Question

The 1993 Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) mandates at least three months of maternity leave for working women. Prior to 1993, thirteen states had their own version of this law in place, but you do not know the exact dates. You are interested in the impact of maternity leave on birth weight, which is a measure of infant health. You have individual level data on birth weight, along with state and year identifiers, and demographic information, such as the mother’s race and age. The data spans 1987 to 1997.

(a) How would you use the above setting to measure the impact of maternity leave on birth weight? Write down the equation you plan to estimate. Include clear definitions of all variables and explain how you would interpret your coefficient of interest in the context of this problem.

(b) What are the assumptions underlying your estimation strategy in (a)? Explain in the context of this problem.

(c) Would you still be able to estimate the impact of the FMLA on birth weight if you only had data from 1994 to 1997? Why or why not? If not, please explain what you can no longer include as a control for with the more limited data, and why this is a problem.

Answer 1

The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA) is a United States labor law requiring covered employers to provide employees with job-protected and unpaid leave for qualified medical and family reasons.[1] The FMLA was a major part of President Bill Clinton's first-term domestic agenda, and he signed it into law on February 5, 1993. The FMLA is administered by the Wage and Hour Division of the United States Department of Labor.

The FMLA allows eligible employees to take up to 12 work weeks of unpaid leave during any 12-month period to care for a new child, care for a seriously ill family member, or recover from a serious illness. The FMLA covers both public- and private-sector employees, but certain categories of employees, including elected officials and highly compensated employees, are excluded from the law or face certain limitations. In order to be eligible for FMLA leave, an employee must have worked for the employer for at least 12 months, have worked at least 1,250 hours over the past 12 months, and work for an employer with at least fifty employees. Several states have passed laws providing additional family and medical leave protections for workers.