Seminar Is there really a child penalty in the long run? New evidence from IVF treatments Econometrics and applied micro seminar Add to calendar 2025-10-20 11:00 2025-10-20 12:15 Europe/Rome Is there really a child penalty in the long run? New evidence from IVF treatments Conference Room Villa La Fonte YYYY-MM-DD Print Share: Share on Facebook Share on BlueSky Share on X Share on LinkedIn Send by email Scheduled dates Oct 20 2025 11:00 - 12:15 CEST Conference Room, Villa La Fonte Organised by Department of Economics This seminar features a paper presentation by Erik Plug (University of Amsterdam). Newly matched data on IVF (In Vitro Fertilizations) treatments are used to estimate the long run impact of children on labor market earnings, also known as child penalties. We compare the earnings of first-time treated women and men up to 25 years after their first IVF treatment. For women, not men, we find a large penalty shortly after the birth of the first child, but in the long run, the penalty fades out, vanishes after 10 years, and even turns into a positive but insignificant premium after 15 years. These findings challenge the notion that children are the primary drivers behind the persistent gender gap in earnings.(joint with Petter Lundborg and Astrid Würtz Rasmussen)