Twin births are often construed as a natural experiment in the social and natural sciences on the premise that the occurrence of twins is quasi-random. We present new population-level evidence that challenges this premise. Using individual data for 17 million births in 72 countries, we...

We first document three stylized facts about marriage and fertility in East Asian societies: They have the highest marriage rates in the world, but the lowest total fertility; they have the lowest total fertility, but almost all married women have at least one child. By contrast, almost no...

Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), we show that single women in East Germany are significantly more likely to give birth to a child than single women in West Germany. This applies to both planned and unplanned births. Our analysis provides no evidence that the difference...

We provide a novel interpretation of the estimated treatment effects from evaluations of parental leave reforms. Accounting for the counterfactual mode of care is crucial in the analysis of child outcomes and potential mediators. We evaluate a large and generous parental leave extension in...

We first document three stylized facts about marriage and fertility in East Asian societies: They have the highest marriage rates in the world, but the lowest total fertility; they have the lowest total fertility, but almost all married women have at least one child. By contrast, almost no...

Twin births are often construed as a natural experiment in the social and natural sciences on the premise that the occurrence of twins is quasi-random. We present new population-level evidence that challenges this premise. Using individual data for 17 million births in 72 countries, we...

This paper uses administrative data from 16 cohorts of the Dutch population to study the relationship between field of study and family outcomes. We first document considerable variation by field of study for a range of family outcomes. To get to causal effects, we use admission lotteries that...

This paper shows that in the presence of labor market shocks, child-bearing and child-rearing have far-reaching implications for gender inequality, household specialization and family structure. Using population register data on all births, marriages, and divorces together with employer-employee...

Using data of adult women from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), we find that risk tolerance is associated with a higher probability of an out-of-partnership birth. In contrast, we find no association between risk tolerance and the probability of a cohabiting birth

This paper analyzes how fertility preference affects individuals' marriage outcomes. By using the selective Two-child Policy in China, which relaxed Han Chinese and only child's birth quota hence made them more attractive, I find that after the policy, the treatment group is more likely to marry...