Viktoria Kozek, PhD student, Department of Economics, Stockholm University. Photo: Private

Viktoria is a first-year doctoral student at the Department of Economics. She wrote the essay during her final year in the master’s programme.

Your essay is titled ”Money Talks: How Increased Reimbursement Rates Impact Parental Benefit Uptake.” Can you tell us what it’s about?

”I have analysed the effects of an increase in the reimbursement rates for the minimum level days on the uptake of parental leave days. I show that parents increased their uptake of minimum level days in response to the higher reimbursement rate. Women took more days than men as a result of the reform, but if you consider the relative difference in uptake between women and men, the effects were fairly similar. From a policy perspective, my essay emphasises that economic incentives can be an effective tool for increasing the utilisation of parental leave days.”

How did you choose your topic?

”I have always had a strong interest in labour market economics and welfare issues and chose to take the course Policy Analysis in Labour Economics. There, an interest in family issues and children’s welfare was also sparked. One of the assessments was to write a research proposal for a project that could be carried out as if we had access to realistic data. I then started exploring data available on the website of the Swedish Social Insurance Agency, and found a discontinuity in the pattern of uptake of minimum level days that I could link to a reform in parental insurance.”

What was your work process like?

”After presenting the research proposal in the course and receiving good feedback, I chose to continue with the project. I then contacted Peter Skogman Thoursie, who has social insurance issues as one of his research topics. I gained access to microdata early in the process and also contacted the Social Insurance Agency to obtain additional data. The majority of the spring semester was spent addressing various methodological challenges, an incredibly educational process largely thanks to Peter. But less enjoyable was the headache that came with trying to create nice tables and graphs… Overall, writing the thesis was both frustrating and challenging, but also rewarding and fun.

Text: Anneli Eriksson