Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/306141 
Year of Publication: 
2024
Publisher: 
ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, Kiel, Hamburg
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.
Subjects: 
motherhood
labor supply
breastfeeding
food scare
maternity leave
return to work
JEL: 
I18
J13
J22
D1
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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