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Trust, Child Care Technology Choice and Female Labor Force Participation

Author

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  • El-Attar, Mayssun

    (McGill University)

Abstract

In this paper we test the effect of trust on the choice of child care technology. We estimate individual-level trust as a latent attribute using survey questions on personal attitudes by applying the econometric methodology by Spady (2007). Compared to other measures of trust, using this technique has several advantages: It makes more efficient use of information by allowing the aggregation of information from several questions and by exploiting additional information from personal and demographic characteristics. It requires very few parametric assumptions and it is conceptually cleaner and more consistent with theory than the proxies or demographic characteristics often used in previous work. Having estimated the individual attitudes to trust using data from the European Social Survey, we analyze their personal, demographic, and regional determinants. We find that trust matters for the degree of externalness of the child care technology people choose. It can therefore be a possible explanation for differences in female labor force participation across countries and across sociological groups.

Suggested Citation

  • El-Attar, Mayssun, 2007. "Trust, Child Care Technology Choice and Female Labor Force Participation," IZA Discussion Papers 3135, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
  • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3135
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Bruno Arpino & Chiara D. Pronzato & Lara P. Tavares, 2012. "Mothers’ labour market participation: Do grandparents make it easier?," Carlo Alberto Notebooks 277, Collegio Carlo Alberto.
    2. Paula Albuquerque & José Passos, 2010. "Grandparents and women's participation in the labor market," Working Papers Department of Economics 2010/16, ISEG - Lisbon School of Economics and Management, Department of Economics, Universidade de Lisboa.
    3. Bruno Arpino & Francesca Luppi, 2020. "Childcare arrangements and working mothers’ satisfaction with work‒family balance," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 42(19), pages 549-588.
    4. Pronzato, Chiara & Patrício Tavares, Lara & Arpino, Bruno, 2010. "All in the family: informal childcare and mothers’ labour market participation," ISER Working Paper Series 2010-24, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    5. Ylenia Brilli & Daniela Del Boca & Chiara Monfardini, 2013. "Child Care Arrangements: Determinants and Consequences," CHILD Working Papers Series 18, Centre for Household, Income, Labour and Demographic Economics (CHILD) - CCA.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    latent attitudes; labor force participation; child care; trust; item response models;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • 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
    • D10 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - General

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