Parental Leave, Household Specialization and Children's Well-Being

Serena Canaan

No 12420, IZA Discussion Papers from IZA Network @ LISER

Abstract: Many countries offer new parents long periods of paid leave. Proponents argue that parental leave programs can reduce gender gaps in the labor market, support marital stability and promote children's well-being. In this paper, I show that lengthy leaves can instead work against several of these intended goals. Using a regression discontinuity design, I find that a 3-year expansion of paid leave in France increases household specialization by inducing mothers to exit the labor force and fathers to raise their work hours. The leave further discourages marriages among cohabiting couples and harms children's verbal development.

Keywords: parental leave; household specialization; marriage; child development (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J12 J13 J18 J22 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 60 pages
Date: 2019-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dem, nep-eur and nep-lma
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

Published - published in: Labour Economics, 2022, 75, 102127

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Journal Article: Parental leave, household specialization and children’s well-being (2022)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:iza:izadps:dp12420

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