Research
Research
Abstract: This paper exploits the Netherlands' fourteen-year separation between pill liberalization (1970) and abortion legalization (1984) to estimate their effects in an integrated framework that accounts for their sequential interaction. Using a difference-in-differences design and a discrete-time duration model, I show that early pill access suppressed teenage fertility, delayed marriage, and increased educational attainment. The incremental effect of early abortion access--conditional on prior pill diffusion--was a pure postponement of first births from the early to the late twenties, with no effect on teenage fertility nor education. Consistent with the first-generation results, intergenerational effects are documented for the pill but not abortion.
Other work in progress
Abstract: Health screenings are potentially powerful tools to mitigate adverse health and labour outcomes. We conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the labour market and health effects of a diabetes warning in a country that has not introduced such a screening system. Using data from over 160,000 participants in Lifelines, a Dutch cohort study, and a multidimensional regression discontinuity design, we estimate the short- and long-run impacts of a diabetes risk warning. Individuals under 40 increase their employment rate following a warning, with effects that are especially pronounced and persistent for women. These employment gains are accompanied by improvements in self-reported health among women and reduced smoking among men. Among older individuals, the responses are more heterogeneous: Women are more likely to retire and reduce alcohol consumption, while men are less likely to receive disability benefits and more likely to visit their general practitioner in the short term. Our findings provide novel evidence that health information can influence labour market outcomes through gender- and age-specific behavioural adjustments.
Abstract: Non-cognitive abilities are increasingly recognised as critical determinants of labour market success. This paper investigates whether active labour market policies (ALMPs) shape non-cognitive skills and whether such changes can potentially help explain their employment effects. Using the IZA/IAB Linked Evaluation Dataset, we analyse the impact of short-term training and wage subsidies on personality traits among unemployed workers in Germany. In the long-term, wage subsidies generate large employment effects and only increase women's emotional stability. Short-term training produces gender-specific shifts: women gain emotional stability and experience a long-term employment increase of 11 percentage points, while men become more conscientious and experience an employment increase of 4 percentage points. Shifts in traits strongly predictive of labour market success may help explain the positive employment effects of short-term training, particularly for women. Our findings suggest that traditional ALMPs can influence labour market outcomes also by shifting non-cognitive skills.