IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/scandj/v123y2021i1p353-381.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Having It All? Employment, Earnings, and Children

Author

Listed:
  • Tobias Laun
  • Johanna Wallenius

Abstract

We study the effect of family policies on female employment, fertility, and the gender wage gap. We develop a life‐cycle model of heterogeneous households featuring endogenous labor supply, human capital accumulation, fertility, and home production. Our results suggest that human capital accumulation is important in accounting for the widening of the gender wage gap following children. We find that, in aggregate, childcare subsidies promote maternal employment and fertility, although the effects are heterogeneous across couples. A subsidy on home goods increases female employment, but primarily later in life. Thus, it does not dampen the widening of the gender gap.

Suggested Citation

  • Tobias Laun & Johanna Wallenius, 2021. "Having It All? Employment, Earnings, and Children," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 123(1), pages 353-381, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:scandj:v:123:y:2021:i:1:p:353-381
    DOI: 10.1111/sjoe.12346
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/sjoe.12346
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/sjoe.12346?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Claudia Olivetti & Barbara Petrongolo, 2017. "The Economic Consequences of Family Policies: Lessons from a Century of Legislation in High-Income Countries," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 31(1), pages 205-230, Winter.
    2. Richard Blundell & Monica Costa Dias & Costas Meghir & Jonathan Shaw, 2016. "Female Labor Supply, Human Capital, and Welfare Reform," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 84, pages 1705-1753, September.
    3. Kelly S. Ragan, 2013. "Taxes and Time Use: Fiscal Policy in a Household Production Model," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 5(1), pages 168-192, January.
    4. Larry E. JONES & Rodolfo E. MANUELLI & Ellen R. McGRATTAN, 2015. "Why Are Married Women Working so much ?," JODE - Journal of Demographic Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 81(1), pages 75-114, March.
    5. Bahar Baziki, Selva & Ginja, Rita & Borota Milicevic, Teodora, 2015. "Trade Competition, Technology and Labor Re-allocation," Working Paper Series 2016:1, Uppsala University, Department of Economics.
    6. Erdal Tekin, 2007. "Childcare Subsidies, Wages, and Employment of Single Mothers," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 42(2).
    7. Jeremy Greenwood & 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," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 8(1), pages 1-41, January.
    8. Eva Mörk & Mattias Nordin, 2020. "Voting, taxes, and heterogeneous preferences: Evidence from Swedish local elections," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(3), pages 356-380, November.
    9. Chakraborty, Indraneel & Holter, Hans A. & Stepanchuk, Serhiy, 2015. "Marriage stability, taxation and aggregate labor supply in the U.S. vs. Europe," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 1-20.
    10. Christian Siegel, 2017. "Female Relative Wages, Household Specialization and Fertility," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 24, pages 152-174, March.
    11. Guner, Nezih & Ventura, Gustavo & Kaygusuz, Remzi, 2013. "Childcare Subsidies and Household Labor Supply," CEPR Discussion Papers 9775, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    12. Edoardo Di Porto & Enrica Maria Martino & Henry Ohlsson, 2021. "Avoiding taxes by transfers within the family," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 28(1), pages 1-23, February.
    13. David M. Blau & Alison P. Hagy, 1998. "The Demand for Quality in Child Care," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 106(1), pages 104-146, February.
    14. Alison P. Hagy, 1998. "The Demand for Child Care Quality: An Hedonic Price Theory Approach," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 33(3), pages 683-710.
    15. Erosa, Andres & Fuster, Luisa & Restuccia, Diego, 2016. "A quantitative theory of the gender gap in wages," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 165-187.
    16. James Albrecht & Anders Bjorklund & Susan Vroman, 2003. "Is There a Glass Ceiling in Sweden?," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 21(1), pages 145-177, January.
    17. Susumu Imai & Michael P. Keane, 2004. "Intertemporal Labor Supply and Human Capital Accumulation," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 45(2), pages 601-641, May.
    18. Luca Repetto, 2018. "Political Budget Cycles with Informed Voters: Evidence from Italy," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 128(616), pages 3320-3353, December.
    19. Michael Baker & Jonathan Gruber & Kevin Milligan, 2008. "Universal Child Care, Maternal Labor Supply, and Family Well-Being," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 116(4), pages 709-745, August.
    20. Federico Belotti & Edoardo Di Porto & Gianluca Santoni, 2021. "The effect of local taxes on firm performance: Evidence from geo‐referenced data," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(2), pages 492-510, March.
    21. Karimi, Arizo & Lindahl, Erica & Skogman Thoursie, Peter, 2012. "Labour Supply Responses to Paid Parental Leave," Working Paper Series, Center for Labor Studies 2012:20, Uppsala University, Department of Economics.
    22. David Domeij, 2013. "Should Day Care be Subsidized?," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 80(2), pages 568-595.
    23. Conny Olovsson, 2009. "Why Do Europeans Work So Little?," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 50(1), pages 39-61, February.
    24. Wahlberg, Roger, 2008. "Part-Time Penalty in Sweden: Evidence from Quantile Regression," Working Papers in Economics 315, University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics.
    25. Alexander Bick, 2016. "The Quantitative Role Of Child Care For Female Labor Force Participation And Fertility," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 14(3), pages 639-668, June.
