Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

The United States is the only OECD country that does not provide paid parental leave despite realization that the availability of such paid leave is essential for new parents as it affects the development of children during their first two years of birth. In contrast, on average, at least 14 weeks of paid parental leave is guaranteed in OECD countries. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of paid parental leave, both maternal and paternal, on the well-being of children. More specifically, its effect on the infant mortality rate and the rate of children receiving measles vaccination has been studied during the time period of 1990 to 2016. The paper first examines the effect of paid parental leave in general, to confirm the findings of previous studies. Then, and more importantly, it examines the effect of paid maternal and paternal leave. The study demonstrates that countries which have paid parental leave, have a lower infant mortality rate and higher immunization rate. However, the effect of countries having only maternal policies is not significantly different from the effect of countries having both maternal and paternal policies.