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Maternity Leave, Effort Allocation, and Postmotherhood Earnings

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  • Evgenia Kogan Dechter

Abstract

Women with children earn less than women without children. I study this wage gap using a dynamic model of human capital accumulation with endogenous time and effort allocation between household and market activities. Selection into motherhood does not drive the gap in hourly wage. I decompose this gap into forgone human capital and changing effort at work. Human capital depreciates as a result of maternity leave and accumulates at a lower rate after childbirth because of a reduction in work hours. Effort at work does not decline after childbirth. Reduced human capital accumulation explains the entire postmotherhood loss in hourly wage.

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  • Evgenia Kogan Dechter, 2014. "Maternity Leave, Effort Allocation, and Postmotherhood Earnings," Journal of Human Capital, University of Chicago Press, vol. 8(2), pages 97-125.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucp:jhucap:doi:10.1086/677324
    DOI: 10.1086/677324
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    Cited by:

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    2. Tamar Khitarishvili, 2016. "Two tales of contraction: gender wage gap in Georgia before and after the 2008 crisis," IZA Journal of Labor & Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 5(1), pages 1-28, December.
    3. Eva M. Berger & Luke Haywood, 2016. "Locus of Control and Mothers’ Return to Employment," Journal of Human Capital, University of Chicago Press, vol. 10(4), pages 442-481.
    4. Кирюшина М. А. & Рудаков В. Н., 2021. "Гендерные Различия В Заработной Плате Выпускников Вузов И Учреждений Спо На Начальном Этапе Карьеры," Вопросы образования // Educational Studies Moscow, National Research University Higher School of Economics, issue 2, pages 172-198.
    5. Troeger, Vera E. & Di Leo, Riccardo & Scotto, Thomas J. & Epifanio, Mariaelisa, 2020. "The Motherhood Penalties: Insights from Women in UK Academia," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 519, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
    6. Margarita Kiryushina & Victor Rudakov, 2021. "The Gender Gap in Early-Career Wages of Universities' and Vocational Education Institutes' Graduates," Voprosy obrazovaniya / Educational Studies Moscow, National Research University Higher School of Economics, issue 2, pages 172-198.
    7. Troeger, Vera E. & Di Leo, Riccardo & Scotto, Thomas J. & Epifanio, Mariaelisa, 2020. "Motherhood in Academia: A Novel Dataset with an Application to Maternity Leave Uptake," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 518, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
    8. Seyyed Ali Zeytoon Nejad Moosavian, 2022. "Identifying the Effect of Parenthood on Labor Force Participation: A Gender Comparison," Papers 2209.02743, arXiv.org.
    9. Jason Fletcher & Joel Han, 2019. "Intergenerational Mobility in Education: Variation in Geography and Time," Journal of Human Capital, University of Chicago Press, vol. 13(4), pages 585-634.
    10. Troeger, Vera E. & Di Leo, Riccardo & Scotto, Thomas J. & Epifanio, Mariaelisa, 2020. "Motherhood in Academia : A Novel Dataset with an Application to Maternity Leave Uptake," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 1312, University of Warwick, Department of Economics.
    11. Troeger, Vera E. & Di Leo, Riccardo & Scotto, Thomas J. & Epifanio, Mariaelisa, 2020. "The Motherhood Penalties : Insights from Women in UK Academia," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 1313, University of Warwick, Department of Economics.

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