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Household Specialization and the Labor-Supply Elasticities of Women and Men

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  • Christian Bredemeier

Abstract

This paper studies gender differences in the elasticity of labor supply in a model of household specialization. I show that household specialization implies larger Frisch elasticities for the partner that specializes in home production. Quantitatively, empirical time-use ratios alone imply differences in the Frisch elasticity between women and men of more than 50%. Similar results are obtained for long-run elasticities. My results imply that the elasticity of labor supply is not a deep parameter which can, e.g., explain parts of the state-dependent effects of fiscal policy.

Suggested Citation

  • Christian Bredemeier, 2015. "Household Specialization and the Labor-Supply Elasticities of Women and Men," Working Paper Series in Economics 81, University of Cologne, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:kls:series:0081
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Bredemeier, Christian, 2016. "Wage Gaps, Earnings Gaps, and the Market Power of Employers," VfS Annual Conference 2016 (Augsburg): Demographic Change 145935, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Labor-supply elasticity; gender; home production;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • D13 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Production and Intrahouse Allocation

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