Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/192639 
Year of Publication: 
2011
Series/Report no.: 
Discussion Papers No. 657
Publisher: 
Statistics Norway, Research Department, Oslo
Abstract: 
In this paper we use a parental leave reform directed towards fathers to identify the causal effects of paternity leave on children's and parents' outcomes. We document that paternity leave causes fathers to become more important for children's cognitive skills. School performance at age 16 increases for children whose father is relatively higher educated than the mother. We find no evidence that fathers' earnings and work hours are affected by paternity leave. Contrary to expectation, mothers' labor market outcomes are adversely affected by paternity leave. Our findings do therefore not suggest that paternity leave shifts the gender balance at home in a way that increases mothers' time and/or effort spent at market work.
Subjects: 
parental leave
labor supply
child development
JEL: 
J13
J22
J24
I21
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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