Parental Leave Benefit and Differential Fertility Responses: Evidence from a German Reform

Kamila Cygan-Rehm

No 5397, CESifo Working Paper Series from CESifo

Abstract: This paper examines the causal effects of a major change in the German parental leave benefits on fertility. I use the unanticipated reform of 2007 to assess how a move from a means-tested to an earnings-related benefit affects higher-order births. By using data from the Mikrozensus, I find that the reform significantly affected the timing of higher-order births. Overall, mothers “just” affected by the reform initially reduce subsequent childbearing and start to compensate by the end of the third year. The negative effects are largely driven by lowest-income mothers, who are now worse-off and do not display any catch-up effects.

Keywords: fertility; family policy; reform; parental leave; Germany (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J13 J18 J20 K36 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Parental leave benefit and differential fertility responses: evidence from a German reform (2016)
Journal Article: Parental leave benefit and differential fertility responses: evidence from a German reform (2016)
Working Paper: Parental leave benefit and differential fertility responses: Evidence from a German reform (2013)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ces:ceswps:_5397

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