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on Demographic Economics |
| By: | Melentyeva, Valentina; Riedel, Lukas |
| Abstract: | We show that the widespread approach to estimate the career costs of motherhood - so called "child penalties" - is prone to produce biased results, as it pools first-time mothers of all ages without accounting for their differences in characteristics and outcomes. We propose a novel method building on the recent advances in the difference-in-differences literature to address this issue. Applied to German administrative data, our method yields 30 percent larger post-birth earnings losses than the conventional approach. We document meaningful effect heterogeneity by maternal age in both magnitude and interpretation, highlighting its key role in understanding the impact of motherhood. |
| Keywords: | child penalty, maternal labor supply, heterogeneous treatment effects, event study |
| JEL: | J13 J16 J31 C23 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:321862 |
| By: | Emily C. Lawler; Meghan M. Skira |
| Abstract: | We study the effects of state hospital regulations intended to increase breastfeeding by requiring certain care standards during the postpartum hospital stay. Policy adoption increased breastfeeding initiation by 3.3–4.1 percentage points (4.2–5.2 percent) and breastfeeding at 3 months postpartum by 6–9 percent. Further, following adoption, infant mortality declined by 0.2 deaths per 1, 000 live births (3.5 percent), and infant hospitalization charges fell. Declines in mortality and charges primarily occurred among medically vulnerable infants, consistent with evidence that breast milk supports immune development. Additional evidence suggests that improvements in infant sleep practices also played a role in reducing mortality. |
| JEL: | D13 I12 I18 J13 |
| Date: | 2025–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34032 |
| By: | Satyajit Chatterjee; Dean Corbae; Kyle P. Dempsey; José-Víctor Ríos-Rull |
| Abstract: | Credit scores are a primary screening device for the allocation of credit, housing, and sometimes even employment. In the data, credit scores grow and fan out with age; at the same time, income and consumption inequality also increase with a cohort’s age. We postulate a simple model with hidden information to explore the joint determination of credit scores, income, and consumption over an individual’s lifetime which can replicate these empirical facts. We use the model to understand the role of technologies like big data or legal restrictions limiting information on certain adverse events like medical expenses intended to increase credit market access. |
| JEL: | D82 E21 G51 |
| Date: | 2025–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34027 |
| By: | David G. Blanchflower; Alex Bryson |
| Abstract: | Between the early 1990s and 2015 the relationship between mental despair and age was hump-shaped in the United States: it rose to middle-age, then declined later in life. That relationship has now changed: mental despair declines monotonically with age due to a rise in despair among the young. However, the relationship between age and mental despair differs by labor market status. The hump-shape in age still exists for those who are unable to work and the unemployed. The relation between mental despair and age is broadly flat, and has remained so, for homemakers, students and the retired. The change in the age-despair profile over time is due to increasing despair among young workers. Whilst the relationship between mental despair and age has always been downward sloping among workers, this relationship has become more pronounced due to a rise in mental despair among young workers. We find broad-based evidence for this finding in the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) of 1993-2023, the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), 2008-2023, and in surveys by Pew, the Conference Board and Johns Hopkins University. |
| JEL: | I31 |
| Date: | 2025–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34071 |
| By: | Samuel Dodini; Katrine V. Loken; Petter Lundborg; Alexander Willen |
| Abstract: | We examine the welfare consequences of reallocating high-skilled labor across national borders. A labor demand shock in Norway—driven by a surge in oil prices—substantially increased physician wages and sharply raised the incentive for Swedish doctors to commute across the border. Leveraging linked administrative data across the two countries and a difference-in-differences design, we show that this shift doubled commuting rates and significantly reduced Sweden’s domestic physician supply. The result was a persistent rise in mortality in Sweden, with no corresponding health gains in Norway. These effects were unevenly distributed, disproportionately harming certain places and populations. The underlying mechanism was a severe strain on Sweden’s healthcare system: shortages of high-skilled generalists led to more hospitalizations, premature discharges and higher readmission rates. Mortality effects were larger in low-density physician regions and concentrated in older individuals and acute conditions. |
| Keywords: | brain drain; worker mobility; mortality |
| JEL: | J2 J6 H1 |
| Date: | 2025–08–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:feddwp:101405 |