Andersen, S. C., Gregersen, M. K., Nielsen, H. S., & Thomsen, M. K. (2020). Parent Involvement, Socioeconomic Status and Reading Performance. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1080/00313831.2020.1840429
Gregersen, M. K. (2024). Earlier Routine Induction of Labor - Consequences on Mother and Child Morbidity. Health Economics, https://doi.org/10.1002/hec.4877
Working Papers
Health and Economic Impacts of an Early Labor Induction Policy for High-BMI Mothers (joint with Louis Freget)
We expand the literature on marginal returns to birth interventions by studying a common intervention: early induction of labor for a growing share of pregnancies: high-BMI women. We exploit Danish guidelines which recommend routine induction at 7 days after the expected due date instead of 10-13 days after for mothers with a pre-pregnancy BMI of at least 35. Our results show that early labor induction improves immediate maternal and neonatal health, reduces universal nurse visits during the child’s first year of life, as well as maternal postpartum depression risks.
Working paper version available here: https://www.cepremap.fr/depot/docweb/docweb2501.pdf
Intergenerational Transmission of Parental Leave Choices (joint w. Nabanita Datta Gupta, Astrid Würts Rasmussen & Nina Smith)
A growing literature documents strong intergenerational associations of gender stereotypical choices and gender norms. Yet, less in known about what shape these norms and choices. In this paper, we study the intergenerational transmission of gender stereotypical choices by investigating how the choice of mothers’ maternity leave length affects their daughters’ maternity leave length. First, we document a positive association between mothers’ and daughters’ leave lengths. In particular, mothers who take a leave period shorter than the norm are associated with daughters who also take a maternity leave shorter than the norm. While this correlation reduces when controlling for mothers’ and daughters’ background characteristics, it remains statistically significant. Next, by exploiting a major reform of the Danish parental leave system in 1984 and a regression discontinuity design, we study potential intergenerational spillover effects. On average, the reform induces the 1984-mothers to increase their leave length with around 36 days. Estimating reduced form models, we find no effects on daughters’ average leave taking behavior.
The Development of Infant Health Inequality
In this paper, I document a closing SES gap in low birth weight, preterm birth, and, to a smaller extent, infant mortality from 1982-2010. Using a semiparametric decomposition method, I show that a large part of the closing gap in low birth weight and preterm birth can be (descriptively) explained by an increasing number of multiple births (fertility treatments) by making children born to the higher end of the income distribution relatively worse off. In recent years, a reduction in mothers’ smoking during pregnancy is also important for explaining the closing gap. Additionally, increasing age at parenthood explains a smaller part of the closing gap in low birth weight whereas changes in parents’ observable characteristics did not explain changes in the infant mortality gap very well.
Work-in-progress
Reduced Well-being and Mental Health of Students - The Role of School Closures (Remote Teaching) in Denmark (joint w. Nabanita Datta Gupta)
Some dimensions of students' well-being and mental health have deteriorated after COVID. In this paper, we study whether the relative length of school closures (remote teaching) affects the well-being and mental health of students in primary school in Denmark. First, we document substantial variation in the length of school closures across grade levels (mode ranging from 40 to 105 school days), and some variation within certain grade levels. Comparing groups exposed to different levels of school closures before and after COVID, we find that students with longer exposure exhibit relatively lower well-being as measured by Emotional Stability and loneliness. However, results related to psychotropic prescriptions show either no effect or improvement depending on the empirical approach.
Children’s Academic Achievement and Wellbeing: Differential Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic across Parents’ Industry and Occupation (joint w. Nabanita Datta Gupta & Selina Gangl)
Family Formation and Local Amenities: Insights from Refugee Placement in Denmark (joint w. Trine Skriver Høholt & Marie-Louise Schultz-Nielsen)