Baertsch, Laurenz

Contact Information

[email protected]

Personal Webpage

Available for interviews at

European Job Market for Economists (EEA)

Allied Social Science Associations (ASSA)

Research interests

Education, Labor, Gender, Development and Public Policies.

Placement Officer

References

Research

"Reducing the Child Penalty by Incentivizing Part-Time Work? Evidence from a Paid Parental Leave Reform in Germany" (Job Market Paper)
Although many paid parental leave (PL) schemes allow parents to work part-time while receiving PL benefits, there is little empirical evidence on the effects of such part-time options on maternal labor market outcomes. We study how a German paid PL reform, which financially incentivizes mothers to work part-time during the two years following child birth, affects maternal labor market outcomes up to 4.5 years after child birth. We use German social security records and exploit the fact that only mothers whose child is born in or after July 2015 are eligible for the new part-time PL option in a Difference-in-Differences strategy. We find that the policy’s pro-part-time incentives increase the probability that high income mothers return to work during the first year after child birth by 3pp (≈ 15%), without reducing working hours of mothers who would already be working full-time in absence of the policy. Low income mothers do not choose the new part-time option, most likely due to financial constraints, and are unaffected by the reform. The policy’s part-time work incentives do not impact maternal employment along the intensive margin (part-time or full-time work) in the long run, leaving the child penalty unaffected. Our analysis shows that part-time options in paid PL schemes can increase maternal labor market attachment directly after child birth and alleviates concerns that such options reduce working hours of mothers in the long-run ("lock-in" effect into part-time employment).

Research Papers in Progress

“Centralized Admission, Access to Education and Academic Performance: Evidence from Secondary Education in Chile"

“The Mechanics of Good Fortune: On Intergenerational Mobility during the Second Industrial Revolution" (with A. Jagadits)

"The Effects of Early Childhood Education on Educational Achievement and Parental Labor Market Outcomes" (with D. Dante)

"Quantifying the Economic Benefits of Public Transportation in Kampala, Uganda"
IGC Policy Brief UGA-19148, August 2020