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Coskun, Sena & Husnu C. Dalgic (2024): The emergence of procyclical fertility: The role of breadwinner women. In: Journal of monetary economics, Jg. 142, 2023-10-11. DOI:10.1016/j.jmoneco.2023.10.004

Abstract

"Die Fertilität in den USA weist ein zunehmend prozyklisches Muster auf. Wir argumentieren, dass dieses Muster dem Ernährerstatus von Frauen geschuldet ist: (i) der Anteil der Frauen am gesamten Familieneinkommen ist über die Zeit gestiegen; (ii) Frauen arbeiten mit größerer Wahrscheinlichkeit in relativ stabilen und antizyklischen Branchen, während Männer eher in volatilen und prozyklischen Branchen tätig sind. Dies führt zu einem antizyklischen Einkommensgefälle zwischen den Geschlechtern, da Frauen in Rezessionen zu Ernährerinnen werden, was einen Versicherungseffekt des Fraueneinkommens bewirkt. Unser quantitativer Rahmen besteht aus einem allgemeinen Gleichgewichts-OLG-Modell mit endogener Fertilität und Humankapital. Wir zeigen, dass die Veränderung der Zyklizität der Geschlechterbeschäftigung 38 bis 44 Prozent des Auftretens von prozyklischer Fertilität erklären kann. Unsere kontrafaktische Analyse zeigt, dass in einer Welt, in der Männer Krankenpfleger und Frauen Bauarbeiter werden, eine antizyklische Fertilität zu beobachten sein würde, allerdings auf Kosten einer geringeren Humankapitalakkumulation, da sich die Familien bei der Abwägung zwischen Qualität und Quantität stärker auf die Quantität konzentrieren." (Autorenreferat, IAB-Doku)

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Schneider, William, Megan Feely & Jeehae Kang (2024): Maternal Employment Patterns and the Risk for Child Maltreatment. In: Social Service Review, Jg. 98, H. 1, S. 34-92. DOI:10.1086/728457

Abstract

"This study examines the complex, nonlinear, and understudied relationship between maternal employment, employment patterns, and four types of child maltreatment; describes the employment status and often nonstandard employment patterns of high-risk mothers at three child developmental ages; and applies the results in the context of three theories used in extant research to understand the relationship between economic hardship and child maltreatment. Using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, we find that both too much and not enough paid employment are associated with increased risk for child maltreatment, neglect in particular. Our findings indicate that income-support programs tied to employment may be ineffective mechanisms for many families to balance time and money, key factors in the prevention of child maltreatment. As policy makers seek new approaches to prevent child maltreatment, scholars must understand and consider the employment patterns of at-risk mothers." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Chhaochharia, Vidhi, Mengqiao Du & Alexandra Niessen-Ruenzi (2022): Counter-stereotypical female role models and women's occupational choices. In: Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Jg. 196, S. 501-523. DOI:10.1016/j.jebo.2022.02.009

Abstract

"This paper examines the relation between counter-stereotypical female role models and women's labor supply and occupational choices. Using hand-collected data from Gallup surveys that cover more than 50 years, we create a direct measure of counter-stereotypical female role models based on the fraction of local survey respondents who state that they admire famous women in business, politics, or science. We show that admiring counter-stereotypical female role models is associated with more women participating in the labor market, working in male-dominated and STEM industries, and taking managerial positions, which eventually alleviates the gender pay gap." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku, © 2022 Elsevier) ((en))

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Gerber, Christine (2022): Gender and precarity in platform work: Old inequalities in the new world of work. In: New Technology, Work and Employment, Jg. 37, H. 2, S. 206-230. DOI:10.1111/ntwe.12233

Abstract

"Platform work creates a work model that is both a curse and a blessing for vulnerable labour market segments. Based on research on female precarity, the article expects that remote platform work—so-called crowdwork—could especially attract women who need to combine income and care responsibilities. This article investigates whether women experience more precarity on crowdwork platforms than men, and why their risks differ. It analyses data from a quantitative survey with crowdworkers in Germany and the United States. The results indicate higher precarity risks for women due to care work, which are also indirectly mediated via the employment status. The higher commodification of labour and weaker social infrastructure lead to generally greater precarity risks for platform workers in the United States. The high differences between women and men in Germany underline the gendered nature of labour market dualization and precarization as well as the traditional division of housework. Policy measures should address both platform work and these structural inequalities." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Behera, Sarthak & Divya Sadana (2021): Differing Labor Supply: A Study on the Role of Culture. (MPRA paper / University Library of Munich 110753), München, 41 S.

Abstract

"In this paper, we study the role of peoples' attitudes on their labor market behavior. Focusing within a household, we estimate how one's labor market decisions are dependent on their partner's labor market outcomes, and how these decisions are driven by their culture component. Historically, man has been associated as the primary earner in a family. We argue that culture might play a role in determining a person's labor market outcomes as it induces an aversion to the situation of when the wife earns more than the husband. We find that husbands increase their participation in the labor market if their wives earn more and this effect is even more prominent if they are from a country where people have the traditional view that man should be the primary bread-winner for the family. However, wives do not exhibit any such behavior. We argue that this irregularity is explained by the role that culture plays on forming labor market decisions. This result is important as it might contribute to the explanation of the slowdown in the convergence of the gender gap in the recent past." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Edelhoch, Marilyn, Cynthia Flynn & Qiduan Liu (2021): Impact of South Carolina's TANF Program on Earnings of New Entrants Before and During the Great Economic Recession. In: Journal of Social Policy, Jg. 50, H. 4, S. 871-890. DOI:10.1017/S0047279420000677

Abstract

"This study assesses the impact of South Carolina’s Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, Family Independence (FI), on the longitudinal earnings of three cohorts of new entrants who entered the study before, at the beginning of, and at the height of the 2007-2009 recession. Applicants who began the application process but did not enroll in TANF were propensity-score matched to entrants by background characteristics including pre-intervention earnings history, and served as the comparison group. We constructed a latent growth curve model to test whether earnings histories were similar for the program and comparison groups up until FI intake, to estimate program impact by comparing post-intake earnings of program participants to those of the comparison group, and to determine the statistical significance of cohort differences in program impact. The findings showed FI had a positive impact on the earnings of participants before the recession. The effect became weaker during the state’s period of rising unemployment, and disappeared during the worst economic recession in decades. This study demonstrates the usefulness of longitudinal administrative data, propensity score matching, and latent growth modeling techniques for evaluating the impact of program interventions." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Fernández-Kranz, Daniel & Jennifer Louise Roff (2021): The Effect of Alimony Reform on Married Women's Labor Supply: Evidence from the American Time Use Survey. (IZA discussion paper 14949), Bonn, 41 S.

Abstract

"Reforms that reduce alimony can affect married couples in two different ways. First, reduced alimony lowers the bargaining power of the payee, usually the wife. Second, reduced alimony lowers the incentives of wives to engage in the traditional male breadwinner model of household specialization. Using the American Time Use Survey and exploiting a series of recent reforms in several US states that reduced the entitlements of eligible spouses, we find that wives surprised by the reforms reacted by moving away from the traditional male breadwinner model of household specialization. We also find that highly educated women substituted work for time devoted to housework and childcare, while less educated wives substituted work for leisure and personal time. We find no effects for men. The fact that the reforms reduced fertility only among women with higher education suggests that the difference between them and less educated wives in the response to reduced alimony is due, at least in part, to differences in their preferences and costs for children. The estimated effects are larger among couples with a large difference in the earnings potential of spouses and are robust to several sensitivity tests." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Gangl, Selina & Martin Huber (2021): From homemakers to breadwinners? How mandatory kindergarten affects maternal labour market attachment. (arXiv papers), 50 S.

Abstract

"We analyse the effect of mandatory kindergarten attendance for four-year-old children on maternal labour supply in Switzerland by using two quasi-experiments. Firstly, we investigate a large administrative dataset and apply a non-parametric regression discontinuity design to evaluate the effect of the reform at the birthday cut-off for entering the kindergarten in the same versus in the following year. Secondly, we complement this analysis by exploiting spatial variation and staggered treatment implementation of the reform across cantons (administrative units in Switzerland) in a difference-in-differences approach based on a Swiss household survey. All in all, the results suggest that if anything, mandatory kindergarten increases the labour force attachment of mothers very moderately. The effects are driven by mothers earning less than the median annual work income and by older rather than younger mothers." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Grübener, Philipp, Dominik Sachs, Annika Bacher, Lukas Nord, Filip Rozsypal, Axelle Ferriere, Gaston Navarro & Oliko Vardishvili (2021): Essays in Quantitative Macroeconomics: Income, Inequality, Income Risk and Optimal Redistribution. Florenz, 191 S.

Abstract

"This thesis contains four independent essays in heterogeneous agent macroeconomics. They explore the sources of income inequality and income risk and study the optimal design of public redistribution and insurance. The first chapter, joint with Filip Rozsypal, studies the origins of idiosyncratic earnings risk in frictional labor markets, with a particular focus on the role of firms for worker earnings risk. First, using administrative matched employer-employee data from Denmark, we document key properties of the worker earnings growth distribution, the firm revenue growth distribution, and their joint distribution. The worker earnings and firm revenue growth distributions exhibit strong deviations from normality, in particular excess kurtosis, with many workers and firms experiencing very small changes to their earnings/revenues, but a significant minority experiencing very large changes. Large earnings losses are more likely for workers in firms with negative revenue growth, driven both by separations to unemployment and earnings losses on the job. Second, we develop a model framework consistent with the data, with four key features: i) frictional labor markets and on the job search to capture unemployment risk and wage growth through a job ladder, ii) multi-worker firms to capture gross and net worker flows, iii) risk averse workers such that earnings risk matters, and iv) contracting with two-sided limited commitment because earnings of job stayers are changing infrequently in the data. Third, we use the model to explore policies designed to mitigate earnings fluctuations. The second chapter, joint with Annika Bacher and Lukas Nord, studies one particular private insurance margin against individual income risk only available to couples, which is the so called added worker effect. Specifically, we study how this intra-household insurance against individual job loss through increased spousal labor market participation varies over the life cycle. We show in U.S. data that the added worker effect is much stronger for young than for old households. A stochastic life cycle model of two-member households with job search in a frictional labor market is capable of replicating this finding. The model suggests that a lower added worker effect for the old is driven primarily by better insurance through asset holdings. Human capital differences between employed young and old contribute to the difference but are quantitatively less important, while differences in job arrival rates play a limited role. In the third chapter, joint with Axelle Ferriere, Gaston Navarro, and Oliko Vardishvili, we study optimal redistribution, taking into account not just the large income and wealth inequality in the data, but also the distribution of income risk that is key in the first two chapters. The U.S. fiscal system redistributes through a rich set of taxes and transfers, the latter accounting for a large part of the income of the poor. Motivated by this, we study the optimal joint design of transfers and income taxes. Within a simple heterogeneous-household framework, we derive analytical results on the optimal relationship between transfers and tax progressivity. Higher transfers are associated with lower optimal income tax progressivity. Redistribution is achieved with generous transfers while efficiency is preserved via a lower progressivity of income taxes. As such, the optimal tax-and-transfer system features larger progressivity of average than of marginal tax rates. We then quantify the optimal tax-and-transfer system in a rich incomplete-market model with realistic distributions of income, wealth, and income risk. The model features a novel flexible functional form for progressive income taxes and means-tested transfers. Relative to the current U.S. fiscal system, the optimal policy consists of more generous means-tested transfers, which phase-out at a slower rate. These larger transfers are financed with higher tax rates, but the taxes are not more progressive than the current system. The fourth chapter, joint with Axelle Ferriere and Dominik Sachs, also studies optimal redistribution, but instead of considering a stationary environment it analyzes the dynamics of the equity-efficiency trade-off along the growth path. To do so, we incorporate the optimal income taxation problem into a state-of-the-art multi-sector structural change general equilibrium model with non-homothetic preferences. We identify two key opposing forces. First, long-run productivity growth allows households to shift their consumption expenditures away from necessities. This implies a reduction in the dispersion of marginal utilities, and therefore calls for a welfare state that declines along the growth path. Yet, economic growth is also systematically associated with an increase in the skill premium, which raises inequality and the desire to redistribute. We quantitatively analyze these opposing forces for two countries: the U.S. from 1950 to 2010, and China from 1989 to 2009. Optimal redistribution decreases at early stages of development, as the role of non-homotheticities prevails. At later stages of development the rising income inequality dominates and the welfare state should become more generous." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Kowalewska, Helen & Agnese Vitali (2021): Breadwinning or on the breadline? Female breadwinners' economic characteristics across 20 welfare states. In: Journal of European Social Policy, Jg. 31, H. 2, S. 125-142. DOI:10.1177/0958928720971094

