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Journal of Political Economy Vol. 132 No. 12 2024

Not a Flying Start after All? A Comment

Otto Sevaldson Lillebø1,2,3; Simen Markussen1,2,3; Knut H. Røed1,2,3; Yuejun Zhao2,3

1 Nordic Institute for Studies in Innovation, Research and Education · 2 Economic Research Centre · 3 University of Edinburgh

open access

Abstract

In a paper published in the Journal of Political Economy, Carneiro, Løken, and Salvanes (2015) reported large positive effects on offspring outcomes of a reform they described as introducing paid maternity leave in Norway. Causal identification rested on a discontinuity implying that only mothers giving birth after a specific cutoff date were entitled to paid leave. We show that the analysis relied on an incorrect description of the reform. The reform did not introduce paid maternity leave, but extended it by 5–6 weeks. The postulated discontinuity never existed as treatment and control groups had the same maternity leave conditions.

DOI
10.1086/732218
Volume
132
Issue
12
Pages
4205-4212
Language
en
Sources
bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref

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