New IZA DPs -- Parenting & Child Development
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IZA DP Alerts
May 31, 2026, 9:09:24 AM (14 days ago) May 31
to it...@umich.edu
New IZA Discussion Papers brought to you by IZA@LISER
Dear Italo Gutierrez,
These new IZA Discussion Papers are now available online.
DP 18481 - Doepke/Klasing:
Preparing Kids for Capitalism: The Effect of German Reunification on the Intergenerational Transmission of Preferences
DP 18485 - Berlinski/Giannola/Toppeta:
Effective Families or Effective Schools? Experimental Evidence on Fostering Children’s Numeracy
DP 18518 - Ortiz-Gervasi/McGuinness/Nussio:
Education as a Shield Against the Adverse Shock of Motherhood: Gender, Parenthood and Overeducation Among Highly and Mid-Educated British Workers
DP 18529 - Gallen/Joensen/Johansen/Veramendi:
The Labor Market Returns to Delaying Pregnancy
DP 18584 - Cattan/Conti/Farquharson:
Workforce Quality and Early Childhood Development at Scale
DP 18597 - Brown:
Undersupply or Lack of Demand? Evaluating Measures of Child Care Access
Please find the abstracts and download links below.
IZA DP No. 18481
Matthias Doepke, Mariko Klasing:
Preparing Kids for Capitalism: The Effect of German Reunification on the Intergenerational Transmission of Preferences
Abstract:
Children and their parents resemble each other in terms of economic preferences such as patience and risk tolerance. What drives the intergenerational correlation in preferences? We build a model of preference formation that combines genetic transmission, state influence through childcare institutions, and altruistic parental socialization, where parents seek to endow children with preferences conducive to success. To assess the importance of these channels, we exploit German reunification as a natural experiment that simultaneously removed state indoctrination and transformed economic incentives. For risk tolerance-a trait with arguably high returns during a rapid transition to a market economy-parent-child correlations decline by more than a third among East German families after reunification, consistent with parents actively instilling new values in their children to prepare them for capitalism. For trust and patience, correlations rise as the state withdraws and socialization in the family looms larger. These contrasting patterns suggest that parents do not just aim to reproduce their own preferences but adapt their socialization effort to the world their children will face.
https://docs.iza.org/dp18481.pdf
IZA DP No. 18485
Samuel Berlinski, Michele Giannola, Alessandro Toppeta:
Effective Families or Effective Schools? Experimental Evidence on Fostering Children’s Numeracy
Abstract:
We study the relative effectiveness, cost-effectiveness, and interaction of family- and school -based learning interventions using a randomized controlled trial in Colombia that assigns children to a parental engagement program, a teacher professional development program, both, or a control group. Both interventions are grounded in a child-centered learning approach that emphasizes active engagement and the progression from informal to formal mathematical understanding. Each intervention independently generates sizable and statistically similar gains in early numeracy (0.17? and 0.20?). Combining them produces no additional learning gains, suggesting that the two interventions act as substitutes over the time horizon and skill domain we study. When benefits accruing to future cohorts are taken into account, the teacher development program becomes at least as cost-effective as, and potentially more cost-effective than, the parental engagement intervention. Our results suggest that, in this setting, strategically concentrating resources on a single binding constraint – either at home or in school – maximizes the short-run learning gains per dollar spent.
https://docs.iza.org/dp18485.pdf
IZA DP No. 18518
Luis Ortiz-Gervasi, Seamus McGuinness, Benedetta Nussio:
Education as a Shield Against the Adverse Shock of Motherhood: Gender, Parenthood and Overeducation Among Highly and Mid-Educated British Workers
Abstract:
This research improves our understanding of overeducation by highlighting its risks among middle-educated workers, especially the specific risk that motherhood may pose for job mismatch among them, compared to highly educated women. It employs random-effects and Heckman selection models with Mundlak correctors on 14 waves of the United Kingdom Household Longitudinal Survey (UKHLS) to explore the relationship between overeducation, gender, and parenthood among middle- and highly educated employees. Overall, women are found to have a lower risk of overeducation compared to men. However, becoming a mother and having more children negatively impact the status of middle-educated women in comparison to both male workers and highly educated women. Additional evidence from the European Jobs and Skills Survey (2021) shows that jobs held by middle-educated individuals offer less job discretion than those held by highly educated workers. This lack of discretion may hinder the development of firm-specific or occupational skills that would enable women to maintain or enhance their job status after becoming mothers or having additional children.
https://docs.iza.org/dp18518.pdf
IZA DP No. 18529
Yana Gallen, Juanna Schrøter Joensen, Eva Rye Johansen, Gregory Veramendi:
The Labor Market Returns to Delaying Pregnancy
Abstract:
We study the labor market impact of unplanned pregnancy among women using long-acting reversible contraceptives to delay pregnancy. While most women successfully delay, some have unplanned pregnancies, providing quasi-random variation in pregnancy timing. Analyzing linked health and labor market data from Sweden, we find that unplanned pregnancies halt women’s career progression, resulting in income losses of 19% five years later. We find similar effects of unplanned births among women using short-acting reversible contraceptives. Using pregnancy as an instrument for birth in a dynamic treatment effect framework, effects of unplanned children are more detrimental for younger women and those enrolled in education.
https://docs.iza.org/dp18529.pdf
IZA DP No. 18584
Sarah Cattan, Gabriella Conti, Christine Farquharson:
Workforce Quality and Early Childhood Development at Scale
Abstract:
Early childhood programmes frequently lose effectiveness at scale, yet the role of the workforce remains poorly understood. We document substantial heterogeneity in workforce effectiveness in England's national home-visiting programme for first-time teenage mothers, despite a highly-structured curriculum and well-qualified staff. Exploiting quasi-random assignment of mothers to family nurses, we estimate that a one standard deviation increase in workforce effectiveness raises children's cognitive and socio-emotional development by 0.20-0.23 SD. Structural quality - observable worker characteristics - does not predict effectiveness, but process quality - how visits are delivered - does. Greater effectiveness is linked with improvements in maternal mental health and risk behaviours.
https://docs.iza.org/dp18584.pdf
IZA DP No. 18597
Jessica H. Brown:
Undersupply or Lack of Demand? Evaluating Measures of Child Care Access
Abstract:
The most widely used measure of child care access is “child care deserts,” defined as areas with three or more young children per licensed child care slot. But a high child-to-slot ratio may reflect low demand for formal care rather than a shortage. In the canonical model, equilibrium quantities reflect local demand and costs, so the ease of finding care should not vary systematically. I use center-based provider vacancy rates as a proxy for families’ ability to access care and test whether they are negatively correlated with desert status and two alternative measures that adjust for demand. The first captures deviations between actual and predicted supply in demographically similar areas. The second compares licensed slots to the number of young children with all parents working. Desert status weakly predicts low center-based vacancy rates, while the alternative measures strongly predict low infant and toddler vacancy rates. These findings suggest that child care is harder to find in some areas, providing suggestive evidence of market frictions and a potential role for policy. However, identifying such areas requires adjusting low supply thresholds for local population characteristics.
https://docs.iza.org/dp18597.pdf
These new IZA Discussion Papers are now available online.
DP 18481 - Doepke/Klasing:
Preparing Kids for Capitalism: The Effect of German Reunification on the Intergenerational Transmission of Preferences
DP 18485 - Berlinski/Giannola/Toppeta:
Effective Families or Effective Schools? Experimental Evidence on Fostering Children’s Numeracy
DP 18518 - Ortiz-Gervasi/McGuinness/Nussio:
Education as a Shield Against the Adverse Shock of Motherhood: Gender, Parenthood and Overeducation Among Highly and Mid-Educated British Workers
DP 18529 - Gallen/Joensen/Johansen/Veramendi:
The Labor Market Returns to Delaying Pregnancy
DP 18584 - Cattan/Conti/Farquharson:
Workforce Quality and Early Childhood Development at Scale
DP 18597 - Brown:
Undersupply or Lack of Demand? Evaluating Measures of Child Care Access
Please find the abstracts and download links below.
IZA DP No. 18481
Matthias Doepke, Mariko Klasing:
Preparing Kids for Capitalism: The Effect of German Reunification on the Intergenerational Transmission of Preferences
Abstract:
Children and their parents resemble each other in terms of economic preferences such as patience and risk tolerance. What drives the intergenerational correlation in preferences? We build a model of preference formation that combines genetic transmission, state influence through childcare institutions, and altruistic parental socialization, where parents seek to endow children with preferences conducive to success. To assess the importance of these channels, we exploit German reunification as a natural experiment that simultaneously removed state indoctrination and transformed economic incentives. For risk tolerance-a trait with arguably high returns during a rapid transition to a market economy-parent-child correlations decline by more than a third among East German families after reunification, consistent with parents actively instilling new values in their children to prepare them for capitalism. For trust and patience, correlations rise as the state withdraws and socialization in the family looms larger. These contrasting patterns suggest that parents do not just aim to reproduce their own preferences but adapt their socialization effort to the world their children will face.
https://docs.iza.org/dp18481.pdf
IZA DP No. 18485
Samuel Berlinski, Michele Giannola, Alessandro Toppeta:
Effective Families or Effective Schools? Experimental Evidence on Fostering Children’s Numeracy
Abstract:
We study the relative effectiveness, cost-effectiveness, and interaction of family- and school -based learning interventions using a randomized controlled trial in Colombia that assigns children to a parental engagement program, a teacher professional development program, both, or a control group. Both interventions are grounded in a child-centered learning approach that emphasizes active engagement and the progression from informal to formal mathematical understanding. Each intervention independently generates sizable and statistically similar gains in early numeracy (0.17? and 0.20?). Combining them produces no additional learning gains, suggesting that the two interventions act as substitutes over the time horizon and skill domain we study. When benefits accruing to future cohorts are taken into account, the teacher development program becomes at least as cost-effective as, and potentially more cost-effective than, the parental engagement intervention. Our results suggest that, in this setting, strategically concentrating resources on a single binding constraint – either at home or in school – maximizes the short-run learning gains per dollar spent.
https://docs.iza.org/dp18485.pdf
IZA DP No. 18518
Luis Ortiz-Gervasi, Seamus McGuinness, Benedetta Nussio:
Education as a Shield Against the Adverse Shock of Motherhood: Gender, Parenthood and Overeducation Among Highly and Mid-Educated British Workers
Abstract:
This research improves our understanding of overeducation by highlighting its risks among middle-educated workers, especially the specific risk that motherhood may pose for job mismatch among them, compared to highly educated women. It employs random-effects and Heckman selection models with Mundlak correctors on 14 waves of the United Kingdom Household Longitudinal Survey (UKHLS) to explore the relationship between overeducation, gender, and parenthood among middle- and highly educated employees. Overall, women are found to have a lower risk of overeducation compared to men. However, becoming a mother and having more children negatively impact the status of middle-educated women in comparison to both male workers and highly educated women. Additional evidence from the European Jobs and Skills Survey (2021) shows that jobs held by middle-educated individuals offer less job discretion than those held by highly educated workers. This lack of discretion may hinder the development of firm-specific or occupational skills that would enable women to maintain or enhance their job status after becoming mothers or having additional children.
https://docs.iza.org/dp18518.pdf
IZA DP No. 18529
Yana Gallen, Juanna Schrøter Joensen, Eva Rye Johansen, Gregory Veramendi:
The Labor Market Returns to Delaying Pregnancy
Abstract:
We study the labor market impact of unplanned pregnancy among women using long-acting reversible contraceptives to delay pregnancy. While most women successfully delay, some have unplanned pregnancies, providing quasi-random variation in pregnancy timing. Analyzing linked health and labor market data from Sweden, we find that unplanned pregnancies halt women’s career progression, resulting in income losses of 19% five years later. We find similar effects of unplanned births among women using short-acting reversible contraceptives. Using pregnancy as an instrument for birth in a dynamic treatment effect framework, effects of unplanned children are more detrimental for younger women and those enrolled in education.
https://docs.iza.org/dp18529.pdf
IZA DP No. 18584
Sarah Cattan, Gabriella Conti, Christine Farquharson:
Workforce Quality and Early Childhood Development at Scale
Abstract:
Early childhood programmes frequently lose effectiveness at scale, yet the role of the workforce remains poorly understood. We document substantial heterogeneity in workforce effectiveness in England's national home-visiting programme for first-time teenage mothers, despite a highly-structured curriculum and well-qualified staff. Exploiting quasi-random assignment of mothers to family nurses, we estimate that a one standard deviation increase in workforce effectiveness raises children's cognitive and socio-emotional development by 0.20-0.23 SD. Structural quality - observable worker characteristics - does not predict effectiveness, but process quality - how visits are delivered - does. Greater effectiveness is linked with improvements in maternal mental health and risk behaviours.
https://docs.iza.org/dp18584.pdf
IZA DP No. 18597
Jessica H. Brown:
Undersupply or Lack of Demand? Evaluating Measures of Child Care Access
Abstract:
The most widely used measure of child care access is “child care deserts,” defined as areas with three or more young children per licensed child care slot. But a high child-to-slot ratio may reflect low demand for formal care rather than a shortage. In the canonical model, equilibrium quantities reflect local demand and costs, so the ease of finding care should not vary systematically. I use center-based provider vacancy rates as a proxy for families’ ability to access care and test whether they are negatively correlated with desert status and two alternative measures that adjust for demand. The first captures deviations between actual and predicted supply in demographically similar areas. The second compares licensed slots to the number of young children with all parents working. Desert status weakly predicts low center-based vacancy rates, while the alternative measures strongly predict low infant and toddler vacancy rates. These findings suggest that child care is harder to find in some areas, providing suggestive evidence of market frictions and a potential role for policy. However, identifying such areas requires adjusting low supply thresholds for local population characteristics.
https://docs.iza.org/dp18597.pdf
IZA DP Alerts | www.iza.org
If you have trouble downloading the papers, or for any other questions regarding the IZA Discussion Paper Series, please contact iza...@liser.lu.
IZA@LISER Network
Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER)
11, Porte des Sciences, L-4366 Esch-sur-Alzette / Belval
Privacy Policy | Manage your subscriptions
If you have trouble downloading the papers, or for any other questions regarding the IZA Discussion Paper Series, please contact iza...@liser.lu.
IZA@LISER Network
Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER)
11, Porte des Sciences, L-4366 Esch-sur-Alzette / Belval
Privacy Policy | Manage your subscriptions
IZA DP Alerts
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