Research

Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic significantly affected labour market outcomes of men and women, and the restricted operation of daycare facilities and schools disrupted the infrastructure that typically allows working parents to reconcile work and family life. This paper analyses to what extent the pandemic changed gender role attitudes toward maternal employment. Using German data from 2008 through spring 2022, we use before-and-after comparisons and individual fixed effects models to trace changes in gender role attitudes throughout the first two years of the pandemic. We document a significant drop in egalitarian attitudes until spring 2021—when the operation of daycare facilities and schools was severely disrupted—especially for fathers of dependent children. This drop is followed by a significant recovery until spring 2022, a period in which daycare and schools operated almost regularly. Our findings suggest that pandemic-related changes in gender role attitudes toward maternal employment are mostly transitory. Until spring 2022, the pandemic did not crack advances of the last two decades. 

Abstract: Atwood analyzes the effects of the 1963 U.S. measles vaccination on long-run labor market outcomes, using a generalized difference-in-differences approach. We reproduce the results of this paper and perform a battery of robustness checks. Overall, we confirm that the measles vaccination had positive labor market effects. While the negative effect on the likelihood of living in poverty and the positive effect on the probability of being employed are very robust across the different specifications, the headline estimate—the effect on earnings—is more sensitive to the exclusion of certain regions and survey years.

Abstract: This paper presents evidence of substantial causal effects of parental education on children's health behaviours and long-term health. We study intergenerational effects of a compulsory schooling increase in Germany after World War II that was implemented across federal states at different points in time. Maternal schooling reduces children's smoking and overweight in adolescence. The effects persist into children's adulthood, reducing chronic conditions that often result from unhealthy lifestyles. We find no effects of paternal education. Children's peer environment early in life and increased investments in their education are possible effect channels.  The intergenerational effects exceed the direct effects on health.

Abstract: We examine the effects of Covid-19 and related restrictions on individuals with dependent children in Germany. We specifically focus on the role of school and day care center closures, which may be regarded as a "disruptive exogenous shock" to family life. We make use of a novel representative survey of parental well-being collected in May and June 2020 in Germany, when schools and day care centers were closed but while other measures had been relaxed and new infections were low. In our descriptive analysis, we compare well-being during this period with a pre-crisis period for different groups. In a difference-in-differences design, we compare the change for individuals with children to the change for individuals without children, accounting for unrelated trends as well as potential survey mode and context effects. We find that the crisis lowered the relative well-being of individuals with children, especially for individuals with young children, for women, and for persons with lower secondary schooling qualifications. Our results suggest that public policy measures taken to contain Covid-19 can have large effects on family well-being, with implications for child development and parental labor market outcomes. 

Abstract: This paper provides evidence that low private contributions to highly subsidised day care constrain mothers from working longer hours. We study the effects of a reform that abolished day care fees in Germany on parental labour supply. The reform removed private contributions to highly subsidised day care in the year before children enter primary school. We exploit the staggered reform across states with a difference-in-differences approach and event studies. Although participation in day care is almost universal for preschoolers, we provide evidence that the reform increases the intensity of day care use and the working time of mothers by about 7.1 percent. Single mothers, mothers with no younger children, mothers in denser local labour markets, and highly educated mothers react strongest. We find no evidence for labour supply responses at the extensive margin, and no evidence of responses in paternal labour supply. The effects on maternal labour supply fade-away by the end of primary school as mothers in the control group also gradually increase their labour supply as their children grow older.

Abstract:  This study analyses the relationship between life expectancy and parental education. Based on data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study and survival analysis models, we show that maternal education is related to children’s life expectancy – even after controlling for children’sown level of education. This applies equally to daughters and sons as well as to children’s further life expectancies examined at age 35 to age 65. This pattern is more pronounced for younger cohorts. In most cases, the education of the father is not significantly related to children’s life expectancy. Neither the vocational training nor the occupational position of the parents in childhood, which both correlate with household income, can explain the connection. The health behaviour of the children and the health accumulated over the life course appear as important channels. This study extends the previous literature that focused mostly on the relationship between individuals’ own education and their life expectancy. It implies that the link between education and life expectancy is substantially stronger and that returns to education are higher if the intergenerational component is considered. 

