TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Danzer, Natalia
AU  - Halla, Martin
AU  - Schneeweis, Nicole
AU  - Zweimüller, Martina
        TI  - Parental Leave, (In)formal Childcare and Long-term Child Outcomes
        PY  - 2017/May/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 10812
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/publications/dp10812
        AB  - We provide a novel interpretation of the estimated treatment effects from evaluations of parental leave reforms. Accounting for the counterfactual mode of care is crucial in the analysis of child outcomes and potential mediators. We evaluate a large and generous parental leave extension in Austria exploiting a sharp birthday cutoff-based discontinuity in the eligibility for extended parental leave and geographical variation in formal childcare. We find that estimated treatment effects on long-term child outcomes differ substantially according to the availability of formal childcare and the mother's counterfactual work behavior. 
We show that extending parental leave has significant positive effects on children's health and human capital outcomes only if the reform induces a replacement of informal childcare with maternal care. We conclude that care provided by mothers (or formal institutions) is superior to informal care-arrangements.
        KW  - parental leave
KW  - formal childcare
KW  - informal childcare
KW  - child development
KW  - maternal labor supply
KW  - fertility
        ER  -