Home with Mom: The Effects of Stay-at-Home Parents on Children's Long-Run Educational Outcomes

34 Pages Posted: 18 Jun 2013

See all articles by Eric Bettinger

Eric Bettinger

Stanford University

Torbjorn Haegeland

Statistics Norway; University of Oslo - Ragnar Frisch Centre for Economic Research

Mari Rege

University of Stavanger

Date Written: June 17, 2013

Abstract

In 1998 the Norwegian government introduced a program that increased parents’ incentives to stay home with children under the age of three. Many eligible children had older siblings, and we investigate how this program affected long-run educational outcomes of the older siblings. Using comprehensive administrative data, we estimate a difference-in-differences model which exploits differences in older siblings’ exposures to the program. We find a significant positive treatment effect on older siblings’ 10th grade GPA, and this effect seems to be largely driven by mother’s reduced labor force participation and not by changes in family income or father’s labor force participation.

Keywords: child development, household production, household specialization, maternal labor force participation

JEL Classification: D130, H310, J220

Suggested Citation

Bettinger, Eric and Haegeland, Torbjorn and Rege, Mari, Home with Mom: The Effects of Stay-at-Home Parents on Children's Long-Run Educational Outcomes (June 17, 2013). CESifo Working Paper Series No. 4274, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2280272 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2280272

Eric Bettinger

Stanford University ( email )

Stanford, CA 94305
United States

Torbjorn Haegeland

Statistics Norway ( email )

N-0033 Oslo
Norway

University of Oslo - Ragnar Frisch Centre for Economic Research

Gaustadalleen 21
N-0317 Oslo
Norway

Mari Rege (Contact Author)

University of Stavanger ( email )

PB 8002
Stavanger, 4036
Norway

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