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Female Labor Supply and Child Care in France

Author

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  • Philippe Choné
  • David le Blanc
  • Isabelle Robert-Bobée

Abstract

We use French household data to estimate a structural model of female labor supply and use of paid child care outside the home. Child care costs are found to have little impact on the labor market participation decision of mothers. The model is used to study various policy issues. The influence of the current tax credit on child care expenditures on the mothers’ labor supply is weak. Suppressing the APE (Parental Allowance for the Education) would cause the female participation rate in our sample to rise by 4 points and the proportion of mothers using paid care to rise by 2 points. The responses of women to policy changes are very heterogenous. Macroeconomic changes in female labor supply are equally due to switches between non-participation and participation and switches between working hours by working women.

Suggested Citation

  • Philippe Choné & David le Blanc & Isabelle Robert-Bobée, 2003. "Female Labor Supply and Child Care in France," CESifo Working Paper Series 1059, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_1059
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Bargain, Olivier & Orsini, Kristian & Peichl, Andreas, 2011. "Labor Supply Elasticities in Europe and the US," IZA Discussion Papers 5820, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Olivier Bargain, 2004. "On modeling household labor supply with taxation," DELTA Working Papers 2004-14, DELTA (Ecole normale supérieure).
    3. Gomajee, Ramchandar & El-Khoury, Fabienne & van der Waerden, Judith & Pryor, Laura & Melchior, Maria, 2021. "Early life childcare and later behavioral difficulties: a causal relationship? Data from the French EDEN study," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 181(C), pages 344-359.
    4. Olivier Bargain & Andreas Peichl, 2013. "Steady-State Labor Supply Elasticities: An International Comparison," AMSE Working Papers 1322, Aix-Marseille School of Economics, France.
    5. Bargain, Olivier & Orsini, Kristian, 2006. "In-work policies in Europe: Killing two birds with one stone?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(6), pages 667-697, December.
    6. Anna Lovász & Ágnes Szabó-Morvai, 2019. "Childcare availability and maternal labor supply in a setting of high potential impact," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 56(6), pages 2127-2165, June.
    7. Edwin van Gameren, 2013. "The Role of Economic Incentives and Attitudes in Participation and Childcare Decisions," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 34(3), pages 296-313, September.
    8. Ralitza Dimova & François-Charles Wolff, 2008. "Grandchild Care Transfers by Ageing Immigrants in France: Intra-household Allocation and Labour Market Implications," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 24(3), pages 315-340, September.
    9. Wrohlich, Katharina, 2006. "Labor Supply and Child Care Choices in a Rationed Child Care Market," IZA Discussion Papers 2053, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. Olivier Bargain & Kristian Orsini & Andreas Peichl, 2012. "Comparing Labor Supply Elasticities in Europe and the US: New Results," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 525, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    11. Müller, Kai-Uwe & Wrohlich, Katharina & Sengül, Denise, 2016. "Does subsidized care for toddlers increase maternal labor supply? Evidence from a large-scale expansion of early childcare," VfS Annual Conference 2016 (Augsburg): Demographic Change 145654, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    12. Bargain, Olivier & Peichl, Andreas, 2013. "Steady-state labor supply elasticities: A survey," ZEW Discussion Papers 13-084, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    13. Hélène Périvier, 2004. "Emploi des mères et garde des jeunes enfants en Europe," SciencePo Working papers Main hal-03458768, HAL.
    14. Olivier Bargain & Kristian Orsini & Andreas Peichl, 2014. "Comparing Labor Supply Elasticities in Europe and the United States: New Results," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 49(3), pages 723-838.
    15. Denise Doiron & Guyonne Kalb, 2005. "Demands for Child Care and Household Labour Supply in Australia," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 81(254), pages 215-236, September.
    16. Hélène Périvier, 2004. "Emploi des mères et garde des jeunes enfants en Europe," Revue de l'OFCE, Presses de Sciences-Po, vol. 90(3), pages 225-258.
    17. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/3461 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Colm Harmon & Claire Finn & Arnaud Chevalier & Tarja Viitanen, 2006. "The economics of early childhood care and education : technical research paper for the National Economic and Social Forum," Open Access publications 10197/671, School of Economics, University College Dublin.
    19. Herwig Immervoll & David Barber, 2005. "Can Parents Afford to Work?: Childcare Costs, Tax-Benefit Policies and Work Incentives," OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers 31, OECD Publishing.
    20. Miguel Jaramillo-Baanante, 2017. "Fertility and women’s work in a demographic transition: evidence from Peru," Working Papers 90, Peruvian Economic Association.
    21. Hélène Périvier, 2004. "Emploi des mères et garde des jeunes enfants en Europe," Post-Print hal-03458768, HAL.
    22. Pierre-Carl Michaud & Konstantinos Tatsiramos, 2005. "Employment Dynamics of Married Women in Europe," Working Papers WR-273, RAND Corporation.
    23. Joyce P. Jacobsen, 2009. "Accommodating Families," Chapters, in: Kenneth G. Dau-Schmidt & Seth D. Harris & Orly Lobel (ed.), Labor and Employment Law and Economics, chapter 11, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    24. Guyonne Kalb, 2009. "Children, Labour Supply and Child Care: Challenges for Empirical Analysis," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 42(3), pages 276-299, September.
    25. Anna Lovasz & Agnes Szabo-Morvai, 2013. "Does Childcare Matter for Maternal Labor Supply? Pushing the limits of the Regression Discontinuity Framework," Budapest Working Papers on the Labour Market 1313, Institute of Economics, Centre for Economic and Regional Studies.

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