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IZA Discussion Paper No. 18193
October 2025
The Effects of Maternity Leave Benefits on Mothers and Children. A Reexamination

We provide a full reexamination of the effects of a maternity leave extension implemented in Norway in 1977. Previous research reporting large favorable long-term effects on mothers' health and on offspring's educational and labor market outcomes relied on an incorrect description of the reform and an invalid identification strategy. In the present paper, we show that the previously reported results are misleading. Building on an accurate description of the reform and its implementation, we document that it had no noticeable long-term effects on mothers' health or on offspring's education and labor market outcomes.

Communications
Mark Fallak
mark.fallak@liser.lu
+352 585-855-526
World of Labour
Olga Nottmeyer
olga.nottmeyer@liser.lu
+352 585-855-501
Network Coordination
Christina Gathmann
christina.gathmann@liser.lu

The IZA@LISER Network is a global community of scholars dedicated to excellence in labor economics and related fields, now coordinated at the Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER) following its transition from Bonn.

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