This analysis uses March Current Population Survey data from 1999–2010 and a differences-in-differences approach to examine how California’s first in the nation paid family leave (PFL) program affected leave-taking by mothers following childbirth, as well as subsequent labor market outcomes. We obtain robust evidence that the California program doubled the overall use of maternity leave, increasing it from an average of three to six weeks for new mothers – with some evidence of particularly large growth for less advantaged groups. We also provide evidence that PFL increased the usual weekly work hours of employed mothers of one-to-three year-old children by 10 to 17% and that their wage incomes may have risen by a similar amount.

A growing literature suggests that stressful events in pregnancy can have negative effects on birth outcomes. Some of the estimates in this literature may be affected by small samples, omitted variables, endogenous mobility in response to disasters, and errors in the measurement of gestation, as well as by a mechanical correlation between longer gestation and the probability of having been exposed. We use millions of individual birth records to examine the effects of exposure to hurricanes during pregnancy, and the sensitivity of the estimates to these econometric problems. We find that exposure to a hurricane during pregnancy increases the probability of abnormal conditions of the newborn such as being on a ventilator more than 30 minutes and meconium aspiration syndrome (MAS). Although we are able to reproduce previous estimates of effects on birth weight and gestation, our results suggest that measured effects of stressful events on these outcomes are sensitive to specification and it is preferable to use more sensitive indicators of newborn health.

This paper studies how in utero exposure to maternal stress from family ruptures affects later mental health. We find that prenatal exposure to the death of a maternal relative increases take-up of ADHD medications during childhood and anti-anxiety and depression medications in adulthood. Further, family ruptures during pregnancy depress birth outcomes and raise the risk of perinatal complications necessitating hospitalization. Our results suggest large welfare gains from preventing fetal stress from family ruptures and possibly from economically induced stressors such as unemployment. They further suggest that greater stress exposure among the poor may partially explain the intergenerational persistence of poverty. (JEL I12, J12, J13)

Becoming a parent is a transformative experience, marked by hormonal changes and neuroplasticity as well as shifts in self-concept, social roles, and daily routines. Although the arrival of a new baby is often a joyful event, the postpartum period can also be a time of heightened psychosocial stress and health behavior changes, including significant sleep disruption and decreased physical activity. Markers of allostatic load, such as physiological stress and inflammation, may also become dysregulated during this time. Given these neurobiological, psychosocial, and behavioral changes, the transition to parenthood may shape health trajectories in midlife. For many mothers and fathers, the transition to parenthood represents an inflection point for obesity, such that perinatal weight gains are retained long-term. Similarly, many individuals experience their 1st episode of major depression during the postpartum period. In sum, the transition to parenthood may represent a critical window for determining both mental and physical health in midlife and beyond. Physical and mental health problems over the transition to parenthood may be exacerbated for parents without access to protected, paid time off from employment. Known disparities in mood disorders, obesity, and allostatic load may be linked to risk factors stemming from the perinatal period. This article relates the importance of the transition to parenthood to population health and discusses parental leave policy as an example of an initiative that can support parents and relieve stress during the perinatal period.

This paper examines the long-term impacts of in-utero and early childhood exposure to ambient air pollution on adult labor market outcomes. We take advantage of a new administrative data set that is uniquely suited for addressing this question because it combines information on individuals' quarterly earnings together with their counties and dates of birth. We use the sharp changes in ambient air pollution concentrations driven by the implementation of the 1970 Clean Air Act Amendments as a source of identifying variation, and we compare cohorts born in counties that experienced large changes in total suspended particulate (TSP) exposure to cohorts born in counties that had minimal or no changes. We find a significant relationship between TSP exposure in the year of birth and adult labor market outcomes.

Mounting evidence across different disciplines suggests that early-life conditions can have consequences on individual outcomes throughout the lifecycle. Relative to other developed countries, the United States fares poorly on standard indicators of early-life health, and this disadvantage may have profound consequences not only for population well-being, but also for economic growth and competitiveness in a global economy. In this paper, we first discuss the research on the strength of the link between early-life health and adult outcomes, and then provide an evidence-based review of the effectiveness of existing U.S. policies targeting the early-life environment. We conclude that there is a robust and economically meaningful relationship between early-life conditions and well-being throughout the lifecycle, as measured by adult health, educational attainment, labor market attachment, and other indicators of socio-economic status. However, there is some variation in the degree to which current policies in the U.S. are effective in improving early-life conditions. Among existing programs, some of the most effective are the Special Supplemental Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), home visiting with nurse practitioners, and high-quality, center-based early childhood care and education. In contrast, the evidence on other policies such as prenatal care and family leave is more mixed and limited.

This analysis uses March Current Population Survey data from 1999-2010 and a differences-in-differences approach to examine how California's first in the nation paid family leave (PFL) program affected leave-taking by mothers following childbirth, as well as subsequent labor market outcomes. We obtain robust evidence that the California program more than doubled the overall use of maternity leave, increasing it from around three to six or seven weeks for the typical new mother -with particularly large growth for less advantaged groups. We also provide suggestive evidence that PFL increased the usual weekly work hours of employed mothers of one-to-three year-old children by 6 to 9% and that their wage incomes may have risen by a similar amount. The United States is the only advanced industrialized country without a national law providing new mothers (and often fathers) with entitlements to paid family leave (PFL).However, three states have implemented paid leave programs, the first of these being California, where PFL took effect in 2004. We study how California's program has affected leave-taking by mothers following childbirth, and the extent to which these effects differ across population subgroups. We are particularly interested in learning whether PFL has reduced previous disparities in leave-taking, whereby advantaged mothers have been much more likely to use leave than their less advantaged counterparts. We also provide an initial investigation of the medium-term impacts on mothers' labor market outcomes: employment, work hours, and wage income.The analysis uses March Current Population Survey data from 1999-2010 and a differences-in-differences (DD) approach to compare pre-versus post-program implementation experiences of mothers with infants or young children -the treatment groups -to control groups alternatively consisting of women with older children, childless women, men with non-infant children, or new mothers in other states. 1 We obtain robust evidence that the California program increased leave-taking, more than doubling overall maternity leave use -increasing it from around 3 to 6 or 7 weeks -with particularly large growth for less advantaged mothers (those who are less educated, unmarried, or nonwhite) who had relatively low levels of baseline use. This contrasts starkly with the results for other state family leave laws (most of which extend rights to unpaid leave beyond those in the FMLA), where the estimated effects are much larger for college-educated and married women than for less advantaged counterparts (Han, Ruhm and Waldfogel, 2009). The exploration of effects on medium-term labor market outcomes provides 1 We considered men with infant children as a treatment group, since such fathers are covered under PFL, but did not find consistent evidence of effects on leave-taking. This may have occurred because low rates of paternity leave use imply that we did not have the power to detect statistically significant effects.Page 2 more equivocal results, but with evidence that paid fami...

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