Time Use and the Care Economy in Latin America: A General Equilibrium Analysis

In this paper, our interest is in assessing the impact of various policy measures on the care economy in Latin America. Specifically, we plan to quantify the macro and meso impacts of an increase in the government provision of goods and services related to the care economy. In terms of method, we extended GEM-Core, a recursive-dynamic CGE model documented in Cicowiez and Lofgren (2017), to make it gender-aware and single out aspects related to the care economy. Specifically, our model includes: (1) male and female labor categories, (2) formal and informal segments in the labor market, and (3) unpaid domestic and care work, and (4) labor-leisure choice or labor supply decision for men and women separately. In Latin America, female employment – both paid and unpaid -- predominates in unpaid domestic and care work. In terms of literature, our model contains the elements that Fontana (2013) describes as those required to analyze gender issues in general and the care economy in particular. In terms of results, we find relevant impacts from simulating changes in the government supply of services related to the care economy, such as childcare services. Furthermore, we single out the key parameter governing the impact of such shocks. In fact, we find that parameters such as the elasticity of substitution between male and female workers and the price-elasticity of domestic work have have a significant impact on our quantitative results. Therefore, we perform a sensitivity analysis regarding the value assigned to these particular parameters.