Effects of Early Childhood Intervention on Maternal Employment, Fertility and Well-Being: Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial

This paper presents the results of a randomized study of a home visiting program implemented in Germany for first-time mothers on welfare. A major goal of the program is to increase the participants economic self-sufficiency. I use administrative data from the Federal Employment Agency and detailed telephone surveys to examine the effects of the intervention. The findings reveal that the intervention does not affect maternal employment or school attendance but unintentionally increases subsequent births. The program s effect on fertility can be explained by higher maternal life satisfaction and well-being in the treatment group which led to fewer abortions compared with the control group. These results are in contrast to those of previous studies from the United States, where home visiting programs increased employment and decreased fertility.