Does Biology Drive Child Penalties? Evidence from Biological and Adoptive Families
American Economic Review: Insights
vol. 3,
no. 2, June 2021
(pp. 183-98)
(Complimentary)
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.Citation
Kleven, Henrik, Camille Landais, and Jakob Egholt Søgaard. 2021. "Does Biology Drive Child Penalties? Evidence from Biological and Adoptive Families." American Economic Review: Insights, 3 (2): 183-98. DOI: 10.1257/aeri.20200260Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- J12 Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure; Domestic Abuse
- J13 Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
- J16 Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination