{"title":"Impact of an extension of maternity leave on infant health","authors":"Fabian Duarte, Valentina Paredes, Cristobal Bennett, Isabel Poblete","doi":"10.1007/s00148-024-00996-y","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>We study the effect of a 12-week maternity leave extension in Chile on the health of infants between 6 and 12 months old. Using unique administrative sick leave data for working women enrolled in the private health insurance system who gave birth between 2011 and 2013, we estimate the effect of this extension on the number of paid sick days taken by the mother due to her child being ill. We find that extending maternity leave improved infant health and decreased the number of sick days by 6.43 (0.18 SD) days on average. Additionally, we show that mothers with extended maternity leave take their infant to the pediatrician less often than mothers without the extended leave. Our results are consistent with a decrease in daycare attendance, which decreases exposure to communicable diseases.</p>","PeriodicalId":48013,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Population Economics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":6.1000,"publicationDate":"2024-02-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Population Economics","FirstCategoryId":"96","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s00148-024-00996-y","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
We study the effect of a 12-week maternity leave extension in Chile on the health of infants between 6 and 12 months old. Using unique administrative sick leave data for working women enrolled in the private health insurance system who gave birth between 2011 and 2013, we estimate the effect of this extension on the number of paid sick days taken by the mother due to her child being ill. We find that extending maternity leave improved infant health and decreased the number of sick days by 6.43 (0.18 SD) days on average. Additionally, we show that mothers with extended maternity leave take their infant to the pediatrician less often than mothers without the extended leave. Our results are consistent with a decrease in daycare attendance, which decreases exposure to communicable diseases.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Population Economics is an international quarterly that publishes original theoretical and applied research in all areas of population economics.
Micro-level topics examine individual, household or family behavior, including household formation, marriage, divorce, fertility choices, education, labor supply, migration, health, risky behavior and aging. Macro-level investigations may address such issues as economic growth with exogenous or endogenous population evolution, population policy, savings and pensions, social security, housing, and health care.
The journal also features research into economic approaches to human biology, the relationship between population dynamics and public choice, and the impact of population on the distribution of income and wealth. Lastly, readers will find papers dealing with policy issues and development problems that are relevant to population issues.The journal is published in collaboration with POP at UNU-MERIT, the Global Labor Organization (GLO) and the European Society for Population Economics (ESPE).Officially cited as: J Popul Econ Factor (RePEc): 13.576 (July 2018) Rank 69 of 2102 journals listed in RePEc