Do Regional Policies Infl uence the Use of Parental Leave?

Abstract

This article analyses the impact of the policies implemented by fi ve
Autonomous Communities —Navarre, Castile and Leon, the Basque
Country, Castile-La Mancha and La Rioja— on parental leave use. The
research adopts a quasi-experimental design, which is known in public
policy evaluation as difference-in-difference. The analysis is based on a
subsample which stems from the «Muestra Continua de Vidas Laborales
» (wave 2006), and is comprised of 94,493 people who were entitled
to parental leave in the 1996-2006 period. The results show a positive
effect of Navarre and Castile and Leon’s policies and confi rm the
relevance of benefi t levels versus other design characteristics. However,
none of these policies have an effect on men’s use of parental leave,
even in the case of those Autonomous Communities that have implemented
positive discrimination measures.