In 1985, Gary Becker predicted employment and childcare sex gaps may ‘disappear or be greatly attenuated in the near future.’ In this article, I examine trends in the employment gap between mothers and fathers of young children over the last 40 years. I review theoretical explanations for...

Past research has demonstrated that positive increments to the non-cognitive development of children can have long-run benefits. We test the symmetry of this contention by studying the effects of a sizeable negative shock to non-cognitive skills due to the introduction of universal child care in...

We investigate the impact of maternity leave on the cognitive and behavioral development of children at ages 4 and 5, following up previous research on these children at younger ages. The impact is identified by legislated increases in the duration of maternity leave in Canada, which...