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Assortative Marriage and the Effects of Government Homecare Subsidy Programs on Gender Wage and Participation Inequality

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  • Bjerk, David
  • Han, Seungjin

Abstract

We develop a model of the labor market where firms incur an adjustment cost when one of their workers quits, and males and females form households assortatively by skill. We show how this environment can lead to an economy where females earn less and drop out more frequently than equally skilled males in equilibrium, even when males and females constitute ex-ante identical populations. We then examine how different government homecare subsidy schemes may affect such gender inequality in the labor market. We show that the effect of government homecare subsidy schemes on gender inequality depends crucially on the form in which the subsidy is given and to whom it is allocated.

Suggested Citation

  • Bjerk, David & Han, Seungjin, 2005. "Assortative Marriage and the Effects of Government Homecare Subsidy Programs on Gender Wage and Participation Inequality," Microeconomics.ca working papers bjerk-05-11-21-10-55-45, Vancouver School of Economics, revised 06 Sep 2006.
    • Handle: RePEc:ubc:pmicro:bjerk-05-11-21-10-55-45
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    File URL: http://socserv.mcmaster.ca/han/research/gender5JPubE.pdf
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    Cited by:

    1. Lommerud, K.E. & Vagstad, S., 2000. "Mommy Tracks and Public Policy: On Self-Fulfilling Prophecies and Gender Gaps in Promotion," Norway; Department of Economics, University of Bergen 0600, Department of Economics, University of Bergen.
    2. Pamela Campa & Alessandra Casarico & Paola Profeta, 2011. "Gender Culture and Gender Gap in Employment," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo Group, vol. 57(1), pages 156-182, March.
    3. Valeria Rueda & Guillaume Wilemme, 2021. "Career Paths with a Two-Body Problem: Occupational Specialization and Geographic Mobility," Upjohn Working Papers 21-346, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
    4. Lommerud, Kjell Erik & Straume, Odd Rune & Vagstad, Steinar, 2015. "Mommy tracks and public policy: On self-fulfilling prophecies and gender gaps in hiring and promotion," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 540-554.
    5. David Bjerk, 2008. "Glass Ceilings or Sticky Floors? Statistical Discrimination in a Dynamic Model of Hiring and Promotion," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 118(530), pages 961-982, July.
    6. Cervini, Maria & Silva, José I., 2023. "Childcare restrictions and gender gap in labor outcomes," MPRA Paper 118957, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. David Bjerk & Serkan Ozbeklik, 2018. "Using Samples-of-Opportunity to Assess Gender Bias in Principal Evaluations of Teachers: A Cautionary Tale," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 39(3), pages 235-258, September.
    8. Bjerk, David, 2009. "Beauty vs. earnings: Gender differences in earnings and priorities over spousal characteristics in a matching model," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 69(3), pages 248-259, March.
    9. Alessandra Casarico & Elena Del Rey & Jose I. Silva, 2023. "Child care costs, household liquidity constraints, and gender inequality," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 36(3), pages 1461-1487, July.
    10. Roberto Bonilla & Adrian Masters, 2023. "Endogenous gender-based discrimination in a model of simultaneous frictional labor and marriage markets," Economic Theory Bulletin, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 11(1), pages 107-119, April.
    11. Francesca Carta & Alessandra Casarico & Marta De Philippis & Salvatore Lattanzio, 2024. "Mom's out: employment after childbirth and firm-level responses," Temi di discussione (Economic working papers) 1458, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Gender Inequality; Discrimination; Subsidized Childcare;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H42 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Publicly Provided Private Goods
    • H24 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Personal Income and Other Nonbusiness Taxes and Subsidies
    • J71 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination - - - Hiring and Firing
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth

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