Recent research has found that maternal employment is associated with worse child performance on tests of cognitive ability. This paper explores mechanisms for that correlation. We estimate models of instrumental variables using a unique dataset, the American Time Use Survey, that measure the effect of maternal employment on the mother's allocation of time to activities related to child cognitive development. We find that employed women spend significantly less time reading to their children, helping with homework, and in educational activities in general. We find no evidence that these decreases in time are offset by increases in time by husbands and partners. These findings offer plausible mechanisms for the association of maternal employment with child cognitive development.
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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number
13609.
Length: Date of creation: Nov 2007 Date of revision: Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:13609
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Find related papers by JEL classification: D1 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior I2 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
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