Abstract

"In analysing heterosexual couples’ work–family arrangements over time and space, the comparative social policy literature has settled on the framework of the ‘male-breadwinner’ versus the ‘dual-earner’ family. Yet, in assuming men in couple-families are (full-time) employed, this framework overlooks another work–family arrangement, which is the ‘female-breadwinner’ couple. Including female-breadwinner couples matters because of their growing prevalence and, as our analysis shows, greater economic vulnerability. We perform descriptive and regression analyses of Luxembourg Income Study microdata to compare household incomes for female-breadwinner couples and other couple-types across 20 industrialized countries. We then consider how labour earnings and benefit incomes vary for ‘pure’ breadwinner couples – comprising one wage-earner and one inactive/unemployed partner – according to the gender of the breadwinner. We find that pure female breadwinners have lower average individual earnings than male breadwinners, even after controlling for sociodemographic characteristics and occupational and working-time differences. Furthermore, welfare systems across most countries are not working hard enough to compensate for the female breadwinner earnings penalty, including in social-democratic countries. Once controls are included in our regression models, it never happens that pure female breadwinners have higher disposable household incomes than pure male breadwinners. Thus, our study adds to a growing body of evidence showing that female-breadwinner families sit at the intersection of multiple disadvantages. In turn, these couples offer comparative scholars of the welfare state an ‘acid test’ case study for how effectively families are protected from social risk. Our results additionally highlight how cross-national differences in the female breadwinner income disadvantage do not fit neatly with established welfare typologies, suggesting that other factors – in particular, labour market characteristics and the economic cycle – are also at play." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Kuehnle, Daniel, Michael Oberfichtner & Kerstin Ostermann (2021): Revisiting Gender Identity and Relative Income within Households - A cautionary tale on the potential pitfalls of density estimators. In: Journal of Applied Econometrics, Jg. 36, H. 7, S. 1065-1073., 2021-04-13. DOI:10.1002/jae.2853

Abstract

"We show that Bertrand et al.’s (QJE 2015) finding of a sharp drop in the relative income distribution within married couples at the point where wives start to earn more than their husbands is unstable across different estimation procedures and varies across contexts. We apply the estimators by McCrary (JoE, 2008, McC) and Cattaneo et al. (JASA, 2020, CJM) to administrative data from the US and Germany and compare their performance in a simulation. Large bins cause McC to substantially over-reject the null hypothesis, and mass points close to the potential discontinuity affect McC more than CJM." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku, Published by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons) ((en))

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Nassal, Lea & Marie Paul (2021): Couples, Careers, and Spatial Mobility. (Beiträge zur Jahrestagung des Vereins für Socialpolitik 2021: Climate Economics), Kiel, 41 S.

Abstract

"We examine the employment and earnings effects of long-distance moves for married couples based on a new administrative data set from Germany. Using difference-in-difference propensity score matching, we estimate the average treatment effect for moving couples while precisely accounting for pre-move employment dynamics. Our results show that men’s earnings increase significantly after the move, while women suffer large losses in the first years after the move. We shed light on potential mechanisms and show that spouses’ earnings response is driven by men moving to larger, higher paying establishments, whereas women move to smaller, lower paying establishments. We explore effect heterogeneity by spouses’ relative earnings before the move and find evidence for gender asymmetries." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Wikle, Jocelyn & Riley Wilson (2021): Access to Head Start and Maternal Labor Supply: Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Evidence. (IZA discussion paper 14880), Bonn, 89 S.

Abstract

"We explore how access to Head Start impacts maternal labor supply. By relaxing child care constraints, public preschool options like Head Start might lead mothers to reallocate time between employment, child care, and other activities. Using the 1990s enrollment and funding expansions and the 2002 Head Start Impact Study randomized control trial, we show that Head Start increases short-run employment and wage earnings of single mothers. The increase in labor supply does not appear to reduce quality parent-child interactions. Viewing Head Start as a bundle of family-level treatments can shed new light on the impacts of the program beyond children." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Averkamp, Dorothée, Christian Bredemeier & Falko Juessen (2020): Decomposing Gender Wage Gaps. A Family Economics Perspective. (IZA discussion paper 13601), Bonn, 26 S.

Abstract

"We show that parts of the unexplained wage gap in standard Oaxaca-Blinder decompositions result from the neglect of the role played by the family for individual wages. We present a simple model of dual-earner households facing a trade-off regarding whose career to promote and show analytically that the standard Oaxaca-Blinder approach overestimates the degree of pay discrimination. Unbiased decompositions can be obtained when the Oaxaca-Blinder wage equation is augmented by the characteristics of the individual’s partner. In an empirical application, we find that this extended decomposition explains considerably larger shares of the gender wage gap than does the standard decomposition." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Bautista Lacambra, Sergio (2020): Household labor supply: Collective results for certain developed countries. (MPRA paper / University Library of Munich 101514), München, 29 S.

Abstract

"This paper shows some empirical results for the collective labor supply of households in thirteen developed countries (USA, UK, Australia, Canada, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Russia, Japan, and China). I have reviewed a significant number of papers in order to aggregate information for future investigations. Among the conclusions obtained are a gender differential in labor supply when the household includes a child, and a greater level of female household production. This analysis shows that gender differences observed in other literature persist throughout the consulted literature." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Braga, Breno & Olga Malkova (2020): Hope for the family: The effects of college costs on maternal labor supply. (IZA discussion paper 12958), Bonn, 56 S.

Abstract

"We examine the effects of college costs on the labor supply of mothers. Exploiting changes in college costs after the roll-out of nine generous state merit aid programs from 1993 to 2004, we analyze the difference in the labor supply of mothers before and after these programs were implemented. Mothers of college-age children decreased their annual hours of work after the start of a generous merit aid program, while fathers did not adjust their labor supply. There is no strong evidence that mothers changed their employment status, as most of the decrease in hours of work happened among employed mothers. Mothers of college-going children are entirely responsible for the decline in hours of work, where mothers of children who did not go to college experienced no change in hours of work. A 10 percent increase in spending on merit aid programs per undergraduate student leads to a 1.3 percent decline in hours of work among mothers of college-going children. The decline in labor supply is mainly due to adjustments among married, highly educated, and white mothers." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Carlson, Matthew W. & Jason D. Hans (2020): Maximizing benefits and minimizing impacts: Dual-earner couples' perceived division of household labor decision-making process. In: Journal of family studies, Jg. 26, H. 2, S. 208-225. DOI:10.1080/13229400.2017.1367712

Abstract

"Researchers have thoroughly documented the various factors that influence couples' division of household labor. Although numerous approaches have been taken to explain these factors that influence the division of household labor, perceptions of the decision-making process of dividing household labor within a marriage is seldom considered and is therefore the focus of this study. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 20 heterosexual, dual-earner couples. Data were analyzed with grounded theory methodology. Findings included that couples viewed themselves as first attempting to divide household labor in ways that they perceived as being the most beneficial for them as a couple. When issues arose with a particular task or arrangement, or with the division of labor more generally, they made adjustments intended to minimize the negative impact of those issues. Findings are contextualized within the major theories surrounding quantitative data on household labor (i.e. time availability, relative resources, and gender ideology perspectives). Implications for family researchers, educators, and practitioners are discussed." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Flèche, Sarah, Anthony Lepinteur & Nattavudh Powdthavee (2020): Gender norms, fairness and relative working hours within households. In: Labour Economics, Jg. 65. DOI:10.1016/j.labeco.2020.101866

Abstract

"Using data in the United States, UK and Germany, we show that women whose working hours exceed those of their male partners report lower life satisfaction on average. By contrast, men do not report lower life satisfaction from working more hours than their female partners. An analysis of possible mechanisms shows that in couples where the woman works more hours than the man, women do not spend significantly less time doing household chores. Women with egalitarian ideologies are likely to perceive this unequal division of labour as unfair, ultimately reducing their life satisfaction." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku, © 2020 Elsevier) ((en))

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Guner, Nezih, Yuliya Kulikova & Arnau Valladares-Esteban (2020): Does the added worker effect matter? (IZA discussion paper 12923), Bonn, 32 S.

Abstract

"The added worker effect (AWE) measures the entry of individuals into the labor force due to their partners’ job loss. We propose a new method to calculate the AWE, which allows us to estimate its effect on any labor market outcome. We show that the AWE reduces the fraction of households with two non-employed members. The AWE also accounts for why women’s employment is less cyclical and more symmetric compared to men. In recessions, while some women lose their employment, others enter the labor market and find jobs. This keeps the female employment relatively stable." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Mandel, Hadas, Amit Lazarus & Maayan Shaby (2020): Economic Exchange or Gender Identities? Housework Division and Wives' Economic Dependency in Different Contexts. In: European Sociological Review, Jg. 36, H. 6, S. 831-851. DOI:10.1093/esr/jcaa023

Abstract

"This paper explores cross-country variation in the relationship between division of housework and wives' relative economic contribution. Using ISSP 2012 data from 19 countries, we examined the effect of two contextual factors: women's employment rates, which we link to economic exchange theories; and gender ideology context, which we link to cultural theories. In line with economic-based theories, economic exchange between housework and paid work occurs in all countries—but only in households which follow normative gender roles. However, and consistent with the cultural-based theory of 'doing gender', wives undertake more housework than their spouses in all countries—even if they are the main or sole breadwinners. This universal gendered division of housework is significantly more salient in more conservative countries; as the context turns more conservative, the gender gap becomes more pronounced, and the relationship between paid and unpaid work further removed from the economic logic. In gender egalitarian societies, in contrast, women have more power in negotiating housework responsibilities in non-normative gender role households. In contrast to gender ideology, the cross-country variations in women's employment did not follow the expectations that derive from the economic exchange theory." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Sydra, Joanna (2020): Spousal relative income and male psychological distress. In: Personality and social psychology bulletin, Jg. 46, H. 6, S. 976-992. DOI:10.1177/0146167219883611

Abstract

"Using Panel Study of Income Dynamics 2001-2015 dataset (6,035 households, 19,688 observations), this study takes a new approach to investigating the relationship between wife's relative income and husband's psychological distress, and finds it to be significantly U-shaped. Controlling for total household income, predicted male psychological distress reaches a minimum at a point where wives make 40% of total household income and proceeds to increase, to reach highest level when men are entirely economically dependent on their wives. These results reflect the stress associated with being the sole breadwinner, and more significantly, with gender norm deviance due to husbands being outearned by their wives. Interestingly, the relationship between wife's relative income and husband's psychological distress is not found among couples where wives outearned husbands at the beginning of their marriage pointing to importance of marital selection. Finally, patterns reported by wives are not as pronouncedly U-shaped as those reported by husbands." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Bloome, Deirdre, Derek Burk & Leslie McCall (2019): Economic Self-Reliance and Gender Inequality between U.S. Men and Women. 1970-2010. In: American Journal of Sociology, Jg. 124, H. 5, S. 1413-1467. DOI:10.1086/702278

Abstract

"Women have become increasingly economically self-reliant, depending more on paid employment for their positions in the income distribution than in the past. We know little about what happened to men, however, because most prior research restricts changes in self-reliance to be 'zero-sum,' with women's changes necessitating opposite and proportionate changes among men. This article introduces a measure that allows asymmetric changes and also incorporates multiple population subgroups and income sources beyond couples' labor earnings. Using Current Population Survey data, the authors find that women's self-reliance increased dramatically, as expected, but men's declined only slightly. The authors decompose these trends into changes in family structure and redistribution, which increased and decreased self-reliance, respectively, for men and women, though more for women. Labor market shifts, by contrast, were asymmetric and opposing, reducing men's self-reliance much less than they increased women's. The authors' approach opens opportunities for new insight into both gender inequality and the income attainment process." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Buera, Francisco J., Joseph P. Kaboski & Min Qiang Zhao (2019): The rise of services. The role of skills, scale, and female labor supply. In: Journal of Human Capital, Jg. 13, H. 2, S. 157-187. DOI:10.1086/702926

