IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/diw/diwwpp/dp305.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

European Mothers' Time with Children: Differences and Similarities across Nine Countries

Author

Listed:
  • Jutta M. Joesch
  • C. Katharina Spiess

Abstract

We use data from the 1996 wave of the European Community Household Panel to present and compare the weekly number of hours mothers of children less than 16 years of age reported looking after children in nine European countries in 1996. In addition, we explore to what extent cross-country differences in socio-demographic characteristics and parents' employment status contribute to differences in maternal time with children across the nine countries. We find cross-country differences in the mean of the amount of time mothers reported looking after children. Only a small portion of these differences is explained by differences in socio-demographic characteristics and employment status across countries in Europe. For three country pairs, we use a Oaxaca decomposition to investigate whether behaviour differences or differences in sample characteristics explain more of the observed differences in mothers' time looking after children. According to our results, the differences between Ireland and the UK can be explained mainly by behaviour differences. The results for Germany vs. Austria and Denmark vs. Greece, however, depend on the weights used.

Suggested Citation

  • Jutta M. Joesch & C. Katharina Spiess, 2002. "European Mothers' Time with Children: Differences and Similarities across Nine Countries," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 305, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp305
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.diw.de/documents/publikationen/73/diw_01.c.38510.de/dp305.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jonathan Gershuny & John Robinson, 1988. "Historical changes in the household division of labor," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 25(4), pages 537-552, November.
    2. Leibowitz, Arleen, 1974. "Education and Home Production," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 64(2), pages 243-250, May.
    3. Gustafsson, Bjorn & Kjulin, Urban, 1994. "Time Use in Child Care and Housework and the Total Cost of Children," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 7(3), pages 287-306, July.
    4. Blau, David M, 1993. "The Supply of Child Care Labor," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 11(2), pages 324-347, April.
    5. Paul Miller & Charles Mulvey, 2000. "Women's Time Allocation to Child Care: Determinants and Consequences," Australian Economic Papers, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(1), pages 1-24, March.
    6. Alfonso Sousa-Poza & Hans Schmid & Rolf Widmer, 2001. "The allocation and value of time assigned to housework and child-care: An analysis for Switzerland," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 14(4), pages 599-618.
    7. Mroz, Thomas A, 1987. "The Sensitivity of an Empirical Model of Married Women's Hours of Work to Economic and Statistical Assumptions," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 55(4), pages 765-799, July.
    8. Juster, F Thomas & Stafford, Frank P, 1991. "The Allocation of Time: Empirical Findings, Behavioral Models, and Problems of Measurement," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 29(2), pages 471-522, June.
    9. Charles Michalopoulos & Philip K. Robins, 2000. "Employment and child‐care choices in Canada and the United States," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 33(2), pages 435-470, May.
    10. Charles Michalopoulos & Philip K. Robins & Irwin Garfinkel, 1992. "A Structural Model of Labor Supply and Child Care Demand," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 27(1), pages 166-203.
    11. Tim Barmby & Nina Smith, 2001. "Household labour supply in Britain and Denmark: some interpretations using a model of Pareto Optimal behaviour," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(9), pages 1109-1116.
    12. Suzanne Bianchi, 2000. "Maternal employment and time with children: Dramatic change or surprising continuity?," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 37(4), pages 401-414, November.
    13. C. Russell Hill & Frank P. Stafford, 1980. "Parental Care of Children: Time Diary Estimates of Quantity, Predictability, and Variety," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 15(2), pages 219-239.
    14. Jenkins, Stephen P & O'Leary, Nigel C, 1995. "Modelling Domestic Work Time," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 8(3), pages 265-279, August.
    15. 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.
    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. Gimenez-Nadal, José Ignacio & Marcén, Miriam & Molina, José Alberto, 2007. "How Does the Presence of Children Affect Dependent Care? A Psycho-Economic Approach," IZA Discussion Papers 2726, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Jonathan Guryan & Erik Hurst & Melissa Kearney, 2008. "Parental Education and Parental Time with Children," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 22(3), pages 23-46, Summer.
    3. Oriel Sullivan, 2007. "Cultural voraciousness - A new measure of the pace of leisure in a context of 'harriedness'," electronic International Journal of Time Use Research, Research Institute on Professions (Forschungsinstitut Freie Berufe (FFB)) and The International Association for Time Use Research (IATUR), vol. 4(1), pages 30-46, September.
    4. Satvika Chalasani, 2007. "The changing relationship between parents’ education and their time with children," electronic International Journal of Time Use Research, Research Institute on Professions (Forschungsinstitut Freie Berufe (FFB)) and The International Association for Time Use Research (IATUR), vol. 4(1), pages 93-117, September.
    5. Jens Bonke & Frederik Gerstoft, 2007. "Stress, time use and gender," electronic International Journal of Time Use Research, Research Institute on Professions (Forschungsinstitut Freie Berufe (FFB)) and The International Association for Time Use Research (IATUR), vol. 4(1), pages 47-68, September.
    6. Hannu Piekkola & Liisa Leijola, 2007. "Time use and options for retirement in Europe," electronic International Journal of Time Use Research, Research Institute on Professions (Forschungsinstitut Freie Berufe (FFB)) and The International Association for Time Use Research (IATUR), vol. 4(1), pages 1-29, September.
    7. Monika Hjeds Löfmark, 2007. "Gender and time allocation differences in Taganrog, Russia," electronic International Journal of Time Use Research, Research Institute on Professions (Forschungsinstitut Freie Berufe (FFB)) and The International Association for Time Use Research (IATUR), vol. 4(1), pages 69-92, September.

