Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/130165 
Year of Publication: 
2016
Series/Report no.: 
FAU Discussion Papers in Economics No. 04/2016
Publisher: 
Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Institute for Economics, Nürnberg
Abstract: 
We exploit the 1996 reform of the German child benefit program to identify the causal effect of child benefits on fertility. Generally, the reform increased child benefits. However, the exact amount of the increase varied by household income and sibship size. We use this heterogeneity of the reform to identify causal effects on fertility using a difference-in-differences setting. We apply the large samples of the German Mikrozensus and the rich data of the German Socioeconomic Panel (SOEP). The child benefit reform did not yield robust or statistically significant fertility effects for low income couples. We find some support for positive fertility effects for higher income couples deciding on a second birth.
Subjects: 
child benefits
fertility
tax allowance
causal effect
difference-in-differences
Mikrozensus
SOEP
JEL: 
J13
I38
C54
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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