Does biology drive child penalties? Evidence from biological and adoptive families

Kleven, Henrik Jacobsen, Landais, Camille and Søgaard, Jakob Egholt (2021) Does biology drive child penalties? Evidence from biological and adoptive families. American Economic Review: Insights, 3 (2). 183 - 198. ISSN 2640-2068

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Abstract

This paper investigates whether 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 40 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.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	https://www.aeaweb.org/journals/aeri
Additional Information:	© 2021 American Economic Association
Divisions:	Economics
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HQ The family. Marriage. Woman H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor
JEL classification:	J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J1 - Demographic Economics > J12 - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J1 - Demographic Economics > J13 - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J1 - Demographic Economics > J16 - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
Date Deposited:	03 Dec 2020 14:54
Last Modified:	15 Sep 2023 16:40
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/107556

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