Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/270564 
Authors: 
Year of Publication: 
2016
Series/Report no.: 
CINCH Series No. 2016/06
Publisher: 
University of Duisburg-Essen, CINCH - Health Economics Research Center, Essen
Abstract: 
This paper presents the results of a randomized study of a home visiting programme implemented in Germany for low-income, first-time mothers. A major goal of the programme is to improve the participants' economic self-sufficiency and family planning. I use administrative data from the German social security system and detailed telephone surveys to examine the effects of the intervention on maternal employment, welfare benefits, and household composition. The study reveals that the intervention decreased maternal employment and increased subsequent births. These results contradict those of previous studies from the United States, where home visiting programmes successfully increased employment and decreased fertility. Low employment incentives and generous welfare state arrangements for disadvantaged mothers with young children in Germany may explain the different results.
Subjects: 
Early Childhood Intervention
Randomized Experiment
Fertility
JEL: 
J13
J12
I21
H52
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size





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