    26. Nikolay Angelov & Per Johansson & Erica Lindahl, 2016. "Parenthood and the Gender Gap in Pay," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 34(3), pages 545-579.
    27. Johanna Wallenius, 2011. "Human Capital Accumulation and the Intertemporal Elasticity of Substitution of Labor: How Large is the Bias?," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 14(4), pages 577-591, October.
    28. Claudia Olivetti & Barbara Petrongolo, 2017. "The Economic Consequences of Family Policies: Lessons from a Century of Legislation," Working Papers 811, Queen Mary University of London, School of Economics and Finance.
    29. Albrecht, James & Skogman Thoursie, Peter & Vroman, Susan, 2015. "Parental leave and the glass ceiling in Sweden," Working Paper Series 2015:4, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.
    30. repec:cup:jdemec:v:81:y:2015:i:01:p:75-114_00 is not listed on IDEAS
    31. Claudia Olivetti & Barbara Petrongolo, 2017. "The Economic Consequences of Family Policies: Lessons from a Century of Legislation in High-Income Countries," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 31(1), pages 205-230, Winter.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Paule-Paludkiewicz, Hannah, 2020. "Does the Right to Work Part-Time Affect Mothers' Labor Market Outcomes?," VfS Annual Conference 2020 (Virtual Conference): Gender Economics 224556, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    2. Meekes, Jordy & Hassink, Wolter H.J., 2022. "Gender differences in job flexibility: Commutes and working hours after job loss," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Johanna Wallenius & Tobias Laun, 2016. "Home and Market Hours, Human Capital Accumulation and Fertility," 2016 Meeting Papers 518, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    2. Fortin, Nicole M. & Bell, Brian & Böhm, Michael, 2017. "Top earnings inequality and the gender pay gap: Canada, Sweden, and the United Kingdom," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 107-123.
    3. Turon, Hélène, 2022. "The Labour Supply of Mothers," IZA Discussion Papers 15312, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Roman Bobilev & Anne Boschini & Jesper Roine, 2020. "Women in the Top of the Income Distribution: What Can We Learn From LIS-Data?," Italian Economic Journal: A Continuation of Rivista Italiana degli Economisti and Giornale degli Economisti, Springer;Società Italiana degli Economisti (Italian Economic Association), vol. 6(1), pages 63-107, March.
    5. Abrahamsen, Signe A., 2018. "Paternity Leave and Family Outcomes," Working Papers in Economics 13/18, University of Bergen, Department of Economics.
    6. Rauh, Christopher & Boneva, Teodora & Kaufmann, Katja, 2021. "Maternal labor supply: Perceived returns, constraints, and social norms," CEPR Discussion Papers 16095, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    7. Jeremy Greenwood & Nezih Guner & Guillaume Vandenbroucke, 2017. "Family Economics Writ Large," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 55(4), pages 1346-1434, December.
    8. Hennig, Jan-Luca & Stadler, Balazs, 2021. "Firm-specific pay premiums and the gender wage gap in 21 European countries," VfS Annual Conference 2021 (Virtual Conference): Climate Economics 242354, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    9. Alessandra Casarico & Salvatore Lattanzio, 2023. "Behind the child penalty: understanding what contributes to the labour market costs of motherhood," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 36(3), pages 1489-1511, July.
    10. Jan‐luca Hennig & Balazs Stadler, 2023. "Firm‐specific pay premiums and the gender wage gap in Europe," Post-Print hal-04171877, HAL.
    11. Nan L. Maxwell & Nathan Wozny, "undated". "Gender Gaps in Time Use and Earnings: What's Norms Got to Do With It?," Mathematica Policy Research Reports 38f127bf7f494794807db7a3a, Mathematica Policy Research.
    12. Francesca Barigozzi & Helmuth Cremer & Emmanuel Thibault, 2023. "The Motherhood Wage and Income Traps," CESifo Working Paper Series 10380, CESifo.
    13. Andrea Ichino & Martin Olsson & Barbara Petrongolo & Peter Skogman Thoursie, 2019. "Economic incentives, home production and gender identity norms," CEP Discussion Papers dp1626, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    14. Behringer, Jan & Gonzalez Granda, Martin & van Treeck, Till, 2022. "Varieties of the rat race: Working hours in the age of abundance," ifso working paper series 17, University of Duisburg-Essen, Institute for Socioeconomics (ifso).
    15. Ivandic, Ria & Lassen, Anne Sophie, 2023. "Gender gaps from labor market shocks," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 121285, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    16. KAWAGUCHI Daiji & TORIYABE Takahiro, 2018. "Parental Leaves and Female Skill Utilization: Evidence from PIAAC," Discussion papers 18003, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    17. Corekcioglu, Gozde & Francesconi, Marco & Kunze, Astrid, 2020. "Do Generous Parental Leave Policies Help Top Female Earners?," IZA Discussion Papers 13275, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    18. Alexander Bick & Nicola Fuchs-Schündeln, 2018. "Taxation and Labour Supply of Married Couples across Countries: A Macroeconomic Analysis," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 85(3), pages 1543-1576.
    19. Marie Connolly & Marie Melanie Fontaine & Catherine Haeck, 2023. "Child Penalties in Canada," Working Papers 23-02, Research Group on Human Capital, University of Quebec in Montreal's School of Management.
    20. Semih Tumen & Belgi Turan, 2023. "The effect of fertility on female labor supply in a labor market with extensive informality," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 65(4), pages 1855-1894, October.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:scandj:v:123:y:2021:i:1:p:353-381. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1467-9442 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.