Abstract

"This paper provides a quantitative analysis of the growth in the service share in the United States. We model households that make decisions on home and market production of services that vary in their skill intensity at any point in time and vary in their optimal scale over time. We also allow for skill- and sector-biased technology progress. The benchmark model fully accounts for the rise in the service share, with the rising scale of services, rising demand for skill-intensive output, and skill-biased technical change all playing dominant roles. Furthermore, the model with multiperson households confirms that the essential findings of our benchmark model are robust to demographic considerations. It can explain two-thirds of the increase in female labor supply, which also plays a role in services growth." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Conroy, Tessa (2019): The kids are alright: working women, schedule flexibility and childcare. In: Regional Studies. Journal of the Regional Studies Association, Jg. 53, H. 2, S. 261-271. DOI:10.1080/00343404.2018.1462478

Abstract

"This paper tests the effects of children and childcare on women's employment and entrepreneurial outcomes at the county level for the United States. Given that policies and economic development strategies are often implemented across local and regional jurisdictions, this regional study contributes to the literature by considering access to childcare in relation to locally aggregated female labour market outcomes by sector. The results, which address potential endogeneity, indicate that young children and childcare affect female employment differently depending on the sector. The results are consistent with women choosing the public sector and self-employment over the private sector to accommodate the demands of childrearing." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Cortés, Patricia & Jessica Pan (2019): When time binds: Substitutes for household production, returns to working long hours, and the skilled gender wage gap. In: Journal of labor economics, Jg. 37, H. 2, S. 351-398. DOI:10.1086/700185

Abstract

"We provide evidence that constraints that prevent highly-skilled women from working long hours hinder gender pay equality. We show that relaxing one such constraint by increasing the supply of substitutes for household production - proxied by intercity variation in predicted low-skilled immigration - increases the relative earnings of women in occupations that disproportionately reward overwork. Lowskilled immigration inflows induce young women to enter occupations with higher returns to overwork and shift women toward higher quantiles of the male wage distribution. The share of women in the top decile remains unaffected, suggesting that other barriers prevent women from reaching the very top." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Le, Nga, Wim Groot, Sonila M. Tomini & Florian Tomini (2019): Effects of health insurance on labour supply. A systematic review. In: International journal of manpower, Jg. 40, H. 4, S. 717-767. DOI:10.1108/IJM-02-2018-0038

Abstract

"Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide a systematic review of empirical evidence on the labour market effects of health insurance from the supply side.
Design/methodology/approach
The study covers the largest peer-reviewed and working paper databases for labour economics and health studies. These include Web of Science, Google Scholar, Pubmed and the most popular economics working paper sources such as NBER, ECONSTOR, IDEAS, IZA, SSRN, World Bank Working Paper Series. The authors follow the PRISMA 2009 protocol for systematic reviews.
Findings
The collection includes 63 studies. The outcomes of interest are the number of hours worked, the probability of employment, self-employment and the level of economic formalisation. The authors find that the current literature is vastly concentrated on the USA. Spousal coverage in the USA is associated with reduced labour supply of secondary earners. The effect of Medicaid in the USA on the labour supply of its recipients is ambiguous. The employment-coverage link is an important determinant of the labour supply of people with health problems and self-employment decisions. Universal coverage may create either an incentive or a disincentive to work depending on the design of the system. Finally, evidence on the relationship between health insurance and the level of economic formalisation in developing countries is fragmented and limited.
Practical implications
This study reviews the existing literature on the labour market effects of health insurance from the supply side. The authors find a large knowledge gap in emerging economies where health coverage is expanding. The authors also highlight important literature gaps that need to be filled in different themes of the topic.
Originality/value
This is the first systematic review on the topic which is becoming increasingly relevant for policy makers in developing countries where health coverage is expanding." (Author's abstract, © Emerald Group) ((en))

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Manchester, Colleen Flaherty, Lisa M. Leslie & Patricia C. Dahm (2019): Bringing home the bacon: The relationships among breadwinner role, performance, and pay. In: Industrial relations, Jg. 58, H. 1, S. 46-85. DOI:10.1111/irel.12225

Abstract

"We evaluate the relationships among breadwinner role, performance, and pay. Differences in pay are present despite limited differences in performance. We find a pay premium for primary-breadwinner employees across gender, yet a pay penalty for secondary-breadwinners employees only for women, suggesting an asymmetric relationship among breadwinner role, gender, and pay." (Author's abstract, Published by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons) ((en))

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Rogerson, Richard & Johanna Wallenius (2019): Household time use among older couples: Evidence and implications for labor supply parameters. In: The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Jg. 134, H. 2, S. 1079-1120. DOI:10.1093/qje/qjy032

Abstract

"Using the Consumption Activities Mail Survey (CAMS) module in the HRS, we document how individual time allocations change when one or more household members transitions from full-time work to not working. We find that the ratio of home production to leisure time is approximately constant for both family members. Using a model of household labor supply to understand the implications of this finding, we conclude that the elasticity of substitution between the leisure of the two members is quite large. This elasticity plays a key role in models of household labor supply and is important for understanding how changes in relative wages and taxes affect household labor supply." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Bick, Alexander, Bettina Brüggemann, Nicola Fuchs-Schündeln & Hannah Paule-Paludkiewicz (2018): Long-term changes in married couples' labor supply and taxes. Evidence from the US and Europe since the 1980s. (IZA discussion paper 11824), Bonn, 35 S.

Abstract

"We document the time-series of employment rates and hours worked per employed by married couples in the US and seven European countries (Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, and the UK) from the early 1980s through 2016. Relying on a model of joint household labor supply decisions, we quantitatively analyze the role of nonlinear labor income taxes for explaining the evolution of hours worked of married couples over time, using as inputs the full country- and year-specific statutory labor income tax codes. We further evaluate the role of consumption taxes, gender and educational wage premia, and the educational composition. The model is quite successful in replicating the time series behavior of hours worked per employed married woman, with labor income taxes being the key driving force. It does however capture only part of the secular increase in married women's employment rates in the 1980s and early 1990s, suggesting an important role for factors not considered in this paper. We will make the non-linear tax codes used as an input into the analysis available as a user-friendly and easily integrable set of Matlab codes." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Binder, Ariel J. & David Lam (2018): Is there a male breadwinner norm? The hazards of inferring preferences from marriage market outcomes. (IZA discussion paper 11693), Bonn, 49 S.

Abstract

"Spousal characteristics such as age, height, and earnings are often used in social science research to infer social preferences. For example, a 'male taller' norm has been inferred from the fact that fewer wives are taller than their husbands than would occur with random matching. The large proportion of husbands out-earning their wives has similarly been cited as evidence for a 'male breadwinner' norm. This paper argues that it is difficult and potentially misleading to infer social preferences about an attribute from observed marital sorting on that attribute. We show that positive assortative matching on an attribute is consistent with a wide variety of underlying preferences, including 'female taller' or 'female breadwinner' norms. Given prevailing gender gaps in height and earnings, positive sorting implies it will be rare for women to be taller than, or earn more than, their husbands - even if there is no underlying preference for shorter or lowerearning wives. In an empirical application, we show that simulations which sort couples positively on permanent earnings can largely replicate the observed distribution of spousal earnings differences in US Census data. Further, we show that an apparent sharp drop in the distribution function at the point where the wife begins to out-earn the husband results from a mass of couples earning identical incomes, a mass which we argue is not evidence of a norm for higher-earning husbands." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Choi, Sekyu & Arnau Valladares-Esteban (2018): The marriage unemployment gap. In: The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, Jg. 18, H. 1, S. 1-14. DOI:10.1515/bejm-2016-0060

Abstract

"In this paper we document that married individuals face a lower unemployment rate than their single counterparts. We refer to this phenomenon as the marriage unemployment gap. Despite dramatic demographic changes in the labor market over the last decades, this gap has been remarkably stable both for men and women. Using a flow-decomposition exercise, we assess which transition probabilities (across labor force states) are behind this phenomenon: For men, the main driver is the higher job losing probabilities faced by single workers. For females, the participation margin also plays a crucial role." (Author's abstract, © De Gruyter) ((en))

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Depew, Briggs & Joseph Price (2018): Marriage and the economic status of women with children. In: Review of Economics of the Household, Jg. 16, H. 4, S. 1049-1061. DOI:10.1007/s11150-017-9395-8

Abstract

"Marriage is positively correlated with income, and women with children are much less likely to be in poverty if they are married. Selection into marriage makes it difficult to assess whether these correlations represent a causal effect of marriage. One instrument for marriage proposed in past research is the gender of a woman's first child. We find that women who have a boy first are about 0.33 percentage points more likely to be married at any point in time. This effect operates through both increasing the probability that unmarried mothers marry the child's father and reducing the probability of divorce. We also find that women whose first child is a boy experience higher levels of family income and are less likely to receive welfare income, be below the poverty line, and receive food stamps. Estimates using child gender as an instrumental variable for marriage suggest that marriage plays a large causal role in improving the economic well-being of women with children and that these effects are largest among women at the lower end of the income distribution." (Author's abstract, © Springer-Verlag) ((en))

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Goldin, Claudia & Lawrence F. Katz (Hrsg.) (2018): Women working longer. Increased employment at older ages. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 304 S.

Abstract

"Today, more American women than ever before stay in the workforce into their sixties and seventies. This trend emerged in the 1980s, and has persisted during the past three decades, despite substantial changes in macroeconomic conditions. Why is this so? Today's older American women work full-time jobs at greater rates than women in other developed countries. In Women Working Longer, editors Claudia Goldin and Lawrence F. Katz assemble new research that presents fresh insights on the phenomenon of working longer. Their findings suggest that education and work experience earlier in life are connected to women's later-in-life work. Other contributors to the volume investigate additional factors that may play a role in late-life labor supply, such as marital disruption, household finances, and access to retirement benefits. A pioneering study of recent trends in older women's labor force participation, this collection offers insights valuable to a wide array of social scientists, employers, and policy makers." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))
Contents:
I. Transitions over the Life Cycle
1. Claudia Goldin and Lawrence F. Katz: Women Working Longer: Facts and Some Explanations
2. Nicole Maestas: The Return to Work and Women's Employment Decisions
3. Joanna N. Lahey: Understanding Why Black Women Are Not Working Longer
II. Family Matters: Caregiving, Marriage, and Divorce
4. Claudia Olivetti and Dana Rotz: Changes in Marriage and Divorce as Drivers of Employment and Retirement of Older Women
5. Sean Fahle and Kathleen McGarry: Women Working Longer: Labor Market Implications of Providing Family Care
III. Financial Considerations: Resources, Pensions, and Social Security
6. Annamaria Lusardi and Olivia S. Mitchell: Older Women's Labor Market Attachment, Retirement Planning, and Household Debt
7. Maria D. Fitzpatrick: Teaching, Teachers' Pensions, and Retirement across Recent Cohorts of College-Graduate Women
8. Alexander Gelber, Adam Isen, and Jae Song: The Role of Social Security Benefits in the Initial Increase of Older Women's Employment: Evidence from the Social Security Notch
9. C. Adam Bee and Joshua Mitchell: The Hidden Resources of Women Working Longer: Evidence from Linked Survey-Administrative Data

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Herbst, Chris M. (2018): The impact of quality rating and improvement systems on families' child care choices and the supply of child care labor. In: Labour economics, Jg. 54, H. October, S. 172-190. DOI:10.1016/j.labeco.2018.08.007

