Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/250683 
Year of Publication: 
2022
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 15022
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
Earmarked paternity leave has been introduced in an attempt to increase fathers' involvement in child rearing and to achieve gender equality in the labor market and at home. So far well-being effects of such policies are unexplored. This paper takes a first step in that direction by studying the impact of earmarked paternity leave quota on life satisfaction, job satisfaction, and work-life balance using several policy changes in Europe over the period 1993-2007. We find that earmarked paternity leave increases life satisfaction by 0.18 on a 10 point scale which is equivalent to a 10.8 percentage point increase even decades later. Both fathers and mothers benefit, though the increase in life satisfaction for mothers is nearly 30% higher than that of fathers. Perhaps surprisingly, the impact on job satisfaction and work-life balance is close to zero. Hence even when the impact of paternity leave quota on the labor market are small, the increases in life satisfaction may still justify the existence of such policies.
Subjects: 
family leave policies
paternity leave
quota
well-being
life satisfaction
JEL: 
J12
J13
J16
J18
I31
I38
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
604.37 kB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.