IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/bon/boncrc/crctr224_2025_753.html

Economic Incentives or Social Norms? Labor Supply Differentials between East and West German Mothers

Author

Listed:
  • Bastien Chab´e-Ferret

  • Zainab Iftikhar

  • JungJae Park

Abstract

This paper quantifies the contributions of social norms and economic incentives to the 350-hour annual gap in maternal labor supply between East and West Germany. Using a collective model of family formation and labor supply estimated on GSOEP data from 2000–2017, we find that the working-mother stigma accounts for 73 percent of the gap. Economic factors partially offset the norm: higher Western wages raise the opportunity cost of staying home, so equalizing wages in West to the levels in East would nearly double the gap. We show that standard policy reforms may actually widen the regional disparity, and that their effectiveness is conditional on the norm being present once removed, the same policies have negligible effects.

Suggested Citation

  • Bastien Chab´e-Ferret & Zainab Iftikhar & JungJae Park, 2026. "Economic Incentives or Social Norms? Labor Supply Differentials between East and West German Mothers," CRC TR 224 Discussion Paper Series crctr224_2025_753, University of Bonn and University of Mannheim, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:bon:boncrc:crctr224_2025_753
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.crctr224.de/research/discussion-papers/archive/dp753
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Pamela Campa & Michel Serafinelli, 2019. "Politico-Economic Regimes and Attitudes: Female Workers under State Socialism," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 101(2), pages 233-248, May.
    2. Joanna Clifton‐Sprigg & Eleonora Fichera & Ezgi Kaya & Melanie Jones, 2025. "Fathers taking leave: evaluating the impact of shared parental leave in the United Kingdom," Fiscal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 46(3), pages 399-410, September.
    3. Michael Wyrwich, 2017. "Woman and the labour market in East and West Germany: Socialist legacy and pre-socialist tradition," Jena Economics Research Papers 2017-015, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena.
    4. Bauernschuster, Stefan & Schlotter, Martin, 2015. "Public child care and mothers' labor supply—Evidence from two quasi-experiments," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 1-16.
    5. Beblo, Miriam & Görges, Luise, 2018. "On the nature of nurture. The malleability of gender differences in work preferences," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 19-41.
    6. Stefan Bauernschuster & Helmut Rainer, 2012. "Political regimes and the family: how sex-role attitudes continue to differ in reunified Germany," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 25(1), pages 5-27, January.
    7. Felfe, Christina & Lalive, Rafael, 2018. "Does early child care affect children's development?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 33-53.
    8. Sascha O. Becker & Lukas Mergele & Ludger Woessmann, 2020. "The Separation and Reunification of Germany: Rethinking a Natural Experiment Interpretation of the Enduring Effects of Communism," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 34(2), pages 143-171, Spring.
    9. Francine D Blau & Lawrence M Kahn & Kerry L Papps, 2011. "Gender, Source Country Characteristics, and Labor Market Assimilation among Immigrants," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 93(1), pages 43-58, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Jessen, Jonas, 2022. "Culture, children and couple gender inequality," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    2. Sascha O. Becker & Lukas Mergele & Ludger Woessmann, 2020. "The Separation and Reunification of Germany: Rethinking a Natural Experiment Interpretation of the Enduring Effects of Communism," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 34(2), pages 143-171, Spring.
    3. Tom Günther & Jakob Conradi & Clemens Hetschko, 2024. "Socialism, Identity and the Well-Being of Unemployed Women," CESifo Working Paper Series 11154, CESifo.
    4. Barbara Boelmann & Anna Raute & Uta Schönberg, 2021. "Wind of Change? Cultural Determinants of Maternal Labor Supply," ECONtribute Discussion Papers Series 090, University of Bonn and University of Cologne, Germany.
    5. Michael Wyrwich, 2022. "Historical episodes and their legacies across space: A famous case revisited," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(4), pages 1048-1091, September.
    6. Günther, Tom & Conradi, Jakob & Hetschko, Clemens, 2025. "Socialism, identity and the well-being of unemployed women," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    7. Barbara Boelmann & Anna Christina Raute & Uta Schönberg, 2021. "Wind of Change? Cultural Determinants of Maternal Labor Supply," CESifo Working Paper Series 9094, CESifo.
    8. Jaanika Meriküll & Maryna Tverdostup, 2020. "The Gap That Survived The Transition: The Gender Wage Gap Over Three Decades In Estonia," University of Tartu - Faculty of Economics and Business Administration Working Paper Series 127, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, University of Tartu (Estonia).
    9. Barbara Boelmann & Anna Raute & Uta Schönberg, 2020. "Wind of Change? Cultural Determinants of Maternal Labor Supply," RFBerlin Discussion Paper Series 2020, ROCKWOOL Foundation Berlin (RFBerlin).
    10. Costa-Font, Joan & Nicińska, Anna, 2023. "Comrades in the family? Soviet communism and demand for family insurance," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 118472, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    11. Hartmann, Sven A., 2024. "Television and family demography: Evidence from a natural experiment in East Germany," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    12. Boelmann, Barbara & Raute, Anna & Schönberg, Uta, 2020. "Wind of Change? Cultural Determinants of Maternal Labor Supply," IAB-Discussion Paper 202030, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    13. Chadi, Cornelia & Jirjahn, Uwe, 2024. "Does society influence the gender gap in risk attitudes? Evidence from East and West Germany," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    14. Regina T. Riphahn & Irakli Sauer, 2024. "Earnings Assimilation of Post-Reunification East German Migrants in West Germany," CESifo Working Paper Series 11233, CESifo.
    15. Averkamp, Dorothée, 2024. "The Gender Wage Gap, Labor-Market Experience, and Family Choices: Lessons from East Germany?," VfS Annual Conference 2024 (Berlin): Upcoming Labor Market Challenges 302347, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    16. Telmo Pérez‐Izquierdo & Elizaveta Pronkina, 2023. "Behind the curtain: How did women's work history vary across Central and Eastern Europe?," Economics of Transition and Institutional Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(2), pages 465-489, April.
    17. Lange, Martin, 2021. "The legacy of state socialism on attitudes toward immigration," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(3), pages 733-750.
    18. Jessen, Jonas & Schweighofer-Kodritsch, Sebastian & Weinhardt, Felix & Berkes, Jan, 2023. "Separate Housework Spheres," VfS Annual Conference 2023 (Regensburg): Growth and the "sociale Frage" 277659, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    19. Glogowsky, Ulrich & Hansen, Emanuel & Sachs, Dominik & Lüthen, Holger, 2025. "The evolution of child-related gender inequality in Germany and the role of family policies, 1960–2018," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    20. Naomi Friedman-Sokuler & Claudia Senik, 2025. "From pink collar to lab coat: cultural persistence and diffusion of socialist gender norms," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 38(1), pages 1-34, March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • J01 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics: General
    • J08 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics Policies
    • J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:bon:boncrc:crctr224_2025_753. 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: CRC Office (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.crctr224.de .

    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.