Impact Of Family Policies Research Articles

The Motherhood Penalty in Spain: The Effect of Full- and Part-Time Parental Leave on Women’s Earnings

AbstractThe persistence of a wage gap between mothers and non-mothers has been widely analyzed. However, we know little about the impact of family policies on this relative motherhood penalty. This study investigates the extent to which unpaid leave granted for longer-term care of young children after an initial spell of maternity leave affects the motherhood wage gap, and whether full-time leave and part-time leave differ in this respect. We use panel data from the Continuous Sample of Working Lives and rely on a sample consisting of 959,359 women aged twenty-five to forty-seven between 2005 and 2012. We find first a negative association between use and duration of unpaid parental leave and mothers’ wages, and second that a full-time unpaid leave carries higher wage penalties than a part-time unpaid leave of the same duration. This study has major implications for policymaking.

Wirkungen der Familienpolitik auf die Fertilität in modernen Wohlfahrtsstaaten

Wirkungen der Familienpolitik auf die Fertilität in modernen Wohlfahrtsstaaten

Do Family Policies Matter for Educational Outcomes?

ABSTRACTThe aim of this article is to shed some light on the impact of family policies on educational mobility; this link has been often debated, but rarely measured. Another aim of this contribution is to build a bridge between social mobility research and social policy analysis. We investigate whether the level of expenditure on family services in the 1980s and 1990s has had a positive impact on educational achievements and mobility in 11 European countries, by closely looking at a cohort of young adults aged 25–35. To this end, multilevel logistic regression models that control for other policies that have an impact on educational mobility are presented; fixed effects models are also provided. Our results suggest that, in terms of the likelihood of going to university, these policies seem to have reduced the gap between individuals whose parents are well educated, and those who have a more modest background.

The Combined Impact of Family Policies on Fertility and Female Labor Force Participation in 21 OECD Countries

The Combined Impact of Family Policies on Fertility and Female Labor Force Participation in 21 OECD Countries

The Impact of Family Policies on Fertility Trends in Developed Countries

The Impact of Family Policies on Fertility Trends in Developed Countries

The impact of family policies on fertility in industrialized countries: a review of the literature

This paper examines the theoretical propositions and empirical evidence linking policies and fertility. More specifically, the analysis presented in this paper draws attention to the complex mechanisms that theoretically link policies and demographic outcomes: mechanisms that involve imperfect information and decisions that are rationally bound by very specific circumstances. As to the empirical evidence, studies provide mixed conclusions as to the effect of policies on fertility. While a small positive effect of policies on fertility is found in numerous studies, no statistically significant effect is found in others. Moreover, some studies suggest that the effect of policies tends to be on the timing of births rather than on completed fertility.

Effects of Welfare Reform on Statistics for Young Women With Disabilities

This article uses the Current Population Survey (CPS) data to show that changes in family policy implemented in the 1990s led to a substantial increase in the number of young women reporting work limitations. These changes also affected measures of socioeconomic outcomes for young women reporting limitations. Hence, the demographic changes mask the effects of changes in family policy and changes in other environmental factors on those outcomes. The findings emphasize the importance disability has in family policy issues and suggest that past underreporting of disability by young mothers might well have disguised its importance. The findings also suggest that the impact of family policy on mothers with disabilities has been quite different than the impact on other mothers. An important effect of family policy changes may have been to financially segregate mothers with low income who have disabilities from other mothers with low income, continuing to relegate them, and possibly their children, to lives of poverty and dependency.

The Effects of Family Policy in the Former GDR on Nuptiality and Births Outside Marriage

Though the long-term impact of family policies on fertility is a subject of heated debate there is no lack of evidence concerning their effects - often rapid - on the decisions made by families who adapt their behaviour in accordance with government measures. The former GDR where the government implemented an active family policy over a clearly delimited period from the 1970s up to German reunification in 1990 is an interesting case in point. It resulted in the progressive emergence of an original pattern of family formation in the country enabling individuals to draw maximum benefit from government aids. Through measures designed to increase the birth rate the government primarily encouraged the development of non-marital births (as opposed to births within marriage) and of marriage. (excerpt)

Longitudinal Analysis of Development among Single and Nonsingle Children in Nanjing, China

In order to examine the impact of "one-child-per-couple" family planning policy on child development, a longitudinal study of a group of children in Nanjing, China, was carried out between 1984 and 1995. The same cohort of children was examined at four stages of development: preschool, early school, preadolescence, and adolescence. Achenbach's Child Behavior Checklist was used to measure the child's behavior. A total of 274 children were surveyed in all four stages. The total behavior problem scores obtained at different stages of development were compared among boys and girls. The results showed that the total score declined significantly in association with the time. As the child grew older, the problems score decreased significantly. This maturation effect was seen for both boys and girls. On average, boys' scores dropped from 21 to 11, whereas girls' scores went from 19.5 to 12. In comparing single with nonsingle boys, there were no significant differences throughout the four stages of development. However, girls who were single children, in contrast to girls with siblings, had significantly higher scores of total behavior problems at each stage of development. These findings illustrate that the longitudinal effect of being a "single-child" is similar to other studies, indicating a minimal impact of family policy. However, the effects were more prominent among girls. This phenomenon can be explained by parents' different attitude toward single-children because of gender difference.