%0 Report
        %A Brainerd, Elizabeth
%A Malkova, Olga
        %T Maternity Benefits and Marital Stability after Birth: Evidence from the Soviet Baltic Republics
        %D 2023
        %8 2023 Jun
        %I Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        %C Bonn
        %7 IZA Discussion Paper
        %N 16238
        %U https://www.iza.org/publications/dp16238
        %X Can a policy intervention in the stressful first year after a birth affect marital stability? We examine this question using a large expansion in maternity benefits in 1982 in the Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The program provided partially paid leave until the child's first birthday and included a small cash payment at birth. 
We use individual-level panel data and compare the Baltics with similar East European countries using a difference-indifferences framework. Maternity benefits decrease divorce within the first year after birth. This decrease persists for at least a decade, indicating that couples avoided divorce altogether rather than simply delaying it. While mothers extended their leave by several months, they returned to full-time work afterwards, consistent with egalitarian gender norms in the labor market.

        %K Eastern Europe
%K Baltics
%K maternity benefits
%K marital stability
%K divorce
%K marriage