This study examines the relationship between the 2004 introduction of California’s paid family leave (PFL) program on food security. While previous work has shown that PFL laws affect employment, poverty and health, there is no evidence so far whether such policies affect food security levels of families after the birth of a child. Estimating difference-in-differences (DD) and triple difference (DDD) models, this is the first study to evaluate potential effects on food security, which could be a potential mechanism explaining improvements in health outcomes for both infants and mothers found in previous studies. My analysis shows that California’s PFL implementation reduced the incidence of very low household food security by 2.29 (DD) and 1.98 percentage points (DDD) in the year following a birth. I find that the effects are driven improvements in food security among children who are 1.41 percentage points less likely to be food insecure after the PFL introduction. Subgroup analysis shows that the effects are largest for low-income households, a group that has been shown to highly value PFL benefits, as well as for families with more than one child.

这项研究考察了2004年推出的加利福尼亚州带薪休假（PFL）计划中的粮食安全之间的关系。尽管先前的工作表明，PFL法律影响就业，贫困和健康，但迄今为止，尚无证据表明此类政策是否影响孩子出生后家庭的粮食安全水平。估计差异差异（DD）和三重差异（DDD）模型，这是第一项评估对粮食安全的潜在影响的研究，这可能是解释先前研究发现的改善婴儿和母亲健康结局的潜在机制。我的分析表明，加利福尼亚州实施PFL可以在出生后的第二年将极低的家庭粮食安全发生率降低2.29（DD）和1.98个百分点（DDD）。我发现，这种影响推动了儿童食品安全的改善，在实施PFL后，儿童的食品安全风险降低了1.41个百分点。亚组分析显示，这种影响对低收入家庭最大，对低收入家庭以及对一个孩子以上的家庭来说，PFL福利具有很高的价值。