The unintended consequences of Swedish parental leave policy: A health equity perspective (#2018-01825).
Stockholm University, Sweden.
Duration: 2019 – 2022.
Total: 5,604,000 SEK
PI: Sol Juárez @501_Juarez
“The purpose of this project is to assess the unintended health consequences of different aspects of Sweden’s parental leave policy. Specifically, we aim to evaluate the potentially adverse health consequences that may be derived from 1) the speed premium supplement, provided to parents who have children in quick succession (i.e., 30 months´ spacing between births) to compensate for reduced benefits that result from parents’ receipt of an allowance from the first child; 2) the introduction and expansion of parental leave days exclusively reserved for the father (the so-called Daddy quota); and 3) the strong work requirement for paid parental leave eligibility (of at least 8 months in employment before childbirth), which excludes or is less beneficial for groups with a less secure labour market attachment, such as students, migrants or those who have suffered from illness. Particular focus will be placed on the examination of mental health and reproductive health, which are likely to be most affected by parental leave policies. This project will be conducted over four years by an interdisciplinary team that includes social epidemiologists, demographers and sociologists. A variety of advanced statistical techniques will be employed, including survival analysis and sibling analysis, as well as triple difference methods that explicitly evaluate policy reforms. This project will contribute necessary and much needed knowledge to inform ongoing debates on parental leave reform.”