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Journal of Labor Economics Vol. 32 No. 3 2014

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

Eric Bettinger1; Torbjørn Hægeland2; Mari Rege3

1 National Bureau of Economic Research · 2 Statistics Norway · 3 University of Stavanger

Abstract

In 1998 the Norwegian government introduced a program that increased parents’ incentives to stay home with children under the age of 3. Many eligible children had older siblings, and we investigate how this program affected the long-run educational outcomes of the older siblings. Using comprehensive administrative data, we estimate a difference-in-differences model that exploits differences in older siblings’ exposures to the program. We find a significant positive treatment effect on older siblings’ tenth-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.

DOI
10.1086/675070
Volume
32
Issue
3
Pages
443-467
Language
en
Sources
openalex crossref

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