Working Paper: NBER ID: w13826
Authors: Michael Baker; Kevin Milligan
Abstract: We study the impact of maternal care on early child development using an expansion in Canadian maternity leave entitlements. Following the leave expansion, mothers who took leave spent between 48 and 58 percent more time not working in the first year of their children's lives. We find that this extra maternal care primarily crowded out home-based care by unlicensed non-relatives, and replaced mostly full-time work. However, the estimates suggest a weak impact of the increase in maternal care on indicators of child development. Measures of family environment and motor-social development showed changes very close to zero. Some improvements in temperament were observed but occurred both for treated and untreated children.
Keywords: maternity leave; child development; maternal care
JEL Codes: J13; J22
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Maternity leave reform (J89) | Increase in maternal care (J13) |
| Increase in maternal care (J13) | Child development outcomes (J13) |
| Maternity leave reform (J89) | Child development outcomes (J13) |
| Increase in maternal care (J13) | Reduction in maternal full-time work (J22) |
| Maternity leave reform (J89) | Displacement of full-time employment and unlicensed nonrelative care (J29) |