Co-worker peer effects on parental leave take-up

Abstract

We investigate co-worker peer effects in the use of parental leave in Sweden. We use an instrumental variable approach called “peers of peers”, in which the parental leave taken by family peers (siblings and cousins) of co-workers is used as an instrument for co-workers’ use of parental leave. For fathers, we find that a 10-day increase in the average parental leave taken by co-workers increases their use of parental leave by approximately one and a half days, while, for mothers, the increase is approximately one day. The results are robust to alternative model specifications. We explore possible mechanisms and discuss policy implications.