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Maternity Leave, Effort Allocation, and Postmotherhood Earnings

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  • Evgenia Kogan Dechter

Abstract

Women with children earn less than women without children. I study this wage gap using a dynamic model of human capital accumulation with endogenous time and effort allocation between household and market activities. Selection into motherhood does not drive the gap in hourly wage. I decompose this gap into forgone human capital and changing effort at work. Human capital depreciates as a result of maternity leave and accumulates at a lower rate after childbirth because of a reduction in work hours. Effort at work does not decline after childbirth. Reduced human capital accumulation explains the entire postmotherhood loss in hourly wage.

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  • Evgenia Kogan Dechter, 2014. "Maternity Leave, Effort Allocation, and Postmotherhood Earnings," Journal of Human Capital, University of Chicago Press, vol. 8(2), pages 97-125.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucp:jhucap:doi:10.1086/677324
    DOI: 10.1086/677324
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    Cited by:

    1. Tamar Khitarishvili, 2018. "Gender Pay Gaps in the Former Soviet Union: A Review of the Evidence," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_899, Levy Economics Institute.
    2. Tamar Khitarishvili, 2016. "Two tales of contraction: gender wage gap in Georgia before and after the 2008 crisis," IZA Journal of Labor & Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 5(1), pages 1-28, December.
    3. Eva M. Berger & Luke Haywood, 2016. "Locus of Control and Mothers’ Return to Employment," Journal of Human Capital, University of Chicago Press, vol. 10(4), pages 442-481.
    4. Кирюшина М. А. & Рудаков В. Н., 2021. "Гендерные Различия В Заработной Плате Выпускников Вузов И Учреждений Спо На Начальном Этапе Карьеры," Вопросы образования // Educational Studies Moscow, National Research University Higher School of Economics, issue 2, pages 172-198.
    5. Jason Fletcher & Joel Han, 2019. "Intergenerational Mobility in Education: Variation in Geography and Time," Journal of Human Capital, University of Chicago Press, vol. 13(4), pages 585-634.
    6. repec:cge:wacage:519 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Troeger, Vera E. & Di Leo, Riccardo & Scotto, Thomas J. & Epifanio, Mariaelisa, 2020. "Motherhood in Academia : A Novel Dataset with an Application to Maternity Leave Uptake," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 1312, University of Warwick, Department of Economics.
    8. Margarita Kiryushina & Victor Rudakov, 2021. "The Gender Gap in Early-Career Wages of Universities' and Vocational Education Institutes' Graduates," Voprosy obrazovaniya / Educational Studies Moscow, National Research University Higher School of Economics, issue 2, pages 172-198.
    9. repec:cge:wacage:518 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Seyyed Ali Zeytoon Nejad Moosavian, 2022. "Identifying the Effect of Parenthood on Labor Force Participation: A Gender Comparison," Papers 2209.02743, arXiv.org.
    11. Troeger, Vera E. & Di Leo, Riccardo & Scotto, Thomas J. & Epifanio, Mariaelisa, 2020. "The Motherhood Penalties : Insights from Women in UK Academia," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 1313, University of Warwick, Department of Economics.

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