Abstract

"Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS) are increasingly deployed by U.S. states to monitor and improve the quality of non-parental child care settings. By making information on program quality accessible to the public, QRIS attempts to alter parental preferences for quality-related attributes and encourage competition between providers. This paper draws on a variety of datasets to empirically characterize the way in which families and providers respond to the enactment of QRIS. Specifically, it exploits the differential timing in states' QRIS roll-out to examine two sets of outcomes: (i) families' child care choices and maternal employment and (ii) the supply and compensation of child care labor. Estimates from difference-in-differences models reveal several noteworthy findings. First, although QRIS induces families to shift from parental to non-parental care, economically disadvantaged families are more likely to use informal care, while their advantaged counterparts are more likely to use formal care. Second, QRIS increases the supply of high-skilled labor, particularly within the center-based sector. Third, all but the most highly-skilled child care workers experience rising compensation levels but also greater turnover. Finally, states that administer a wage compensation program alongside their QRIS experience larger increases in child care supply and compensation as well as lower turnover rates than states operating a QRIS in isolation." (Author's abstract, © 2018 Elsevier) ((en))

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Hu, Yang & Deniz Yucel (2018): What Fairness? Gendered Division of Housework and Family Life Satisfaction across 30 Countries. In: European Sociological Review, Jg. 34, H. 1, S. 92-105. DOI:10.1093/esr/jcx085

Abstract

"This article sheds new light on the role played by perceived fairness in configuring the relationship between gendered housework division and women's family life satisfaction across 30 countries. This is achieved by distinguishing and comparing two major dimensions of women's fairness comparison -- inter-gender relational comparison between partners and intra-gender referential comparison with other women from the same society. Analysing data from the 2012 International Social Survey Programme, we find that women's family life satisfaction is adversely affected by both a lack of relational fairness and unfavourable referential comparison, which operate independently of each other. Supporting the 'self-serving' theory, women are found to rely more on one dimension of fairness comparison to assess their family life satisfaction when they compare unfavourably rather than favourably in the other dimension. Country-level gender equality positively predicts the strength of the association between relational fairness and family life satisfaction. However, it does not seem to moderate the influence of referential comparison on family life satisfaction. In light of these results, scholars are urged to consider the perceived fairness of housework division as a plural construct, and to promulgate gender equality in multiple dimensions -- addressing not just inter-gender (in)equity but also intra-gender (in)equality -- to move the gender revolution forward." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Kolpashnikova, Kamila (2018): American househusbands: New time use evidence of gender display, 2003-2016. In: Social indicators research, Jg. 140, H. 3, S. 1259-1277. DOI:10.1007/s11205-017-1813-z

Abstract

"The traditional gendered division of household labor, where women did the bulk of all domestic labor, is eroding. The literature on housework, however, does not discuss the ways how to test for the non-traditional gender performances. Using the American Time Use Survey (2003-2016), the present study fills in this research gap and re-tests the relationship between relative earnings and the performance of housework. The analysis of women's time spent on domestic work shows that the traditional gender display explanation still applies to women's participation in routine tasks such as cooking and cleaning. Thus, breadwinning wives display gender neutralizing behavior and 'do' gender. On the other hand, American men show non-normative gender behavior in cooking and cleaning, but not in maintenance, where they still 'do' gender. This paper unveils a persistent traditional gender performance of women in housework and a new pattern for men's involvement in indoor routine housework." (Author's abstract, © Springer-Verlag) ((en))

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Lubotsky, Darren & Javaeria A. Qureshi (2018): Assessing the smooth rise in mothers' employment as children age. In: Journal of Human Capital, Jg. 12, H. 4, S. 604-639. DOI:10.1086/700077

Abstract

"We study the trajectory of maternal employment as children age and assess the factors underlying the smooth increase in mothers' employment as their youngest child ages. Our results indicate that the rising employment profile is largely not associated with falling child care costs, changes in nonlabor income, or marital dissolution as children age. Differences in educational attainment and wage opportunities are related to some of the increase in employment when children are under 4 years old but do not explain any after that age. We discuss explanations for the rising pattern of mothers' employment that might be consistent with our results." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Maestas, Nicole (2018): The return to work and women's employment decisions. (NBER working paper 24429), Cambrige, Mass., 40 S. DOI:10.3386/w24429

Abstract

"It is well documented that individuals in couples tend to retire around the same time. But because women tend to marry older men, this means many married women retire at younger ages than their husbands. This fact is somewhat at odds with lifecycle theory that suggests women might otherwise retire at later ages than men because they have longer life expectancies, and often have had shorter careers on account of childrearing. As a result, the opportunity cost of retirement - in terms of foregone potential earnings and accruals to Social Security wealth - may be larger for married women than for their husbands. Using the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), I find evidence that the returns to additional work beyond mid-life are greater for married women than for married men. The potential gain in Social Security wealth alone is enough to place married women on nearly equal footing with married men in terms of Social Security wealth at age 70." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Park, Seonyoung (2018): A structural explanation of recent changes in life-cycle labor supply and fertility behavior of married women in the United States. In: European Economic Review, Jg. 102, H. February, S. 129-168. DOI:10.1016/j.euroecorev.2017.11.006

Abstract

"This study documents and explains important changes in the life-cycle labor supply and fertility behavior of married women in the United States from the 1950s to more recent cohorts. The younger cohorts, relative to the 1950s, supply more labor at earlier stages of the life-cycle, delay motherhood to later stages without reducing the fertility rate, and upon childbearing, show a greater tendency to stay out of the labor force. In a life-cycle model for married couples in which a household makes decisions on fertility as well as labor supply, consumption, and savings, all the behavioral changes are jointly and quantitatively explained by a combination of changes in various labor supply/fertility determinants, with the increased returns (penalties) to work (non-work) experience being the dominant contributor. The results survive a series of robustness tests, including endogenizing education choice and assortative marriage." (Author's abstract, © 2017 Elsevier) ((en))

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Qian, Yue (2018): Educational Assortative Mating and Income Dynamics in Couples. A Longitudinal Dyadic Perspective. In: Journal of Marriage and Family, Jg. 80, H. 3, S. 607-621. DOI:10.1111/jomf.12470

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Wu, Chunzan & Dirk Krueger (2018): How much consumption insurance in bewley models with endogenous family labor supply? (NBER working paper 24472), Cambrige, Mass., 59 S. DOI:10.3386/w24472

Abstract

"We show that a calibrated life-cycle two-earner household model with endogenous labor supply can rationalize the extent of consumption insurance against shocks to male and female wages, as estimated empirically by Blundell, Pistaferri and Saporta-Eksten (2016) in U.S. data. With additively separable preferences, 43% of male and 23% of female permanent wage shocks pass through to consumption, compared to the empirical estimates of 34% and 20%. With non-separable preferences the model predicts more consumption insurance, with pass-through rates of 29% and 16%. Most of the consumption insurance against permanent male wage shocks is provided through the labor supply response of the female earner." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Yang, Tzu-Ting (2018): Family labor supply and the timing of cash transfers. Evidence from the Earned Income Tax Credit. In: The Journal of Human Resources, Jg. 53, H. 2, S. 445-473. DOI:10.3368/jhr.53.2.0115-6857R1

Abstract

"This paper exploits the unique disbursement timing and benefit rules of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) to provide new evidence on how families adjust their labor supply in response to receiving anticipated cash transfers. I find that income seasonality caused by EITC receipt leads to changes in the intra-year labor supply patterns of married women. On average, receiving a $1,000 payment significantly reduces the proportion of married women who work, by 1.3 percentage points, in the month when the EITC is received. Additionally, this labor supply response is mainly driven by those who are secondary earners or liquidity-constrained." (Author's abstract, © the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System) ((en))

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Aisenbrey, Silke & Anette Fasang (2017): The interplay of work and family trajectories over the life course. Germany and the United States in comparison. In: American Journal of Sociology, Jg. 122, H. 5, S. 1448-1484. DOI:10.1086/691128

Abstract

"This article uses sequence analysis to examine how gender inequality in work-family trajectories unfolds from early adulthood until middle age in two different welfare state contexts. Results based on the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth and the German National Education Panel Study demonstrate that in Germany, all work-family trajectories are highly gender-specific irrespective of social class. In contrast, patterns of work-family interplay across the life course in the United States are, overall, less gendered, but they differ widely by social class. In fact, work-family patterns characterized by high occupational prestige are fairly equally accessible for men and women. However, women are far more likely than men to experience the joint occurrence of single parenthood and unstable low-prestige work careers in the United States. The authors contribute to the literature by bringing in a longitudinal, process-oriented life course perspective and conceptualizing work-family trajectories as interlocked, multidimensional processes." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Altintas, Evrim & Oriel Sullivan (2017): Trends in fathers' contribution to housework and childcare under different welfare policy regimes. In: Social Politics, Jg. 24, H. 1, S. 81-108. DOI:10.1093/sp/jxw007

Abstract

"This article brings up to date welfare regime differences in the time fathers spend on childcare and core housework, using Multinational Time Use Study data (1971 - 2010) from fifteen countries. Although Nordic fathers continue to set the bar, the results provide some support for the idea of a catch-up in core housework among Southern regime fathers. The results also suggest an increasing polarization in Liberal countries, whereby fathers who were meaningfully involved in family life were increasingly likely to spend more time doing core housework and, particularly, childcare. Fathers living in Corporatist countries have been least responsive to change." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Hryshko, Dmytro, Chinhui Juhn & Kristin McCue (2017): Trends in earnings inequality and earnings instability among U.S. couples: How important is assortative matching? In: Labour economics, Jg. 48, H. October, S. 168-182. DOI:10.1016/j.labeco.2017.08.006

Abstract

"We examine changes in inequality and instability of the combined earnings of married couples over the 1980 - 2009 period using Social Security earnings data matched to Survey of Income and Program Participation panels. Relative to male earnings inequality, the inequality of couples' earnings is both lower in levels and rises by a smaller amount. We also find that couples' earnings instability is lower in levels compared to male earnings instability and actually declines in these data. While wives' earnings played an important role in dampening the rise in inequality and year-to-year variation in resources at the family level, we find that marital sorting and coordination of labor supply decisions at the family level played a minor role. Comparing actual couples to randomly paired simulated couples, we find very similar trends in earnings inequality and instability." (Author's abstract, © 2017 Elsevier) ((en))

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Kwon, Jinwoo & Andrea Hetling (2017): Moving in and out of welfare and work: The influence of regional socioeconomic circumstances on economic disconnection among low-income single mothers. In: Economic Development Quarterly, Jg. 31, H. 4, S. 326-341. DOI:10.1177/0891242417730607

Abstract

"An increasing proportion of low-income single mothers are experiencing periods of economic disconnection, defined as receiving no cash income from welfare or work. Most research on disconnection has focused on personal attributes as risk factors for experiencing disconnection at a static point in time. This study adopts a dynamic perspective and broadens the existing set of determinants by adding regional socioeconomic characteristics to explain changes in status. Results from multivariate survival analyses demonstrate that residence in a disadvantaged county is associated with an increased risk of becoming disconnected. State-level policies, as opposed to county socioeconomic characteristics, have stronger influences on movements out of disconnection. The findings from the analyses provide a base for policy discussions about helping this vulnerable population." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Ochsenfeld, Fabian (2017): The gender income gap and the role of family formation revisited. A replication of Bobbitt-Zeher (2007). In: Journal for labour market research, Jg. 50, H. 1, S. 131-141., 2017-03-09. DOI:10.1007/s12651-017-0225-5

Abstract

"Dieser Beitrag berichtet die Ergebnisse einer Replikation von Bobbitt-Zehers 2007 erschienenem Aufsatz 'The Gender Income Gap and the Role of Education'. Modelle, welche die ursprünglichen Spezifikationen nachbilden, replizieren (im Großen und Ganzen) die ursprünglichen Ergebnisse. Modelle, die hingegen Bobbitt-Zehers theoretischen Ausführungen bezüglich dem geschlechtsspezifischen Effekt der Familiengründung folgen, ziehen jedoch ihren Befund in Zweifel, wonach 'Werten nur eine bescheidene Bedeutung zukommt, während die Familiengründung praktisch keinen Effekt auf die Einkommensungleichheit hat'." (Autorenreferat, © Springer-Verlag)

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Gihleb, Rania & Osnat Lifshitz (2016): Dynamic effects of educational assortative mating on labor supply. (IZA discussion paper 9958), Bonn, 88 S.

