Parental Leave and Child Health
利用16个欧洲国家1969-1994年的数据，发现更长的带薪育儿假能显著降低婴幼儿死亡率，且对产后及儿童期死亡影响更大，提示育儿假是改善儿童健康的成本有效方式。
This study investigates whether rights to parental leave improve pediatric health. Aggregate data are used for 16 European countries over the 1969 through 1994 period. More generous paid leave is found to reduce deaths of infants and young children. The magnitudes of the estimated effects are substantial, especially where a causal effect of leave is most plausible. In particular, there is a much stronger negative relationship between leave durations and post-neonatal or child fatalities than for perinatal mortality, neonatal deaths, or low birth weight. The evidence further suggests that parental leave may be a cost-effective method of bettering child health.