Applied Economics: Can public policy increase paternity acknowledgement?
Published: 13 April 2022
27 April. Professor Andrea Weber, Central European University
Professor Andrea Weber, Central European University
'Can public policy increase paternity acknowledgement? Evidence from earnings-dependent parental leave' (co-authored by A. Raute & G. Zudenkova)
Wednesday 27 April, 3pm - 4.30pm
Zoom online seminar
Register at business-events@glasgow.ac.uk
Abstract
A child’s family structure is a fundamental determinant of future well-being, making it essential to understand how public policies affect the involvement of fathers. In this paper, we exploit a reform of the German parental leave system which increased mother’s income and reduced legal father’s financial support burden to measure the impact on the relationship contract choices of parents who were unmarried at conception. Based on detailed birth record data, we demonstrate that short-run reform incentives during the first period after birth nudge unmarried fathers into the long-term commitment of acknowledging paternity. This shift reduces single motherhood by 6% but leaves the share of marriages at birth constant. Moreover, the change in relationship contract choices is mostly driven by parents of boys. These findings are compatible with predictions from a model where parents choose between three types of relationship contracts based on the mother’s and father’s incomes and support obligations. Our results highlight the necessity of studying intermediate relationship contracts (i.e., between the extremes of marriage and single motherhood) to improve our understanding of potential risk groups among the rising number of children growing up growing up in unmarried families or with a single parent.
Biography
Andrea Weber is Professor of Economics at the Central European University, where she has been teaching since 2017. She is a CEPR Research Fellow, a Fellow at IZA and the CESifo Research Networks. She is also a research consultant for the Austrian Institute of Economic Research in Vienna, and she serves as co-editor on the board of the Journal of the European Economic Association. Her work focuses on the impact of institutions and labour market policies on individual labour supply decisions, the role of firms in the labour market, policies to reduce gender differences, and the effects of economic shocks such as job displacement on individual outcomes.
Further information: business-events@glasgow.ac.uk
First published: 13 April 2022
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