Abstract

"In 30% of young American couples the wife is more educated than the husband. Those women are characterized by a substantially higher employment (all else equal), which in turn amplifies income inequality across couples. Using NLSY79, we formulate and structurally estimate a dynamic life-cycle model of endogenous marriage and labor supply decisions in a collective framework. We establish that the education gap at the time of marriage, produces dynamic effects due to human capital accumulation and implied wage growth. Inequality between couples is largely driven by the persistence in labor supply choices and only slightly affected by assortative matching." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Greenwood, Jeremy, Nezih Guner, Georgi Kocharkov & Cezar Santos (2016): Technology and the changing family. A unified model of marriage, divorce, educational attainment and married female labor-force participation. In: American Economic Journal. Macroeconomics, Jg. 8, H. 1, S. 1-41. DOI:10.1257/mac.20130156

Abstract

"Marriage has declined since 1960, with the drop being more significant for noncollege-educated individuals versus college-educated ones. Divorce has increased, more so for the noncollege-educated. Additionally, positive assortative mating has risen. Income inequality among households has also widened. A unified model of marriage, divorce, educational attainment, and married female labor-force participation is developed and estimated to fit the postwar US data. Two underlying driving forces are considered: technological progress in the household sector and shifts in the wage structure. The analysis emphasizes the joint role that educational attainment, married female labor-force participation, and marital structure play in determining income inequality." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Gustman, Alan L., Thomas L. Steinmeier & Nahid Tabatabai (2016): A structural analysis of the effects of the Great Recession on retirement and working longer by members of two-earner households. (NBER working paper 22984), Cambrige, Mass., 71 S. DOI:10.3386/w22984

Abstract

"This paper uses data from the Health and Retirement Study to estimate a structural model of household retirement and saving. It applies that model to analyze the effects of the Great Recession on the work and retirement of older couples who were both employed full-time at the beginning of the recession. We analyze the effects of job loss, changes in wealth and changes in expectations.
The largest overall effects of the Great Recession are observed for 2009 and 2010. In 2009, an additional 2.5 percent of all 55 to 59 year old husbands were not working full-time as result of the Great Recession, amounting to a reduction of 3.2 percent in full-time work. In 2010, 2.8 percent of 55 to 59 year old husbands were not working full-time as a result of the Great Recession, amounting to a 3.8 percent reduction in full-time work. For wives the reductions in full-time work due to the Great Recession were 1.7 percent and 2.2 percent of those who initially held a job, or reductions of full-time work of 2.3 and 3.0 percent respectively. For those 60 to 64, the reductions were 1.2 percent of men and 0.9 percent of women. Having been laid off in the last three years reduces full-time work by 30 percent. There also are lingering effects of layoff on the probability of working longer. Having been laid off three or more years in the past reduces full-time employment in the current year by about 12 percent. This reflects the reduced work incentives for full-time work arising from lower earnings due to the loss of job tenure with a layoff as well as the additional earnings penalty from a layoff.
The effect on own work of a spouse having been laid off is much smaller. The reason is that, as found in the estimation of our structural model, having one spouse not working increases the value of leisure for the other. In contrast, when one member of the household loses their job, the value of consumption increases relative to leisure. For recent layoffs, these effects are roughly offsetting.
All told, the effects of the Great Recession on retirement seem relatively modest. These findings are consistent with our earlier descriptive analyses." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Ehlert, Martin (2015): Couples' strategies after job loss in West Germany and the United States. The Added Worker Effect and linked life courses. In: Schmollers Jahrbuch, Jg. 135, H. 1, S. 55-66. DOI:10.3790/schm.135.1.55

Abstract

"In couple households, income losses due to men's displacements may be offset by an increase in women's earnings, the so called 'Added Worker Effect' (AWE). I argue that previous research largely neglected the variation of the AWE due to intra-household characteristics. Following the idea of 'linked life courses', intra-household processes have an influence on the AWE and that this influence is structured by gender norms. I test the implications of this perspective using panel data from West Germany (GSOEP) and the United States (PSID). Results support my expectation that male breadwinner couples have lower AWE than modern and semi-modernized couples." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Greenwood, Jeremy, Nezih Guner, Georgi Kocharkov & Cezar Santos (2015): Technology and the changing family. A unified model of marriage, divorce, educational attainment and married female labor-force participation. (IZA discussion paper 8831), Bonn, 63 S.

Abstract

"Marriage has declined since 1960, with the drop being bigger for non-college educated individuals versus college educated ones. Divorce has increased, more so for the non-college educated. Additionally, positive assortative mating has risen. Income inequality among households has also widened. A unified model of marriage, divorce, educational attainment and married female labor-force participation is developed and estimated to fit the post-war U.S. data. Two underlying driving forces are considered: technological progress in the household sector and shifts in the wage structure. The analysis emphasizes the joint role that educational attainment, married female labor-force participation, and assortative mating play in determining income inequality." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Hipp, Lena & Kathrin Leuze (2015): Von wegen Partnerschaftlichkeit. Erwerbsarbeit ist bei den meisten Paaren in Europa und den USA ungleich verteilt. In: WZB-Mitteilungen H. 149, S. 18-20.

Abstract

"Warum teilen Paare in manchen Ländern bezahlte Arbeit egalitärer auf als in anderen? Die Analysen repräsentativer Daten aus Europa und den USA zeigen, dass diese Arbeitszeitunterschiede in den Ländern geringer ausfallen, in denen Einkommen individuell besteuert werden, Kinderbetreuung gut ausgebaut ist, Männer und Frauen ähnliche Stundenlöhne für gleiche Arbeit bekommen und in denen egalitäre Geschlechternormen vorherrschen. Damit liefert die Untersuchung Erkenntnisse für die aktuelle Diskussion um 'Partnerschaftlichkeit'." (Autorenreferat, IAB-Doku)

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Hipp, Lena & Kathrin Leuze (2015): Institutionelle Determinanten einer partnerschaftlichen Aufteilung von Erwerbsarbeit in Europa und den USA. In: Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie, Jg. 67, H. 4, S. 659-684. DOI:10.1007/s11577-015-0343-4

Abstract

"Warum teilen Paare in manchen Ländern bezahlte Arbeit egalitärer auf als in anderen? Mittels einer Mehrebenenanalyse von Daten der Europäischen Arbeitskräfteerhebung und des amerikanischen Current Population Surveys, denen wir Länderinformationen zugespielt haben, untersuchen wir in diesem Artikel, inwiefern Steuer- und Sozialgesetzgebung, nationale Arbeitsmarktcharakteristika und Geschlechternormen Arbeitszeitunterschiede innerhalb von heterosexuellen Paaren beeinflussen. Wir können zeigen, dass die Aufteilung von Erwerbsarbeit zwischen Partnern in den Ländern geringer ausfällt, in denen Einkommen individuell besteuert werden, Kinderbetreuung gut ausgebaut ist, Männer und Frauen ähnliche Stundenlöhne für gleiche Arbeit bekommen und in denen egalitäre Geschlechternormen vorherrschen. Mit diesen Erkenntnissen liefert der Artikel einen wichtigen Beitrag zur aktuellen politischen Diskussion um 'Partnerschaftlichkeit' und stärkt unser Verständnis für fortbestehende Geschlechterungleichheiten auf dem Arbeitsmarkt." (Autorenreferat, © Springer-Verlag)

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Jepsen, Christopher & Lisa K. Jepsen (2015): Labor-market specialization within same-sex and difference-sex couples. In: Industrial relations, Jg. 54, H. 1, S. 109-130. DOI:10.1111/irel.12078

Abstract

"We use data from the 2000 decennial U.S. Census to compare differences in earnings, hours worked, and labor-force participation between members of different household types, including same-sex couples, different-sex couples, and roommates. Both same-sex and different-sex couples exhibit some degree of household specialization, whereas roommates show little or no degree of specialization. Of all household types, married couples exhibit by far the highest degree of specialization with respect to labor-market outcomes. With respect to differences in earnings and hours, gay male couples are more similar to married couples than lesbian or unmarried heterosexual couples are to married couples." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Killewald, Alexandra & Xiaolin Zhuo (2015): Mothers' long-term employment patterns. (Upjohn Institute working paper 247), Kalamazoo, Mich., 60 S. DOI:10.17848/wp15-247

Abstract

"Previous research on maternal employment has disproportionately focused on married, college-educated mothers and examined either current employment status or postpartum return to employment. Following the life course perspective, we instead conceptualize maternal careers as long-term life course patterns. Using data from the NLSY79 and optimal matching, we document four common employment patterns of American mothers over the first 18 years of maternity. About two-thirds follow steady patterns, either full-time employment (38 percent) or steady nonemployment (24 percent). The rest experience 'mixed' patterns: long-term part-time employment (20 percent), or a multiyear period of nonemployment following maternity, then a return to employment (18 percent). Consistent employment following maternity, either full-time or part-time, is characteristic of women with more economic advantages. Women who experience consistent nonemployment disproportionately lack a high school degree, while women with return to employment following a long break tend to be younger with lower wages prior to maternity. Race is one of the few predictors of whether a mother is consistently employed full time versus part time: consistent part-time labor is distinctive to white women. Our results support studying maternal employment across the economic spectrum, considering motherhood as a long-term characteristic, and employing research approaches that reveal the qualitative distinctness of particular employment patterns." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Kleider, Hanna (2015): Paid and unpaid work. The impact of social policies on the gender division of labour. In: Journal of European social policy, Jg. 25, H. 5, S. 505-520. DOI:10.1177/0958928715610996

Abstract

"The varieties of capitalism (VOC) literature has offered one of the most influential explanations for cross-national variation in the gender division of labour. It argues that labour markets, which privilege specific as opposed to general skills, have a negative effect on women's employment and impede an egalitarian division of household labour. This article revisits one of the most prominent VOC studies: Iversen and Rosenbluth's empirical analysis of the 1994 International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) survey on gender relations. I argue that a gendered welfare perspective provides an alternative and more compelling explanation for the same outcomes. In my empirical analysis, I re-analyse Iversen and Rosenbluth's study using the more recent 2002 ISSP survey on gender relations. The empirical results lend little support to the VOC approach and show that a gendered welfare state perspective, measured using a novel summary index of defamilialization, explains the observed outcomes better. The evidence in support for the VOC explanation disappears when controlling for defamilializing social policies. This suggests that a previous VOC work on the gender division of labour has suffered from omitting crucial social policy controls. This article substantiates earlier critiques of VOC that have questioned its usefulness as an explanatory framework for gender-relevant outcomes." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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McGinn, Kathleen L., Elizabeth Long Lingo & Mayra Ruiz Castro (2015): Mums the word! Cross-national effects of maternal employment on gender inequalities at work and at home. (Harvard Business School. Working paper 094), Boston, Mass., 43 S.

Abstract

"Our research considers how inequalities in public and the private spheres are affected by childhood exposure to non-traditional gender role models at home. We test the association between being raised by an employed mother and adult men's and women's outcomes at work and at home. Our analyses rely on national level archival data from multiple sources and individual level survey data collected as part of the International Social Survey Programme in 2002 and 2012 from nationally representative samples of men and women in 24 countries. Adult daughters of employed mothers are more likely to be employed, more likely to hold supervisory responsibility if employed, work more hours, and earn marginally higher wages than women whose mothers stayed home fulltime. The effects on labor market outcomes are non-significant for men. Maternal employment is also associated with adult outcomes at home. Sons raised by an employed mother spend more time caring for family members than men whose mothers stayed home fulltime, and daughters raised by an employed mother spend less time on housework than women whose mothers stayed home fulltime. Our findings reveal the potential for non-traditional gender role models to gradually erode gender inequality in homes and labor markets." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Monaghan, David (2015): Income inequality and educational assortative mating. Evidence from the Luxembourg income study. In: Social science research, Jg. 52, H. July, S. 253-269. DOI:10.1016/j.ssresearch.2015.02.001

Abstract

"Though extensive research has explored the prevalence of educational assortative mating, what causes its variation across countries and over time is not well understood. Using data from the Luxembourg Income Study Database, I investigate the hypothesis that assortative mating by income is influenced by income inequality between educational strata. I find that in countries with greater returns to education, the odds of any sort of union that crosses educational boundaries is substantially reduced. However, I do not find substantial evidence of an effect of changes in returns to education on marital sorting within countries. Educational and labor market parity between males and females appear to be negatively related to marital sorting." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Antman, Francisca M. (2014): Spousal employment and intra-household bargaining power. (IZA discussion paper 8231), Bonn, 9 S.

