Immunisation during pregnancy is a vital strategy to protect infants from infectious diseases in their first months of life. Drawing on administrative data from New Zealand, I analyse the relationship between birth order, maternal vaccination against pertussis and influenza, and subsequent...

Using data from the only large-scale randomized controlled trial promoting prolonged exclusive breastfeeding, we study how the intervention affected child health and why. The intervention increased weight-for-age in infancy, with effects persisting through adolescence. We show that treated...

How did the US become a land of opportunity? Previous historical research on intergenerational mobility has focused on father-son income correlations, masking the role of mothers. We introduce a new mobility measure that incorporates both parents’ human capital, develop a latent variable...

We study the causal effect of maternal criminal victimization on child health using linked police reports and birth records from Brazil. Focusing on robbery and theft - everyday crimes not involving physical injury - we show that victimization during pregnancy increases low birthweight by 6.9...

This paper studies how parental leave quotas may foster a more gender-equal division of parental responsibilities by increasing fathers' uptake of leave beyond the reserved amount. Specifically, the paper examines whether the introduction and expansion of 30-days parental leave quotas in Sweden...

We study political shocks as potential birth outcomes stressors, specifically the unexpected result of the 2016 U.S. presidential election. We investigate this two-sided shock using an innovative data linkage: Colorado voter registrations and birth certificates, matched by sex, birth year, and...

Women's employment remains highly sensitive to childcare constraints, making childcare availability a critical lever for supporting mothers' labor force attachment. We study the effects of expanded full-day programming in Head Start, using the 2016 federal funding initiative that targeted...

We document that women strategically sort into "family-friendly" sectors characterized by lower returns to experience but lower per-child penalties before the birth of their first child. This anticipatory sorting represents an ex-ante cost of motherhood that is entirely missed by conventional...

We study the labor market impact of unplanned pregnancy among women using long-acting reversible contraceptives to delay pregnancy. While most women successfully delay, some have unplanned pregnancies, providing quasi-random variation in pregnancy timing. Analyzing linked health and labor market...

This study examines the discursive positioning of motherhood in navigating caregiving responsibilities and professional aspirations, employing Q-methodology to explore how contemporary maternal identities are negotiated within varying social expectations. Through the analysis of Q-sorts from 46...

This paper studies the impact of the home sewing machine on women's work and intergenerational mobility - an innovation that enabled women to generate income from within the household. Marketed directly to women as a tool for both domestic use and paid work, it provides a unique setting to...

This article examines the effects of maternity leave (Law 1822 of 2017) on the Colombian women's labor market. Using biannual cohorts during the working life cycle of women (18 to 57 years old) reveals that the law's implementation reduced the hours worked and the real hourly wage for younger...

This paper analyses the gender pay gap in Slovakia, with an emphasis on the impact of motherhood, using Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition. The results indicate that the gender wage gap is 16.8%, while the gap between mothers and the rest of the workforce is even higher (18.3%). A significant share of...

Utilizing data from the UK Household Longitudinal Study, we employ panel methodologies and unconditional quantile regression (UQR) analysis to explore the prevalence and impact of the motherhood penalty within the context of the United Kingdom. Our panel findings underscore the persistence of a...

A prominent explanation for the motherhood wage penalty is human capital loss during career interruptions around childbirth. This study provides first direct evidence on this mechanism by examining whether longer parenting leave reduces mothers' work-relevant skills. Using a newly constructed...

Paid parental leave schemes have been shown to increase women's employment rates but to decrease their wages in case of extended leave duration. In view of these potential trade-offs, many countries are discussing the optimal design of parental leave policies. We analyze the impact of a major...

We study how maternal preferences interact with education to shape the motherhood penalty. Using rich Finnish registry data and the quasi-random gender of the firstborn child, we show that mothers across education groups display a mild preference for daughters, reflected in their fertility and...

Public insurance reimbursement policies shape the structure and reach of healthcare markets. In this study, we examine the 1980 federal Medicaid mandate requiring states to reimburse Certified Nurse-Midwives, one of the first reforms targeting non-physician providers. We find the mandate...

At the conclusion of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) campaign in 2015, stunting among under 5-year-olds remained a major challenge in South Asia and Southeast Asia, with South Asia lagging behind-a phenomenon known as the "Asian enigma." This paper revisits the issue, focusing on...

Following the Social Security Coordination Regulations, parents residing in a Member State other than the Member State where they are insured (i.e., competent Member State), are entitled to maternity and equivalent paternity benefits in cash provided by the competent Member State (i.e., export...

We provide a full reexamination of the effects of a maternity leave extension implemented in Norway in 1977. Previous research reporting large favorable long-term effects on mothers' health and on offspring's educational and labor market outcomes relied on an incorrect description of the reform...