Breastfeeding and the return to work after childbirth of new mothers: evidence from a baby formula scare

Limor Hatsor and Ity Shurtz

EconStor Preprints from ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics

Abstract: We use a baby formula “food scare” in Israel in 2003 as a plausible natural experiment to study the causal relationship between breastfeeding and mothers’ return to work after childbirth. Analysis of administrative data covering the universe of births in the country shows that first-time mothers who gave birth shortly after the scare delayed their return to work. Their average months worked in the first six months after childbirth fell by about 11 percent relative to their counterparts in the previous year. Data from a major medical equipment lender in Israel indicates an increased likelihood of borrowing milk pumps, suggesting that the delay in returning to work was driven by an increase in breastfeeding. The results indicate that despite developments in technology and policy changes in recent decades, mothers still trade off work for the breastfeeding of their children.

Keywords: motherhood; labor supply; breastfeeding; food scare; maternity leave; return to work (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D1 I18 J13 J22 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr, nep-dem, nep-hea and nep-lab
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:esprep:306141

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