Adverse Childhood Shocks and Human Capital Formation: Evidence from the Timing of Parental Deaths

Abstract: How does the timing of adverse shocks in childhood affect human capital formation? Using administrative data from the Netherlands, I shed new light on this question by estimating the causal effects of parental deaths on educational attainment by age of the child at the time of the parental death (age effects). Exploiting variation in the age at which children experience a parental death, I find strong evidence for substantial effects of parental death on college enrolment in middle childhood. Especially at ages 10-12 parental deaths reduce the probability of ever enrolling in college by 3-4 percentage points. After age 12, the negative effects of parental deaths diminish rapidly with age, leaving no effects of parental deaths in early adulthood. Importantly, each additional year that a child spends in adolescence with both parents alive contributes to long-run educational outcomes. I find evidence that the age pattern coincides with school tracking institutions in Dutch education, suggesting that early school tracking exacerbates the long-run consequences of an adverse childhood shock. I distinguish the causal age effects of parental deaths from confounding factors related to the child's age by (i) accounting for cause of death fixed effects, (ii) comparing outcomes of siblings within families, (iv) controlling for potential age-dependent selection using cousins, and (iv) focusing on a subset of unexpected deaths.

Why Life Gets Better after Age 50, for Some: Mental Well-Being and the Social Norm of Work (joint with Titus Galama and Maarten Lindeboom — R&R at JOLE)

Abstract: We provide evidence that the social norm (expectation) that adults perform paid work has a substantial detrimental causal effect on the mental well-being of unemployed and disabled men in mid-life, comparable to, e.g., the detriment of being widowed. As their peers in age retire and the social norm weakens, the mental well-being of the unemployed and disabled improves. Using data on individuals aged 50+ from 10 European countries, we identify the social norm of work effect using variation in the fraction of retirees of comparable age, which is driven by exogenous variation in retirement institutions across and within countries.

Unpacking the U-shape in Mental Health: The Role of Unemployment and Disability (joint with Titus Galama and Maarten Lindeboom)

Abstract: A growing literature reports a U-shape in mental well-being over the life-cycle, with mental health dipping during prime working ages. What is behind the U-shape remains a mystery. However, the U-shape literature has, so far, only considered ceteris paribus population averages, which does not do justice to the strong socioeconomic gradients in mental health. We go beyond population averages and analyze heterogeneity in age patterns along socioeconomic dimensions that strongly correlate with mental health. Using Dutch survey data, we find that a cross-sectional U-shape is present for unemployed and disabled men and women, but not when stratifying by other socioeconomic dimensions, such as educational attainment, household income, or marital status. Exploiting the longitudinal dimension of the survey, we find that while the left-hand side of the U-shape for the unemployed and disabled can potentially be attributed to composition effects, unemployed and disabled men and women experience significantly larger mental-health improvements with age than do employed individuals in the second half of working life (the right-hand side of the U-shape). Thus composition effects and the age pattern of mental well-being for the unemployed and disabled can potentially explain the U-shape. We demonstrate that mental well-being improvements with age are especially robust for unemployed and disabled men, and generally also hold for four other measures of well-being and in other countries and institutional settings, using three health and retirement surveys covering continental Europe, the United States and the United Kingdom.

The Societal Benefits and Costs of Paid Paternity Leave: Employer, Worker, and Family Responses (joint with Zichen Deng)

Abstract: While the economic position of women has improved substantially ​​over the last century,  gender inequality remains large in all countries. To further close the gender gap, governments are increasingly incentivizing fathers to take leave from work and spend more time on childcare. Such policies aim to create a more level playing field with mothers in the labor market, who are absent from work due to pregnancy, and to foster a more equal division of parenting and household tasks. In this project, we study recent expansions of paid paternity leave in the Netherlands – from just 2 days before 2019 to 15 weeks in 2022 – to (1) quantify the societal benefits and costs of paid paternity leave and through this (2) understand its impact on economic gender inequality. To do so, we examine how fathers’ leave-taking affects a wide range of outcomes and behaviors of fathers, mothers, children, employers, and coworkers.

Origins of the Opportunity Gap: Evidence from Dutch Administrative Data on Childhood Health and Development (joint with Bastian Ravesteijn)

Abstract: A fair shot in life begins with equal opportunities in childhood. Children growing up in low-income households, on average, have lower earnings in adulthood and lead unhealthier lives. To what extent are these unequal outcomes driven by unequal opportunities? For researchers and policymakers this remains a problematic question to answer because it is difficult to accurately observe how children develop and how childhood conditions influence development. This project uses novel data on childhood development in the Netherlands to study the origins of the childhood opportunity gap.

Children and (future) Parents supported by Prediction and Professionals in Prevention, to improve Opportunity (C-4PO) (joint with Bastian Ravesteijn)

Project description: A child's development during pregnancy and the first 2 years of life affects health and development throughout life. This study uses big data to identify which children are at risk of (future) developmental or health problems, during the first thousand days after conception. We then evaluate how professionals and parents, in daily practice, can engage in conversation and jointly explore what next steps are to be taken.

This project is funded under the Dutch National Research Agenda