Marco Alberto De Benedetto (University of Calabria)
Maria De Paola and Marco Francesconi
We estimate the labor-market effects of Italys statutory priority to work from home (WFH) granted to parents with children below age 12. Using population-wide administrative employer-employee data and a sharp age-based regression discontinuity design, we show that once remote work became operational during the pandemic, eligibility raised wages of mothers in high-WFH firms by 1.62.3 percent and increased paid weeks and days. No effects appear before the pandemic, in firms that never adopted WFH, in low-WFH environments, or for fathers. Impacts are concentrated in non-manual occupations and in technologically and managerially ready environmentssmaller and younger firms, stronger broadband infrastructure, and Northern Italy. The results show that flexibility rights improve attachment only where firms and local conditions can implement them.