Abstract: This paper examines the effects of substantial changes in paid parental leave on child development and socio-economic development gaps. We analyse a German reform that replaced a means-tested with an earnings-related benefit scheme. Higher-income households benefited relatively more from the reform than low-income households. The reform expanded paid leave in the first year, while it removed paid leave in the second year after childbirth. We compare children born around the eligibility cut-off on January 1st 2007 and contrast them with children from the preceding, unaffected cohort within a difference-in-differences approach. The analysis is based on administrative data from mandatory school entrance examinations containing detailed child development assessments at age six. Our precise and robust estimates reveal no effects of the changes in parental leave benefits on child development across various socio-economic groups, and consequently no effects on socio-economic development gaps. However, based on administrative employment data, we document substantial effects on maternal employment and family income. The paper concludes that reform effects on today’s mothers are not sacrificed by increases in SES gaps of the future workforce. 

Abstract: Do increased instruction hours improve the performance of all students? Using PISA scores of students in ninth grade, we analyse the effect of a German education reform that increased weekly instruction hours by two hours (6.5 percent) over almost five years. In the additional time, students are taught new learning content. On average, the reform improves student performance. However, treatment effects are small and differ across the student performance distribution. Low-performing students benefit less than high-performing students. We argue that the content of additional instruction time is an important determinant explaining this pattern. The findings demonstrate that increases in instruction hours can widen the gap between low- and high-performing students.

Abstract: Is it possible to compress instruction time into fewer school years without lowering education levels? A fundamental reform in Germany reduced the length of academic track schooling by one year, while increasing instruction hours in the remaining school years to provide students with a very similar core curriculum and the same overall instruction time. Using aggregated administrative data on the full population of students, we find that the reform increases grade repetition rates and lowers final grade point averages, without affecting graduation rates. The results suggest adverse reform effects on student performance, but the economic significance of the effects appears moderate. 

Abstract: This paper studies the role of paternal risk attitudes in sons’ long-run education outcomes and in the intergenerational transmission of incomes and education. Based on 1984–2012 German Socio-Economic Panel Study data of sons and fathers, I show that fathers’ risk aversion is inversely related to sons’ long-run levels of education. A quasi-experimental setting provides no evidence for reverse causality. I find signs that sons with risk averse fathers experience lower educational mobility and considerably lower income mobility than their peers with risk taking fathers, though these differences can only be measured with large standard errors. The direct link between paternal risk attitudes and offspring’s education outcomes can provide a novel explanation for the mechanism underlying the intergenerational persistence of economic statuses. It can further challenge the traditional view of own risk attitudes in the human capital investment theory and suggests that parental risk attitudes should be incorporated. 

Abstract: Parenthood and parental leave represent an important source of worker absences and employment interruptions in firms, yet we know little about their effects on firms. Based on linked employer-employeedata from Germany, we examine how small- and medium-sized firms deal with parental leave absences in general and anticipated extensions specifically. We report three key findings: First, when firms have few internal substitutes for the mother-on-leave, firms hire more external replacements and mothers take shorter leave. Second, more generous benefits delay the return of mothers to their pre-birth firms and reduce employment and the wage bill in firms with few internal substitutes in the short-term. Third, when expected birth-related absences are longer, firms do not hire fewer young women. As smaller firms appear more susceptible to negative effects of longer absences than larger firms, we conclude that the additional costs of anticipated longer parental leave absences are small across all firm sizes. 