Abstract

"This paper considers the relationship between work status and decision-making power of the head of household and his spouse. I use household fixed effects models to address the possibility that spousal work status may be correlated with unobserved factors that also affect bargaining power within the home. Consistent with the hypothesis that greater economic resources yield greater bargaining power, I find that the spouse of the head of household is more likely to be involved in decisions when she has been employed. Similarly, the head of household is less likely to be the sole decision-maker when his spouse works." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Compton, Janice & Robert A. Pollak (2014): Family proximity, childcare, and women's labor force attachment. In: Journal of urban economics, Jg. 79, H. January, S. 72-90. DOI:10.1016/j.jue.2013.03.007

Abstract

"We show that close geographical proximity to mothers or mothers-in-law has a substantial positive effect on the labor supply of married women with young children. We argue that the mechanism through which proximity increases labor supply is the availability of childcare. We interpret availability broadly enough to include not only regular scheduled childcare during work hours but also an insurance aspect of proximity (e.g., a mother or mother-in-law who can to provide irregular or unanticipated childcare). Using two large datasets, the National Survey of Families and Households and the public use files of the U.S. Census, we find that the predicted probability of employment and labor force participation is 4 - 10 percentage points higher for married women with young children living in close proximity to their mothers or their mothers-in-law compared with those living further away." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Fernández, Raquel & Joyce C. Wong (2014): Divorce risk, wages, and working wives. A quantitative life-cycle analysis of female labor force participation. (NBER working paper 19869), Cambridge, Mass., 75 S. DOI:10.3386/w19869

Abstract

"This paper develops a quantitative life-cycle model to study the increase in married women's labor force participation (LFP). We calibrate the model to match key life-cycle statistics for the 1935 cohort and use it to assess the changed environment faced by the 1955 cohort. We find that a higher divorce probability and changes in wage structure are each able to explain a large proportion of the LFP increase. Higher divorce risk increases LFP not because the latter contributes to higher marital assets or greater labor market experience, however. Instead, it is the result of conflicting spousal preferences towards the adjustment of marital consumption in the face of increased divorce risk." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Goux, Dominique, Eric Maurin & Barbara Petrongolo (2014): Worktime regulations and spousal labor supply. In: The American economic review, Jg. 104, H. 1, S. 252-276. DOI:10.1257/aer.104.1.252

Abstract

"We study interdependencies in spousal labor supply by exploiting the design of the French workweek reduction, which introduced exogenous variation in one's spouse's labor supply, at constant earnings. Treated employees work on average two hours less per week. Husbands of treated women respond by reducing their labor supply by about half an hour, consistent with substantial leisure complementarity, and specifically cut the nonusual component of their workweek, leaving usual hours unchanged. Women's response to their husband's treatment is instead weak and rarely statistically significant, possibly due to heavier constraints in the organization of their workweek." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Lembcke, Alexander C. (2014): Home computers and married women's labor supply. (CEP discussion paper 1260), London, 42 S.

Abstract

"I consider how the availability of a personal computer at home changed employment for married women. I develop a theoretical model that motivates the empirical specifications. Using data from the US CPS from 1984 to 2003, I find that employment is 1.5 to 7 percentage points higher for women in households with a computer. The model predicts that the increase in employment is driven by higher wages. I find having a computer at home is associated with higher wages, and employment in more computer intensive occupations, which is consistent with the model. Decomposing the changes by educational attainment shows that both women with low levels of education (high school diploma or less) and women with the highest levels of education (Master's degree or more) have high returns from home computers." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Oreffice, Sonia (2014): Culture and household decision making. Balance of power and labor supply choices of US-born and foreign-born couples. (IZA discussion paper 7997), Bonn, 29 S.

Abstract

"This study investigates how spouses' cultural backgrounds mediate the role of intra-household bargaining in the labor supply decisions of foreign-born and US-born couples, in a collective-household framework. Using data from the 2000 US Census, I show that the hours worked by US-born couples, and by those foreign-born coming from countries with gender roles similar to the US, are significantly related to common bargaining power forces such as differences between spouses in age and non-labor income, controlling for both spouses' demographic and socioeconomic characteristics. Households whose culture of origin supports strict and unequal gender roles do not exhibit any association of these power factors with their labor supply decisions. This cultural asymmetry suggests that spousal attributes are assessed differently across couples within the US, and that how spouses make use of their outside opportunities and economic and institutional environment may depend on their ethnicities." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Starr, Martha A. (2014): Gender, added-worker effects, and the 2007-2009 recession. Looking within the household. In: Review of Economics of the Household, Jg. 12, H. 2, S. 209-235. DOI:10.1007/s11150-013-9181-1

Abstract

"The U.S. recession of 2007 - 2009 saw unemployment rates for men rise by significantly more than those for women, resulting in the downturn's characterization as a 'mancession'. This paper uses data from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey to reexamine gender-related dimensions of the 2007 - 2009 recession. Unlike most previous work, we analyze data that connects men's and women's employment status to that of their spouses. A difference-in-difference framework is used to characterize how labor-market outcomes for one spouse varied according to outcomes for the other. Results show that that employment rates of women whose husbands were non-employed rose significantly in the recession, while those for people in other situations held steady or fell -- consistent with the view that women took on additional bread-winning responsibilities to make up for lost income. However, probabilities of non-participation did not rise by more for men with working wives than they did for other men, casting doubt on ideas that men in this situation made weaker efforts to return to work because they could count on their wives' paychecks to support the household." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Wang, Shu-wen & Rena L. Repetti (2014): Psychological well-being and job stress predict marital support interactions. A naturalistic observational study of dual-earner couples in their homes. In: Journal of personality and social psychology, Jg. 107, H. 5, S. 864-878. DOI:10.1037/a0037869

Abstract

"Video recordings of couples in their everyday lives at home were used to study how supportive interactions relate to psychological well-being and experiences of job stress. Thirty dual-earner, middle-class, heterosexual couples with school-age children were videotaped in their homes over 4 days and completed self-report measures of depressive symptoms, trait neuroticism, and job stress. After isolating the specific instances of marital support in the video recordings, the support role assumed by each partner (recipient vs. provider) and the method of support initiation (solicitations vs. offers) in each interaction were coded. Actor-partner interdependence models (APIMs), which accounted for interdependence within couples, tested linkages between husbands' and wives' scores on the psychological well-being and job stress variables, and husbands' and wives' supportive behavior. Analyses suggested sex differences in the way that psychological well-being and job stress influence support transactions. Wives' depressive symptoms predicted more support received from husbands, due both to more support solicitations by wives as well as more support offers by husbands. However, for husbands, it was neuroticism that predicted support receipt -- both more solicitations (by husbands) and more offers (by wives). In addition, men married to women under greater job stress appeared to increase their unprompted offers of support to their wives, whereas wives did not appear to be similarly responsive to husbands' job stress. This study provides unique insights into couple support processes as they spontaneously unfold in everyday settings, and highlights the utility of naturalistic observation for better understanding social behavior in close relationships." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Bertrand, Marianne, Jessica Pan & Emir Kamenica (2013): Gender identity and relative income within households. (NBER working paper 19023), Cambridge, Mass., 48 S. DOI:10.3386/w19023

Abstract

"We examine causes and consequences of relative income within households. We establish that gender identity - in particular, an aversion to the wife earning more than the husband - impacts marriage formation, the wife's labor force participation, the wife's income conditional on working, marriage satisfaction, likelihood of divorce, and the division of home production. The distribution of the share of household income earned by the wife exhibits a sharp cliff at 0.5, which suggests that a couple is less willing to match if her income exceeds his. Within marriage markets, when a randomly chosen woman becomes more likely to earn more than a randomly chosen man, marriage rates decline. Within couples, if the wife's potential income (based on her demographics) is likely to exceed the husband's, the wife is less likely to be in the labor force and earns less than her potential if she does work. Couples where the wife earns more than the husband are less satisfied with their marriage and are more likely to divorce. Finally, based on time use surveys, the gender gap in non-market work is larger if the wife earns more than the husband." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Buttet, Sebastien & Alice Schoonbroodt (2013): An accounting exercise for the shift in life-cycle employment profiles of married women born between 1940 and 1960. In: Journal for labour market research, Jg. 46, H. 3, S. 253-271., 2013-02-01. DOI:10.1007/s12651-013-0130-5

Abstract

"Lebensverlauf-Beschäftigungsprofile verheirateter Frauen der Jahrgänge zwischen 1940 und 1960 haben sich nach oben verschoben und sind flacher geworden. Wir kalibrieren ein dynamisches Lebenszyklusmodell von Beschäftigungsentscheidungen verheirateter Frauen, um die quantitative Bedeutung von drei konkurrierenden Erklärungen der veränderten Beschäftigungsprofile einzuschätzen: Geburtenrückgang und später eintretende Geburten, Zunahme relativer Löhne von Frauen zu Männern und gesunkene Kosten für Kinderbetreuung. Wir stellen fest, dass Geburtenrückgang und später eintretende Geburten sowie gesunkene Kosten für Kinderbetreuung Beschäftigung in jungen Jahren beeinflussen, wohingegen steigende relative Löhne Beschäftigung im Alter verstärkt beeinflussen. Veränderungen relativer Löhne, vor allem Entlohnung gemäß Erfahrung, stellen den Großteil (67 Prozent) der Veränderungen der Lebenszyklus-Beschäftigungsprofile verheirateter Frauen dar." (Autorenreferat, IAB-Doku)

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Farré, Lídia & Francis Vella (2013): The intergenerational transmission of gender role attitudes and its implications for female labour force participation. In: Economica, Jg. 80, H. 318, S. 219-247. DOI:10.1111/ecca.12008

Abstract

"Using a sample of mother-child pairs from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979, we study the economics of cultural transmission regarding women's roles. We find that a mother's attitudes have a statistically significant effect on those of her children. Furthermore, we find a strong association between the attitudes of sons in their youth and their wives' labour supply as adults. For daughters, the association between their own attitudes and adult work outcomes is weaker and seems to operate through the educational channel. Our findings indicate that cultural transmission contributes to heterogeneity in the labour supply of women." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Knowles, John A. (2013): Why are married men working so much? An aggregate analysis of intra-household bargaining and labour supply. In: The Review of Economic Studies, Jg. 80, H. 3, S. 1055-1085. DOI:10.1093/restud/rds043

Abstract

"Are macro-economists mistaken in ignoring bargaining between spouses? This article argues that models of intra-household allocation could be useful for understanding aggregate labour supply trends in the U.S. since the 1970s. A simple calculation suggests that the standard model without bargaining predicts a 19% decline in married-male labour supply in response to the narrowing of the gender gap in wages since the 1970s. However married-men's paid labour remained stationary over the period from the mid 1970s to the recession of 2001. This article develops and calibrates to U.S. time-use survey data a model of marital bargaining in which time allocations are determined jointly with equilibrium marriage and divorce rates. The results suggest that bargaining effects raised married-men's labour supply by about 2.1 weekly hours over the period, and reduced that of married women by 2.7 hours. Bargaining therefore has a relatively small impact on aggregate labour supply, but is critical for trends in female labour supply. Also, the narrowing of the gender wage gap is found to account for a weekly 1.5 hour increase in aggregate labour supply." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Blundell, Richard, Luigi Pistaferri & Itay Saporta-Eksten (2012): Consumption inequality and family labor supply. (NBER working paper 18445), Cambridge, Mass., 73 S. DOI:10.3386/w18445

Abstract

"In this paper we examine the link between wage inequality and consumption inequality using a life cycle model that incorporates household consumption and family labor supply decisions. We derive analytical expressions based on approximations for the dynamics of consumption, hours, and earnings of two earners in the presence of correlated wage shocks, non-separability and asset accumulation decisions. We show how the model can be estimated and identified using panel data for hours, earnings, assets and consumption. We focus on the importance of family labour supply as an insurance mechanism to wage shocks and find strong evidence of smoothing of males and females permanent shocks to wages. Once family labor supply, assets and taxes are properly accounted for their is little evidence of additional insurance." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Craig, Lyn & Killian Mullan (2012): Australian fathers' work and family time in comparative and temporal perspective. In: Journal of family studies, Jg. 18, H. 2/3, S. 165-174. DOI:10.5172/jfs.2012.18.2-3.165

Abstract

"Expectations of fathers have moved from being financial providers to also taking an active, hands-on role in the care of children. What does this mean for contemporary Australian fathers' time commitments to work and family? This paper draws together studies using time use data from Australia, USA, France, Italy and Denmark to show change and continuity in Australian fathers' time over the period 1992 - 2006, and how they currently compare with fathers in the other countries. It discusses the policy context of each country, which may inform fathering norms and behavior, and looks at their employment time, their housework, the specific childcare activities they undertake, and how they share childcare with mothers in relative terms. The research shows gender disparities remain wide, but despite long work hours, Australian fathers are high care participants in world terms, their childcare time is going up, and they are increasing their repertoire of care activities." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Dostie, Benoit & Lene Kromann (2012): Labour supply and taxes. New estimates of the responses of wives to husbands' wages. (IZA discussion paper 6392), Bonn, 29 S.

