Expanding Paternity Leave: Effects on Beliefs, Norms, and Gender Gaps / Henrik Kleven, Camille Landais, Anne Sophie S. Lassen, Philip Rosenbaum, Herdis Steingrimsdottir, Jakob Egholt Søgaard.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kleven, Henrik.

Contributor:

Landais, Camille.

Lassen, Anne Sophie S.

Rosenbaum, Philip.

Steingrimsdottir, Herdis.

Egholt Søgaard, Jakob.

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w34862.

NBER working paper series no. w34862

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2026.

Summary:

We study whether policy can shift gendered beliefs, norms, and labor market outcomes by exploiting a major expansion of earmarked paternity leave in Denmark. The reform generated large first-stage effects, substantially reallocating leave from mothers to fathers. Using a regression discontinuity design combined with new survey data linked to administrative records, we show that the reform makes parents more supportive of paternity leave, shifts gender-role beliefs in a progressive direction, and reduces perceived differences in childcare ability. The reform also narrows gender gaps in earnings and hours worked. The earnings gap falls by 34pp in the first year following childbirth (during leave) and by 2.8pp in the second year (after leave). These results demonstrate that policy can meaningfully influence beliefs, norms, and gender inequality. On the other hand, earmarking restricts families' ability to allocate leave freely and lowers leave satisfaction, highlighting a central trade-off inherent in paternalistic policies.

Notes:

February 2026.

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