the first year after birth. This decrease persists for at least a decade, indicating that couples avoided divorce altogether rather than simply delaying it. While mothers extended their leave by several months, they returned to full-time work afterwards, consistent with egalitarian gender norms in the labor market.

Keywords: Maternity benefits; Mothers; Marital stability; Divorce; Marital dissolution (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J12 J16 P23 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1007/s00148-023-00958-w

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