Kjell Gunnar Salvanes

The role of parenthood on the gender gap among top earners

This research uses Norwegian registry data to study the effect of parenthood on the careers of high-achieving women. It finds the child earnings penalty is substantially larger for mothers with an MBA or law degree than for mothers with a STEM or medical degree. In recent decades women have outnumbered men in higher education and … Read more

Income Inequality and Mortality: A Norwegian Perspective

This paper uses Norwegian register data to examine the story behind income growth and people living longer in Norway over the last 70 years at both a municipal and individual level. It finds that the large gap in infant deaths between poorer and richer parts of the country largely closed in the late 1960s. However … Read more

Grandparents, moms, or dads? Why children of teen mothers do worse in life

We explore whether and why children born to teen mothers have worse outcomes later in life. Using Norwegian register data, we compare outcomes of children of sisters who have first births at different ages. We find that the causal effect of being a child of a teen mother is much smaller than that implied by … Read more