This paper presents novel methodological and empirical contributions to the child penalty literature. We propose a new estimator that combines elements from standard event study and instrumental variable estimators and demonstrate their relatedness. Our analysis shows that all three approaches...

Women experience significant reductions in labor market income following the birth of children, while their male partners experience no such income drops. This "relative child penalty" has been well documented and accounts for a significant amount of the gender income gap. In this paper we do...

Children cause large earnings drops for mothers but not fathers, a stylized fact known as the "child penalty" that explains a substantial portion of remaining gender income gaps. Can policy reduce the child penalty? We first document how changes in the child penalty over a long time horizon in...

Discouraged workers are those who have given up search due to (perceived) low chances of obtaining work. In this paper we first develop a model for the probability of being in the labor force as a function of the probability of getting an acceptable job offer. This model is based on standard...

The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 implies that the US is effectively moving towards a general child benefit. However, the amount paid out is dependent on income, similar to schemes in several other countries. In the present paper, we argue that instead of suppressing the labour supply of...

The labour force surveys (LFSs) on all Eurostat countries underwent a substantial redesign in January 2021. To ensure coherent labour market time series for the main indicators in the Norwegian LFS, we model the impact of the redesign. We use a state-space model that takes explicit account of...

This study examines the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on fertility in Norway at the individual level. Studies using data at the macro level have found a positive short-term effect of the pandemic on fertility level in Norway, but women's fertility response to the pandemic may differ depending...

The aim of this paper is to gain more insight on the drivers behind geographical variations in family sizes by pointing out the role of neighborhoods and neighbors for two-child couples' transitions to third births. Couples' decisions about fertility behavior are influenced by their social...