The Long-Run Effects of California’s Paid Family Leave Act on Women’s Careers and Childbearing: New Evidence from a Regression Discontinuity Design and U.S. Tax Data

Martha Bailey, Tanya Byker, Elena Patel, Shanthi Ramnath and Martha J. Bailey
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Martha J. Bailey

No 10933, CESifo Working Paper Series from CESifo

Abstract: We use administrative tax data to analyze the cumulative, long-run effects of California’s 2004 Paid Family Leave Act (CPFL) on women’s employment, earnings, and childbearing. A regression-discontinuity design exploits the sharp increase in the weeks of paid leave available under the law. We find no evidence that CPFL increased employment, boosted earnings, or encouraged childbearing, suggesting that CPFL had little effect on the gender pay gap or child penalty. For first-time mothers, we find that CPFL reduced employment and earnings roughly a decade after they gave birth.

Keywords: gender wage gap; maternity leave (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J08 J16 J71 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-des and nep-lab
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Related works:
Working Paper: The Long-Run Effects of California's Paid Family Leave Act On Women's Careers and Childbearing: New Evidence from a Regression Discontinuity Design and U.S. Tax Data (2024)
Working Paper: The Long-Run Effects of California’s Paid Family Leave Act on Women’s Careers and Childbearing: New Evidence from a Regression Discontinuity Design and U.S. Tax Data (2019)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ces:ceswps:_10933

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