Introduction of Paternity Leave: Expected Costs and Benefits in the Czech Republic

• Název práce v češtině: Zavedení otcovské dovolené v České republice: Očekávané náklady a přínosy
• Název v anglickém jazyce: Introduction of Paternity Leave: Expected Costs and Benefits in the Czech Republic
• Klíčová slova: rodina, otcovská dovolená, výhody otcovské dovolené, náklady otcovské dovolené, rodičovská dovolená, využití otcovské dovolené, Česká republika
• Klíčová slova anglicky: family, paternity leave, benefits of paternity leave, costs of paternity leave, take-up rate of paternity leave, Czech Republic
• Akademický rok vypsání: 2016/2017
• Typ práce: bakalářská práce
• Jazyk práce: angličtina
• Ústav: Institut ekonomických studií (23-IES)
• Vedoucí / školitel: Mgr. Barbara Pertold-Gebicka, M.A., Ph.D.
• Řešitel: skrytý - zadáno vedoucím/školitelem
• Datum přihlášení: 06.06.2017
• Datum zadání: 06.06.2017
• Datum a čas obhajoby: 13.06.2018 09:00
• Datum odevzdání elektronické podoby: 07.05.2018
• Datum proběhlé obhajoby: 13.06.2018
• Oponenti: Mgr. Kateřina Chadimová

Seznam odborné literatury

Bičáková, Alena, Klára Kalíšková, and Institut pro demokracii a ekonomickou analýzu (projekt). 2015. Od mateřství k nezaměstnanosti: postavení žen s malými dětmi na trhu práce.

Almqvist, Anna-Lena, Anette Sandberg, and Lars Dahlgren. 2011. “Parental Leave in Sweden: Motives, Experiences, and Gender Equality Amongst Parents.” Fathering: A Journal of Theory, Research, and Practice about Men as Fathers 9 (2): 189–209. doi:10.3149/fth.0902.189.

Castro-García, Carmen, and Maria Pazos-Moran. 2016. “Parental Leave Policy and Gender Equality in Europe.” Feminist Economics 22 (3): 51–73. doi:10.1080/13545701.2015.1082033.

Ruhm, Christopher J. 1996. “The Economic Consequences of Parental Leave Mandates: Lessons from Europe.” National bureau of economic research. http://www.nber.org/papers/w5688.

Evertsson, M., and A.-Z. Duvander. 2011. “Parental Leave--Possibility or Trap? Does Family Leave Length Effect Swedish Women’s Labour Market Opportunities?” European Sociological Review 27 (4): 435–50. doi:10.1093/esr/jcq018.

Šářec, T. 2016 Employment of mothers with young children in the Czech Republic.? p. Bachelor thesis. Charles University in Prague, Faculty of Social Sciences, Institut of Economic Studies. Supervisor: Mgr. Barbara Pertold-Gebická M.A., Ph.D.

European Parliament, Directorate-General for Internal Policies. 2010. Costs and benefits of maternity and paternity leave. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/document/activities/cont/201010/20101005ATT85068/20101005ATT85068EN.pdf.

Trappe, Heike. 2013. “Väter Mit Elterngeldbezug: Nichts Als Çkonomisches Kalkül?/Fathers Who Claim Parental Leave Benefits: Only a Matter of Economic Considerations?” Zeitschrift Für Soziologie 42 (1): 28–51.

Chochláčová, B. 2016. Estimation of the optimal lenght of maternity leave. 34 p. Bachelor thesis. Charles University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of Economic Studies. Supervisor: Mgr. Barbara Pertold-Gebická M.A., Ph.D.

Clarke, Chris, Willem Adema, and Valérie Frey. 2015. “Paid Parental Leave.” OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers 172. doi:10.1787/5jrqgvqqb4vb-en.

Pytliková, Mariola, and Institut pro demokracii a ekonomickou analýzu (projekt). 2015. Rozdíly ve výši výdělků ve vztahu k mateřství a dítěti v rodině.

Bygren, Magnus, and Ann-Zofie Duvander. 2006. “Parents’ Workplace Situation and Fathers’ Parental Leave Use.” Journal of Marriage and Family 68 (2): 363–372.

Předběžná náplň práce v anglickém jazyce

Research question and motivation
Gender job equality and employment are highly influenced by parental leave policies. The focus in this thesis will be put on the economic rationality of implementation of shared parental leave in the Czech Republic in its most extreme case: the equal division of parental leave between mothers and fathers. The hypothesis is that prolonging the time men spend on parental leave and shortening the time women spend on the parental leave will have a significant impact on the fiscal policies in the Czech Republic. Due to decreasing the labor market attachment of men, this might cause tax distortion and also decrease in productivity. On the other hand, shortening parental leave for women can lead to their higher employment and thus decreased costs of unemployment benefits.

Contribution
The thesis will investigate an effect of a policy that has not yet been implemented anywhere. It is, however, strongly inspired by the model of parental leave in Northern Europe (e.g. Sweden). From the fiscal perspective, the results of the thesis shall be used for further decisions of policy makers and to prove or disprove that further support of shared parental leave is economically rational in the environment of the Czech Republic.

Methodology
The thesis will include the analysis of the following data: wage gap between men and women (obtained from the Eurostat and the Czech Statistical Office), employment rates for men and women (obtained from the Eurostat), GDP as a measure of productivity (obtained from the Eurostat) and unemployment benefits in the Czech Republic (obtained from the Czech Statistical Office).
The basis for these data will be findings of other studies that elaborate on introduced parental leave for fathers and shortened parental leave for mothers in other countries. These findings will be adapted and used for a simulation in the Czech environment with the data mentioned above. In the model, the current parental leave policy in the Czech Republic will be taken as the baseline and a percentage change of government budget balance will be evaluated. It is assumed that the change will be based on relationship between employment, level of wage and length of parental leave for mothers and fathers. For this purpose, numerous scenarios of distribution of parental leave lengths will be investigated.

Outline
The thesis will be divided into two main sections: fiscal costs and fiscal benefits.
On one hand, there may be fiscal costs due to wage gap between men and women. This might cause gap in income tax. Furthermore, there might be a significant difference in productivity. Larger share of men on parental leave can be a cause of higher unemployment benefits granted to fathers.
On the other hand, there may be fiscal benefits due to increased employment rate of women. This may potentially lead to lower unemployment benefits granted to mothers and also higher income tax from mothers who start working earlier.