What are the effects of reforms promoting fathers' parental leave use?

Since the introduction of parental leave in Sweden a more gender-equal division of such leave has been targeted. In 1995 one month was reserved for each parent, implying that the month was forfeited if not used by the same parent. A second month was reserved in 2002. In 2008, a gender equality bonus was introduced, meaning that tax credits were given to parents who shared the leave equally. This study investigates the effects of these reforms on parental leave use by means of a difference-in-difference approach with parents of children born just before and just after the introduction of each reform. We use register data from the Swedish Social Insurance Agency, which include all parents residing in Sweden. The results indicate a strong effect on parental leave use resulting from the introduction of the first reserved month, a more modest but clear effect resulting from the second reserved month and, so far, no effect resulting from the gender equality bonus. Possible interpretations of the results are that (1) reserved time may be more effective than an economic bonus, (2) change from low levels of use may be easier and (3) reforms may matter most when they are first introduced.