    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. David Blau, 2003. "Child Care Subsidy Programs," NBER Chapters, in: Means-Tested Transfer Programs in the United States, pages 443-516, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Cara B. Fedick & Shelley Pacholok & Anne H. Gauthier, 2005. "Methodological issues in the estimation of parental time – Analysis of measures in a Canadian time-use survey," electronic International Journal of Time Use Research, Research Institute on Professions (Forschungsinstitut Freie Berufe (FFB)) and The International Association for Time Use Research (IATUR), vol. 2(1), pages 67-87, October.
    3. Blau, David & Currie, Janet, 2006. "Pre-School, Day Care, and After-School Care: Who's Minding the Kids?," Handbook of the Economics of Education, in: Erik Hanushek & F. Welch (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Education, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 20, pages 1163-1278, Elsevier.
    4. Jens Bonke & James McIntosh, 2005. "Household time allocation – Theoretical and empirical results from Denmark," electronic International Journal of Time Use Research, Research Institute on Professions (Forschungsinstitut Freie Berufe (FFB)) and The International Association for Time Use Research (IATUR), vol. 2(1), pages 1-12, October.
    5. Rachel Connelly & Jean Kimmel, 1999. "Marital Status and Full-time/Part-time Work Status in Child Care Choices: Changing the Rules of the Game," JCPR Working Papers 97, Northwestern University/University of Chicago Joint Center for Poverty Research.
    6. Ragni Hege Kitterød & Torkild Hovde Lyngstad, 2005. "Diary versus questionnaire information on time spent on housework – The case of Norway," electronic International Journal of Time Use Research, Research Institute on Professions (Forschungsinstitut Freie Berufe (FFB)) and The International Association for Time Use Research (IATUR), vol. 2(1), pages 13-32, October.
    7. Casey B. Mulligan & Barbara Schneider & Rustin Wolfe, 2005. "Non-response and population representation in studies of adolescent time use," electronic International Journal of Time Use Research, Research Institute on Professions (Forschungsinstitut Freie Berufe (FFB)) and The International Association for Time Use Research (IATUR), vol. 2(1), pages 33-53, October.
    8. Kimberly Fisher & Michael Bittman & Patricia Hill & Cathy Thomson, 2005. "The time cost of care," electronic International Journal of Time Use Research, Research Institute on Professions (Forschungsinstitut Freie Berufe (FFB)) and The International Association for Time Use Research (IATUR), vol. 2(1), pages 54-66, October.
    9. Berenice Monna & Anne Gauthier, 2008. "A Review of the Literature on the Social and Economic Determinants of Parental Time," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 29(4), pages 634-653, December.
    10. Anne H. Gauthier & Timothy M. Smeeding & Frank F. Furstenberg, Jr., 2004. "Do We Invest Less Time in Children? Trends in Parental Time in Selected Industrialized Countries Since the 1960's," Center for Policy Research Working Papers 64, Center for Policy Research, Maxwell School, Syracuse University.
    11. Tom Kornstad & Thor Thoresen, 2007. "A discrete choice model for labor supply and childcare," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 20(4), pages 781-803, October.
    12. 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.
    13. Monika Hjeds Löfmark, 2007. "Gender and time allocation differences in Taganrog, Russia," electronic International Journal of Time Use Research, Research Institute on Professions (Forschungsinstitut Freie Berufe (FFB)) and The International Association for Time Use Research (IATUR), vol. 4(1), pages 69-92, September.
    14. 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.
    15. Paul S. Carlin, 2001. "Evidence on the Volunteer Labor Supply of Married Women," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 67(4), pages 801-824, April.
    16. Lyn Craig, 2007. "How Employed Mothers in Australia Find Time for Both Market Work and Childcare," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 28(1), pages 69-87, March.
    17. 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.
    18. Philippe Choné & David le Blanc & Isabelle Robert-Bobée, 2003. "Female Labor Supply and Child Care in France," CESifo Working Paper Series 1059, CESifo.
    19. Müller, Kai-Uwe & Wrohlich, Katharina, 2020. "Does subsidized care for toddlers increase maternal labor supply? Evidence from a large-scale expansion of early childcare," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    20. 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.

    More about this item

    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:diw:diwwpp:dp305. 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: Bibliothek (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/diwbede.html .

    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.