Does paid family leave save infant lives? Evidence from California's paid family leave program

Paid family leave (PFL) aims to help working parents balance their careers and responsibilities while also improving the well-being of infants. Using linked U.S. birth infant death data with a difference-in-differences framework, I find that 6-week PFL in California reduced post-neonatal mortality rate by 0.135- is, it saved approximately 339 lives. There were fewer deaths from health-related causes larger effects for infants married mothers boys. Additional checks placebo examinations indicate observed effect is not due contemporaneous shocks but rather causal.