Does Paid Maternity Leave Improve Maternal Health?

The U.S. is the only OECD country without a national paid maternity leave policy and also falls behind most other OECD countries in terms of poor maternal health outcomes. I treat the few U.S. states with paid maternity... [ view full abstract ]

The U.S. is the only OECD country without a national paid maternity leave policy and also falls behind most other OECD countries in terms of poor maternal health outcomes. I treat the few U.S. states with paid maternity leave mandates as a natural experiment and use a difference-in-difference model to estimate the effects of paid maternity leave policies in California, New Jersey, and Rhode Island on maternal health in these states relative to states without policies. I investigate whether paid maternity leave, which is commonly seen as a policy primarily targeting female labor force participation, can also have impacts on maternal health through reducing stress around birth. Does paid maternity leave help to counter the alarming trends in pregnancy-related hypertension and gestational diabetes in the U.S., and for which groups does it have the greatest impact?