We formalize and estimate the dynamic marginal efficiency cost of redistribution (MECR) in the spirit of Okun’s “leaky bucket”. We analyze the MECR of an income-contingent childcare subsidy program and the income tax within the German context, using a dynamic structural...

We use French household data to estimate a structural model of female labor supply and use of paid child care outside the home. Child care costs are found to have little impact on the labor market participation decision of mothers. The model is used to study various policy issues. The influence...

We formalize and estimate the dynamic marginal efficiency cost of redistribution (MECR) in the spirit of Okun’s “leaky bucket” to compare the MECR of an income-contingent childcare subsidy program and of the income-contingent tax and transfer schedule. We set up a dynamic structural model...

This paper investigates the impact of workplace breastfeeding laws on the labor supply of mothers. We exploit a unique setting, when throughout 1998-2009 states in the US introduced laws requiring employers to provide break time and a private room for women to express milk or breastfeed. Our...

We investigate the effect of having a child on parents’ criminal behavior using rich administrative data from Brazil. Fathers’ criminal activity sharply increases by up to 10% during the pregnancy period, and by up to 30% two years after birth, while mothers experience only a transitory...

Relying on a reform that increased parental leave generosity, we estimate workplace peer effects in the use of leave, with a focus on fathers. Coworker fathers are more likely to take parental leave when exposed to a higher share of peer fathers, who are exogenously affected by the reform. This...

This paper reviews the evidence on welfare time limits in the United States. It primarily refers to experimental and econometric evaluations. Time limits affect welfare recipients both before and after their limits are reached. Time limits reduce welfare receipt and increase employment before...

We characterize a measure of social welfare for linear production economies in which individuals differ in productive skills and preferences. The key feature of our measure is that it aggregates fairness gaps, defined as the difference between the money-metric utility that the individual...

Economic downturns give rise to unexpected employment shocks that can reshape the distribution of population income, and hence produce a "middle-class squeeze". However, there is limited empirical evidence testing the latter. This paper aims at testing the "middle-class squeeze" hypothesis...

We examine how a German paid parental leave reform causally affected early childhood living arrangements. The reform replaced a means-tested benefit with a universal transfer paid out for a shorter period. Using a difference-in-differences design, we find that the reform increased the...