cite: Dustmann2012 author: Dustmann, C., & Schönberg, U. year: 2012 title: Expansions in Maternity Leave Coverage and Children’s Long-Term Outcomes publisher: "Economic journal: applied economics" uri: https://doi.org/10.1257/app.4.3.190 pubtype: article discipline: economics country: Germany period: 1979-1992 maxlength: 40 targeting: explicit group: working mothers data: national administrative Social Security Records (1975-2008) design: quasi-experimental method: difference-in-difference analysis sample: 13000 unit: individual representativeness: national, census causal: 0 # 0 correlation / 1 causal theory: limitations: sample restricted to mothers who go on maternity leave; restricted control group identification observation: - intervention: paid leave (6 months childcare) institutional: 1 structural: 1 agency: 0 inequality: gender type: 1 # 0 vertical / 1 horizontal indicator: 0 # 0 absolute / 1 relative measures: income findings: sign. positive effects among all wage segments for mothers cumulative income 40 months after childbirth channels: provision of job protection and short-term monetary benefits direction: 1 # -1 neg / 0 none / 1 pos significance: 2 # 0 nsg / 1 msg / 2 sg - intervention: paid leave (36 months childcare) institutional: 1 structural: 1 agency: 0 inequality: gender type: 1 # 0 vertical / 1 horizontal indicator: 0 # 0 absolute / 1 relative measures: income findings: marginally sign. negative effect for low-wage mothers after 10month paid leave; significant negative effects among for all mothers cumulative income for 36 month paid leave channels: long-term extension is unpaid leave, only providing job protection direction: -1 # -1 neg / 0 none / 1 pos significance: 2 # 0 nsg / 1 msg / 2 sg - intervention: paid leave (childcare) institutional: 1 structural: 1 agency: 0 inequality: gender type: 1 # 0 vertical / 1 horizontal indicator: 1 # 0 absolute / 1 relative measures: employment (rtw share) findings: sign. increase in months away from work among all wage segments, positively correlated with length of paid leave; majority rtw after leave end, with slight decrease for 18-36month leave period channels: direction: -1 # -1 neg / 0 none / 1 pos significance: 2 # 0 nsg / 1 msg / 2 sg notes: no sign. impact on child outcomes; possible negative effect for long-term leave due to child requiring external stimuli and lowered mother's income annotation: | A study interested in the long-run effects on children's outcomes of increasing the period of paid leave for mothers in Germany. While the study focuses on the children's outcomes, it also analyses the effects on the return to work rates and cumulative incomes of the policies within the first 40 months after childbirth. It finds that, while short-term increases of paid leave periods (up to 6 months) significantly increased incomes, over longer periods (10-36 months) the cumulative incomes in fact decreased significantly, marginally for low-wage mothers for 10 month periods, and across all wage segments for 36 month periods. For the share of mothers returning to work, it finds that there is a significant increase in the months away from work among all wage segments for all paid leave period increases, positively correlated with their length. Still similar numbers of mothers return once the leave period ends, though with significant decreases for leave periods from 18 to 36 months. For its analysis of long-term educational outcomes on children, however, it does not find any evidence for the expansions improving children's outcomes, even suggesting a possible decrease of educational attainment for the paid leave extension to 36 months. Some limitations of the study include its sample being restricted to mothers who go on maternity leave and some control group identification restrictions possibly introducing some sampling bias.