Baby Bonuses

Download or read book Baby Bonuses written by Nathan Deutscher and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We use the 1 July 2004 introduction of the Australian Baby Bonus to identify the effect of family income on child test scores at grade three. Using a difference-in-differences design, we find no evidence that the Baby Bonus improved child outcomes in aggregate, but some evidence of a modest effect for children from disadvantaged backgrounds. We examine whether birth shifting associated with the Baby Bonus and two other Australian maternity payments had negative long-term effects on children. Despite widespread concerns about this unintended treatment, regression discontinuity estimates provide no clear evidence of lasting health or educational consequences.