Abstract: This paper investigates the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on fertility and abortions in Germany up to the end of 2021. We provide the first in-depth analysis of official births and abortions statistics across different regions and socio-demographic groups using event study methods. We first document two significant "birth bumps" arising from conceptions during periods of strict public restrictions, in particular in West Germany. This contrasts with trends in many high-income countries and supports the cocooning hypothesis which postulates increases in intimacy amid crises and times of uncertainty. Second, abortions remained at similar levels during the first year of the pandemic, but declined significantly in later periods during the first three quarters of 2021 despite the provision of abortion counselling and tele-medicine. The drop in abortions could account for up to 23% of the increase in births. Subgroups analyses reveal that our results are most significant for age groups between 25 and 35 years and natives. We argue that Germany's robust social policies were likely to have stabilised fertility during the crisis. Our study contributes a nuanced understanding of how the pandemic affected reproductive health outcomes. 

Abstract: Parenthood is seen as a major source of gender gaps in labour markets and domestic work. However, the decision to become a parent is not random, and we currently have very little evidence from natural experiments regarding the impact of having children. In this study, we examine the effects of having children on labor market outcomes and well-being by using in-vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment as a means of exogenous variation in childbearing. Through an analysis of data from the new Family Demographic Panel (FReDA) in Germany, we offer novel quasi-experimental evidence on the short- and long-term effects of childbearing on labor supply and well-being. Our analysis reveals that only women experience a significant and lasting impact on their labor supply after having children. We then investigate the effects of childbearing on well-being. Having children initially has a positive but short-lived effect on women's life satisfaction, whereas men experience longer-lasting positive effects. However, satisfaction with the relationship declines, and domestic work becomes more traditionally divided with the arrival of children. Overall, our study contributes new quasi-experimental evidence highlighting that women are mainly responsible for making work-life balance adjustments when they become parents, with no lasting effects on their life satisfaction.

Abstract: This study examines the impact of child care services on the employment, well-being and integration progress of Ukrainian refugee families in Germany. The analysis uses a new, large and representative panel data set (IAB-BiB/FReDA-BAMF-SOEP Survey) of refugees arriving in Germany after the Russian invasion in Ukraine. Our empirical approach exploits regional differences in child care availability and the age of the youngest child that generate exogenous variation in children's access to child care. Our results reveal very strong effects of child care for refugee families on their participation in language classes, employment and work intentions, as well as their time with Germans. Placebo checks using mothers with older children support a causal interpretation of our findings. Our study highlights the importance of investing in child care services to facilitate the integration of refugee mothers into the labor market and society.

Abstract: Incremental differences in early life can have lasting consequences for individual life courses. We study the effects of school entry age on mortality using school entry cut-off rules in Germany together with information on individuals' exact date of birth. Based on the 1970 Census and the full Cause-of-Death Statistics for Germany, we exploit federal state-specific school entry regulations within a regression discontinuity framework. Individuals born just after the school entry cut-off are significantly less likely to die before age 73. The reduced mortality risk is mainly driven by fewer deaths associated with unhealthy behaviours over the life course. As an important channel for the effects, we identify early school tracking outcomes. Individuals born after the cut-off are also three percentage points more likely to enter a higher secondary school track and to earn a better school leaving certificate. In their teenage years, individuals are exposed to a better peer environment and conditions that prevents them from initiating lasting, unhealthy behaviours. The results suggest that the schooling system plays a significant role for substantial socio-economic differences in health and mortality.

Abstract: Many industrialised economies are confronted with low birth numbers. Yet, a significant number of pregnancies is not carried to term. In this paper, we investigate whether public policies targeted to support families have an effect on abortions by lowering the opportunity costs of children.  Precisely, we analyse a large-scale expansion of universal child care in Germany, addressing the impact on abortions. Our analysis is based on administrative data containing the universe of registered abortions in Germany. We evaluate the introduction of a legal claim for a child care slot in 1996 for children from age three onward, which led to a significant increase in child care availability. The child care expansion varied substantially across regions. Our difference-in-differences and event study estimates show that a higher level of child care availability led to a decrease of abortions by about 20 percent. Pre-trend analyses and placebo tests support a causal interpretation of our findings. The results indicate that fertility effects of child care expansions established in previous studies can partly be attributed to a reduced number of abortions and reveals additional societal benefits of public investments into child care.