Paid leave led to shifts in labor supply & demand that decreased wages & family income among women of child-bearing age; children were 1.9 pct less likely to attend college & 3.1 pct less likely to earn a 4-year college degree

The long-run impacts of America's first paid maternity leave policy. Brenden Timpe. Job market paper, https://www.brendentimpe.com/home/research

Abstract: This paper provides the first evidence of the effect of a U.S. paid maternity leave policy on the long-run outcomes of children. I exploit variation in access to paid leave that was created by long-standing state differences in short-term disability insurance coverage and the state-level roll-out of laws banning discrimination against pregnant workers in the 1960s and 1970s. While the availability of these benefits sparked a substantial expansion of leave-taking by new mothers, it also came with a cost. The enactment of paid leave led to shifts in labor supply and demand that decreased wages and family income among women of child-bearing age. In addition, the first generation of children born to mothers with access to maternity leave benefits were 1.9 percent less likely to attend college and 3.1 percent less likely to earn a four-year college degree.