Abstract

"In this paper, we estimate income- and substitution- labour supply and participation elasticities for Canadian married women using data from the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics 1996-2005. We use the Canadian Tax and Credit Simulator (CTaCS) and detailed information on the structure of income at the household level to compute the marginal tax rates faced by each individual. We then use these marginal tax rates to compute net own-wage, spouse-wage, and non-labour income. We show how the magnitude of the estimated elasticities varies depending on whether net or gross wages and income are used in the estimation procedure, and quantify biases caused by using average instead of marginal tax rates. Finally, because marginal tax rates vary significantly over the sample, we use quantile regressions to compare elasticities at different points of the hours distribution. Overall, our results show that public policies now have, on average, less scope for influencing hours of work than 10 years ago. However, the quantile results show that wives working fewer hours per week are more sensitive to changes in their own or spouses' wages." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Kondo, Ayako (2012): Gender-specific labor market conditions and family formation. In: Journal of population economics, Jg. 25, H. 1, S. 151-174. DOI:10.1007/s00148-011-0367-7

Abstract

"Slack labor market conditions for women relative to men increase the marriage rate in the USA. This paper examines the long-term consequences of such marriages. Despite the significant effect on marriage timing, labor market conditions experienced in youth do not affect the probability that a woman will marry by the age of 30. Further, labor market conditions at the time of marriage are uncorrelated with the probability of divorce, spouses' characteristics, or the number of children. These findings suggest that labor market fluctuations induce only intertemporal adjustments for marriage timing without affecting reservation match quality or total fertility." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Reich, Nora (2012): Fathers' childcare. The difference between participation and amount of time. (HWWI research paper 116), Hamburg, 34 S.

Abstract

"The main research question of this article is whether and how predictors of fathers' participation in childcare, defined as zero versus more than zero minutes of childcare, differ from predictors of participating fathers' amount of time on childcare, measured as minutes on the survey day. The sample is drawn from the Multinational Time Use Study (MTUS) and covers surveys from ten industrialised countries from 1987 to 2005. Results show that there are remarkable differences between factors influencing participation in childcare and factors associated with participating fathers' time spent with children. For example, the educational level has a strong impact on fathers' participation, but not on the amount of time spent on childcare. In contrast, work hours and whether data refer to a weekday or a weekend day hardly affect participation, but strongly affect fathers' time for childcare. There are also noticeable differences between the countries and between different points in time regarding factors influencing childcare participation and time. Results call for caution regarding findings from existing studies not distinguishing participation from participating fathers' childcare minutes." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Sweet, Stephen & Phyllis Moen (2012): Dual earners preparing for job loss. Agency, linked lives, and resilience. In: Work and occupations, Jg. 39, H. 1, S. 35-70. DOI:10.1177/0730888411415601

Abstract

"We draw on a two-wave panel survey and a third wave of in-depth interviews to study how 78 dual-earner couples prepared for job loss and the implications of preparation for resilience. We find personal and social resources predict preparation: those displaced workers who prepared had higher energy and higher incomes prior to job loss and also worked for employers who provided advance notification. Couples' egalitarian career strategies are associated with lower levels of preparation as well as limited options in the face of displacement. Less preparation is associated with less favorable career adjustments following job loss as well as more severe health and emotional challenges." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Usdansky, Margaret L., Rachel A. Gordon, Xue Wang & Anna Gluzman (2012): Depression risk among mothers of young children. The role of employment preferences, labor force status and job quality. In: Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Jg. 33, H. 1, S. 83-94. DOI:10.1007/s10834-011-9260-5

Abstract

"This study examines how desire for employment, employment status, and job quality associate with depressive symptoms among mothers of infants and toddlers. We use the longitudinal NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (SECCYD) to estimate regression models with a variety of controls including prior depression. We find that employment in high-quality versus low-quality jobs is associated with reductions in depressive symptoms, both for mothers who do and do not desire employment. Furthermore, non-employed mothers have elevated depression levels only if they desire employment. Our results demonstrate that neither employment nor non-employment is best for all mothers of young children; rather mental health depends on mothers' employment preferences and, when they do work for pay, job quality." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Aumann, Kerstin, Ellen Galinsky & Kenneth Matos (2011): The new male mystique. New York, NY, 21 S.

Abstract

"The Families and Work Institute's National Study of the Changing Workforce, a nationally representative study of the U.S. workforce, finds that men now experience more work-family conflict than women. Since that finding was released in 2009, it has generated a great deal of attention and speculation. This paper is the first to take the same data set and conduct an in-depth exploration of the underlying reasons behind men's rising work-family conflict. In essence, we have uncovered what we term the 'new male mystique.' We find that although men live in a society where gender roles have become more egalitarian and where women contribute increasingly to family economic well-being, men have retained the 'traditional male mystique' - the pressure to be the primary financial providers for their families. As such, men who are fathers work longer hours than men the same age who don't live with a child under 18. However, men are also much more involved in their home lives than men in the past, spending more time with their children and contributing more to the work of caring for their homes and families. In other words, men are experiencing what women experienced when they first entered the workforce in record numbers - the pressure to 'do it all in order to have it all.' We term this the new male mystique." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Bar, Michael & Oksana Leukhina (2011): On the time allocation of married couples since 1960. In: Journal of macroeconomics, Jg. 33, H. 4, S. 491-510. DOI:10.1016/j.jmacro.2011.04.001

Abstract

"In the last half a century, married females more than doubled their workforce participation and significantly reduced their time spent on home production. Using a model of family decision making with home production and individual earnings heterogeneity, we subject two prominent explanations for this aggregate change, namely, the evolution of the gender earnings gap and the cost of home appliances, to quantitative tests with respect to changes in participation for disaggregated groups of couples and trends in time spent in leisure and home production activities. We find that both forces are needed to understand the evolution of married female time allocation over time, although the falling cost of home appliances is a dominant explanation for the time allocation outside of workplace, while the gender earnings gap is the dominant explanation for the workforce participation decision." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Cebi, Merve (2011): Employer-provided health insurance and labor supply of married women. (Upjohn Institute working paper 171), Kalamazoo, MI, 31 S.

Abstract

"This work presents new evidence on the effect of husbands' health insurance on wives' labor supply. Previous cross-sectional studies have estimated a significant negative effect of spousal coverage on wives' labor supply. However, these estimates potentially suffer from bias due to the simultaneity of wives' labor supply and the health insurance status of their husbands. This paper attempts to obtain consistent estimates by using several panel data methods. In particular, the likely correlation between unobserved personal characteristics of husbands and wives - such as preferences for work - and potential joint job choice decisions can be controlled by using panel data on intact marriages. The findings, using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth and the Current Population Survey, suggest that the negative effect of spousal coverage on labor supply found in cross-sections results mainly from spousal sorting and selection. Once unobserved heterogeneity is controlled for, a relatively smaller estimated effect of spousal coverage on wives' labor supply remains." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Compton, Janice & Robert A. Pollak (2011): Family proximity, childcare, and women's labor force attachment. (NBER working paper 17678), Cambridge, Mass., 46 S. DOI:10.3386/w17678

Abstract

"We show that close geographical proximity to mothers or mothers-in-law has a substantial positive effect on the labor supply of married women with young children. We argue that the mechanism through which proximity increases labor supply is the availability of childcare. We interpret availability broadly enough to include not only regular scheduled childcare during work hours but also an insurance aspect of proximity (e.g., a mother or mother-in-law who can provide irregular or unanticipated childcare). Using two large datasets, the National Survey of Families and Households and the public use files of the U.S. Census, we find that the predicted probability of employment and labor force participation is 4-10 percentage points higher for married women with young children living in close proximity to their mothers or their mothers-in-law compared with those living further away." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Cortés, Patricia & José Tessada (2011): Low-skilled immigration and the labor supply of highly skilled women. In: American Economic Journal. Applied Economics, Jg. 3, H. 3, S. 88-123. DOI:10.1257/app.3.3.88

Abstract

"Low-skilled immigrants represent a significant fraction of employment in services that are close substitutes of household production. This paper studies whether the increased supply of low-skilled immigrants has led high-skilled women, who have the highest opportunity cost of time, to change their time-use decisions. Exploiting cross-city variation in immigrant concentration, we find that low-skilled immigration increases average hours of market work and the probability of working long hours of women at the top quartile of the wage distribution. Consistently, we find that women in this group decrease the time they spend in household work and increase expenditures on housekeeping services." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Drago, Robert (2011): What would they do? Childcare under parental leave and reduced hour options. In: Industrial relations, Jg. 50, H. 4, S. 610-628. DOI:10.1111/j.1468-232X.2011.00659.x

Abstract

"Time diary data are used to simulate the effects of parental leave and reduced hours arrangements on childcare time among parents of infants. Estimates suggest that coupled fathers would apply approximately 70 percent of working time reductions under leave or reduced hours to childcare. Both coupled and single mothers translate working time reductions into childcare at higher rates. The analysis highlights inequalities across lines of gender, marital status, and socioeconomic status associated with existing policies and suggests policy innovations to both raise parental investments in childcare time and reduce levels of inequality." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Fox, Liana E., Wen-Jui Han, Christopher Ruhm & Jane Waldfogel (2011): Time for children. Trends in the employment patterns of parents, 1967-2009. (NBER working paper 17135), Cambridge, Mass., 37 S. DOI:10.3386/w17135

Abstract

"Utilizing data from the 1967-2009 years of the March Current Population Surveys, we examine two important resources for children's well-being: time and money. We document trends in parental employment, from the perspective of children, and show what underlies these trends. We find that increases in family work hours mainly reflect movements into jobs by parents who, in prior decades, would have remained at home. This increase in market work has raised incomes for children in the typical two-parent family but not for those in lone-parent households. Time use data from 1975 and 2003-2008 reveal that working parents spend less time engaged in primary childcare than their counterparts without jobs but more than employed peers in previous cohorts. Analysis of 2004 work schedule data suggests that non-daytime work provides an alternative method of coordinating employment schedules for some dual-earner families." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Galinsky, Ellen, Kerstin Aumann & James T. Bond (2011): Times are changing. Gender and generation at work and at home. New York, NY, 24 S.

