Working Paper: NBER ID: w27130
Authors: Henrik Kleven; Camille Landais; Jakob Egholt Sgaard
Abstract: This paper investigates if the impact of children on the labor market outcomes of women relative to men — child penalties — can be explained by the biological links between mother and child. We estimate child penalties in biological and adoptive families using event studies around the arrival of children and almost forty years of adoption data from Denmark. Short-run child penalties are slightly larger for biological mothers than for adoptive mothers, but their long-run child penalties are virtually identical and precisely estimated. This suggests that biology is not a key driver of child-related gender gaps.
Keywords: child penalties; gender inequality; biological links; adoption; labor market outcomes
JEL Codes: J13; J16; J22
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| short-run child penalties for biological mothers (J13) | short-run child penalties for adoptive mothers (J13) |
| biological link (Y80) | long-run child penalties in earnings (J13) |
| participation rates and wage rates (J31) | earnings (J31) |
| relative earnings potential of mothers compared to fathers (J31) | long-run child penalties (J13) |