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

Publication date: Available online 1 December 2018Source: Journal of Health EconomicsAuthor(s): Malte SandnerAbstractThis paper presents the results of a randomized study of a home visiting program implemented in Germany for low-income, first-time mothers. Besides improving child health and development, a major goal of the program is to improve the participants’ economic self-sufficiency and family planning. I use administrative data from the German social security system and detailed telephone surveys to examine the effects of the intervention on maternal employment, welfare benefits, household composition, and fertility behavior. The study reveals that the intervention decreased maternal employment by 9.3 percentage points and increased subsequent births by 6.4 percentage points, in part through a reduction in abortions.
Source: Journal of Health Economics - Category: Health Management Source Type: research