Abstract

"This is the first study released using data from the 2008 National Study of the Changing Workforce. The report reveals two striking trends about gender and generation when the study is compared to data from 1992. First, for the first time since questions about responsibility in the workplace have been asked, women and men under 29 years old did not differ in their desire for jobs with more responsibility. Second, the study demonstrates that long-term demographic changes are the driving force behind gender and generational trends at work and at home." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Geva, Dorit (2011): Not just maternalism. Marriage and fatherhood in American welfare policy. In: Social Politics, Jg. 18, H. 1, S. 24-51. DOI:10.1093/sp/jxr003

Abstract

"The United States' 1996 welfare reforms are often interpreted as a historical break in transitioning from supporting motherhood to commodifiying women's labor. However, this cannot account for welfare reform's emphasis upon heterosexual marriage and fatherhood promotion. The paper traces continuities and shifts in over a century of familial regulation through American welfare policy, specifying the place of marriage promotion within welfare policy. Up until 1996, families were key sites of intervention through which the American welfare state was erected, especially through single women as mothers - not wives. However, as of the 1960s, concern with African American men's 'failed' familial commitments turned policymakers toward concern over marriage promotion for women and men. While marriage 'disincentives' for aid recipients were lifted in the 1960s, the 1996 reforms structured a new form of nuclear family governance actively promoting marriage rooted in, but distinct from, the previous. Given the historical absence of welfare policies available to poor men, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families' (TANF) marriage promotion policies have positioned poor women as nodes connecting the state to poor men, simultaneously structuring poor women as breadwinners, mothers, and wives. Recent welfare reform has also started to target poor men directly, especially in fatherhood and marriage promotion initiatives. The article highlights how, in addition to workfare policies, marriage promotion is a neoliberal policy shifting risk to the shoulders of the poor, aiming to produce 'strong families' for the purposes of social security" (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Hotchkiss, Julie L., M. Melinda Pitts & Mary Beth Walker (2011): Labor force exit decisions of new mothers. In: Review of Economics of the Household, Jg. 9, H. 3, S. 397-414. DOI:10.1007/s11150-010-9114-1

Abstract

"Using unique administrative data from the state of Georgia, this paper investigates women's decisions to exit the labor market upon the birth of a child. Exits rates and their changes over time varies dramatically between married and single women giving birth. Only the pattern among single, less educated women can be considered consistent with changing labor force participation rates of women over the period of analysis. Potential policy implications of these changes are discussed." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Lyonette, Clare, Gayle Kaufman & Rosemary Crompton (2011): 'We both need to work': maternal employment, childcare and health care in Britain and the USA. In: Work, employment and society, Jg. 25, H. 1, S. 34-50. DOI:10.1177/0950017010389243

Abstract

"Both Britain and the USA are described as market-oriented or 'liberal' welfare regimes. However, there are important variations within these two countries: although both have high rates of maternal employment, part-time work is much more common in the UK than in the USA, where dual-earner (full-time) couples are the norm. Part-time employment can help to ease work-family conflict for women, while simultaneously contributing to the household income. However, part-time work is limited in its economic benefits, is also career limiting, and, in the USA, it generally comes without health insurance. While most of the current research regarding maternal employment decisions focuses on women, this research involves interviews with 83 British and American fathers, to better understand the complexity of such decision-making. Men's attitudes and experiences are examined in detail, focusing on the need for two incomes, the importance of paid health care and childcare costs and the potential role of part-time work." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Nunley, John M. & Richard Alan Jr. Seals (2011): Child-custody reform, marital investment in children, and the labor supply of married mothers. In: Labour economics, Jg. 18, H. 1, S. 14-24. DOI:10.1016/j.labeco.2010.08.002

Abstract

"Research on child custody primarily focuses on the well-being of children following divorce. We extend this literature by examining how the prospect of joint child custody affects within-marriage investment in children through changes in household bargaining power. Variation in the timing of joint-custody reforms across states provides a natural-experiment framework with which to examine within-marriage investment in children. The probability of children's private school attendance declines by 12% in states that adopt jointcustody laws. We also find evidence linking joint-custody reform to higher rates of labor force participation for married mothers, which may indicate less time devoted household production." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Offer, Shira & Barbara Schneider (2011): Revisiting the gender gap in time-use patterns. Multitasking and well-being among mothers and fathers in dual-earner families. In: American Sociological Review, Jg. 76, H. 6, S. 809-833. DOI:10.1177/0003122411425170

Abstract

"This study suggests that multitasking constitutes an important source of gender inequality, which can help explain previous findings that mothers feel more burdened and stressed than do fathers even when they have relatively similar workloads. Using data from the 500 Family Study, including surveys and the Experience Sampling Method, the study examines activities parents simultaneously engage in and how they feel when multitasking. We find that mothers spend 10 more hours a week multitasking compared to fathers and that these additional hours are mainly related to time spent on housework and childcare. For mothers, multitasking activities at home and in public are associated with an increase in negative emotions, stress, psychological distress, and work-family conflict. By contrast, fathers' multitasking at home involves less housework and childcare and is not a negative experience. We also find several similarities by gender. Mothers' and fathers' multitasking in the company of a spouse or children are positive experiences, whereas multitasking at work, although associated with an increased sense of productivity, is perceived as a negative experience." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Rossin-Slater, Maya, Christopher Ruhm & Jane Waldfogel (2011): The effects of California's paid family leave program on mothers' leave-taking and subsequent labor market outcomes. (IZA discussion paper 6240), Bonn, 34 S.

Abstract

"This analysis uses March Current Population Survey data from 1999-2010 and a differences-indifferences approach to examine how California's first in the nation paid family leave (PFL) program affected leave-taking by mothers following childbirth, as well as subsequent labor market outcomes. We obtain robust evidence that the California program more than doubled the overall use of maternity leave, increasing it from around three to six or seven weeks for the typical new mother - with particularly large growth for less advantaged groups. We also provide suggestive evidence that PFL increased the usual weekly work hours of employed mothers of one-to-three year-old children by 6 to 9% and that their wage incomes may have risen by a similar amount." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Sayer, Liana C., Paula England, Paul D. Allison & Nicole Kangas (2011): She left, he left. How employment and satisfaction affect women's and men's decisions to leave marriages. In: American Journal of Sociology, Jg. 116, H. 6, S. 1982-2018. DOI:10.1086/658173

Abstract

"Studies examining determinants of divorce have largely ignored differences between factors that elevate wives' and husbands' initiation of divorce. The authors use longitudinal data and a latent class model embedded in a competing-risks event history model to assess distinct predictors of wives and husbands leaving marriages. They find that when men are not employed, either spouse is more likely to leave. When wives report better-than-average marital satisfaction, their employment affects neither spouse 's exit. However, when wives report below-average marital satisfaction, their employment makes it more likely they will leave. The authors' findings suggest that theories of divorce require 'gendering' to reflect asymmetric gender change." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Troske, Kenneth R. & Alexandru Voicu (2011): A panel data analysis of racial/ethnic differences in married women's labor supply. (IZA discussion paper 5729), Bonn, 31 S., Anhang.

Abstract

"We study differences in life-cycle labor supply among white, black, and Hispanic women, focusing on the interaction between race/ethnicity, education, and fertility. We use panel data that capture women's labor market and fertility histories and an econometric model that accounts for the endogeneity of labor market and fertility decisions, the heterogeneity of the effects of children and their correlation with the fertility decisions, and the correlation of sequential labor market decisions. Our results show an intricate connection between race/ethnicity, education, and fertility as determinants of women's life-cycle labor supply. For all levels of education, white women have fewer children, have the first birth later in life, and space subsequent births more closely together. The level of labor market involvement before the first birth is highest for white women and lowest for Hispanic women, but children reverse the relationship between race/ethnicity and level of labor market involvement. The negative effects of children are largest for white women and smallest for Hispanic women, and as a result, among women with two children, black and Hispanic women work more than white women. Racial/ethnic differences in fertility decisions, pre-natal labor supply, and labor supply responsiveness to children decline with the level education. Educational differences contribute to the racial/ethnic differentials in labor supply. White women have the highest levels of education and Hispanic women have the lowest levels of education. Other things equal, women with higher education have fewer children, have the first birth later in life, space subsequent births more closely together, work more before the birth of the first child, but face larger negative effects of children on their level of labor market involvement." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Antecol, Heather (2010): The opt-out revolution. A descriptive analysis. (IZA discussion paper 5089), Bonn, 43 S.

Abstract

"Using data from the 1980, 1990, and 2000 U.S. Census, I find little support for the opt-out revolution - highly educated women, relative to their less educated counterparts, are exiting the labor force to care for their families at higher rates today than in earlier time periods - if one focuses solely on the decision to work a positive number of hours irrespective of marital status or race. If one, however, focuses on both the decision to work a positive number of hours as well as the decision to adjust annual hours of work (conditional on working), I find some evidence of the opt-out revolution, particularly among white college educated married women in male dominated occupations." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Aughinbaugh, Alison (2010): The effects of remarriage on women's labor supply. In: Journal of population economics, Jg. 23, H. 4, S. 1151-1176. DOI:10.1007/s00148-009-0256-5

Abstract

"Many studies have found that women decrease their labor supply upon marriage and increase their labor supply upon divorce. This paper examines whether that pattern varies depending on whether the marriage is a first or higher-order one using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics for the years 1979 through 2001. The combination of a greater expected probability that a remarriage will end and the failure of household production to bring returns upon the end of a previous marriage may make women less likely to reduce their labor supply in second or higher marriages as compared to a first marriage. The results differ for the intensive and extensive margins of labor supply. With one exception, after controlling for background characteristics, the estimates imply that the probability of working is related to marriage in a similar manner regardless of whether the marriage is a first or a remarriage. In contrast, the estimates provide support for the possibility that decreases in hours of work upon marriage are smaller in second and higher marriages as compared to first marriages." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Bredemeier, Christian & Falko Juessen (2010): Assortative mating and female labor supply. (IZA discussion paper 5118), Bonn, 47 S.

Abstract

"This paper investigates the pattern of wives' hours disaggregated by the husband's wage decile. In the US, this pattern has changed from downward-sloping to hump-shaped. We show that this development can be explained within a standard household model of labor supply when taking into account trends in assortative mating. We develop a model in which assortative mating determines the wage ratios within individual couples and thus the efficient time allocation of spouses. The economy-wide pattern of wives' hours by the husband's wage is downward-sloping for low degrees, hump-shaped for medium degrees, and upward-sloping for high degrees of assortative mating. A quantitative analysis of our model suggests that changes in the gender wage gap are responsible for the overall increase in hours worked by wives. By contrast, the fact that wives married to high-wage men experienced the most pronounced increase is a result of trends in assortative mating." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Cha, Youngjoo (2010): Reinforcing separate spheres. The effect of spousal overwork on men's and women's employment in dual-earner households. In: American Sociological Review, Jg. 75, H. 2, S. 303-329. DOI:10.1177/0003122410365307

Abstract

"This study examines whether long work hours exacerbate gender inequality. As working long hours becomes increasingly common, a normative conception of gender that prioritizes men's careers over women's careers in dual-earner households may pressure women to quit their jobs. I apply multilevel models to longitudinal data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation to show that having a husband who works long hours significantly increases a woman's likelihood of quitting, whereas having a wife who works long hours does not appear to increase a man's likelihood of quitting. This gendered pattern is more prominent among workers in professional and managerial occupations, where the norm of overwork and the culture of intensive parenting are strong. Furthermore, the effect is stronger among workers who have children. Findings suggest that overwork can reintroduce the separate spheres arrangement, consisting of breadwinning men and homemaking women, to many formerly dual-earner households." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Jäger, Ulrike (2010): Working or stay-at-home mum? The influence of family benefits and religiosity. (Ifo working paper 84), München, 39 S.

Abstract

"It is a well-established fact that mothers' labour force participation reacts differently to different types of family benefits. It is also already well-known that cultural and religious factors have an impact on their labour force participation. But does the labour force reaction to family benefits differ among more religious mothers? In this paper, I analyse how both factors - benefits and religiosity - interact when it comes to the decision concerning labour force participation. Firstly, I present a theoretical model which predicts that this difference exists. Secondly, I test this prediction in a sample of pooled cross-section data from 10 OECD countries using different measures to assess the extent of religiosity. There is evidence that religious mothers react less than non-religious mothers to increases in family benefits. I also find important differences among various religious affiliations. These results imply that trends in religiosity should be considered when designing labour market policies." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Meisenbach, Rebecca J. (2010): The female breadwinner. Phenomenological experience and gendered identity in work/family spaces. In: Sex Roles, Jg. 62, H. 1/2, S. 2-19. DOI:10.1007/s11199-009-9714-5

Abstract

"Although female breadwinners (FBWs) are increasingly common in industrialized society and challenge traditional western gender norms, little research has focused specifically on the experiences of FBWs. These experiences impact individual, family, and organizational decision making. Thus, this project uses a phenomenological method to explore the experiences and gendered identity negotiations of 15 FBWs from the eastern and midwestern U.S. who were recruited via electronic message boards and personal contacts. The study asks how these women experience the phenomenon of being the breadwinner, seeking common elements. Results indicate six essential elements of FBWs' experiences: (a) having control, (b) valuing independence, (c) feeling pressure and worry, (d) valuing partner's contributions, (e) feeling guilt and resentment, and (f) valuing career progress." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))