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The Effect of Fertility on Mothers’ Labor Supply over the Last Two Centuries

Author

Listed:
  • Rajeev Dehejia
  • Rajeev Dehejia
  • Andrew Jordan
  • Cristian Pop-Eleches
  • Cyrus Samii
  • Karl Schulze

Abstract

This paper documents the evolving impact of childbearing on the work activity of mothers. Based on a compiled dataset of 441 censuses and surveys between 1787 and 2015, representing 103 countries and 48.4 million mothers, we document three main findings: (1) the effect of fertility on labor supply is small and typically indistinguishable from zero at low levels of development and economically large and negative at higher levels of development; (2) this negative gradient is remarkably consistent across histories of currently developed countries and contemporary cross-sections of countries; and (3) the results are strikingly robust to identification strategies, model specification, data construction, and rescaling. We explain our results within a standard labor-leisure model and attribute the negative labor supply gradient to changes in the sectoral and occupational structure of female jobs as countries develop.

Suggested Citation

  • Rajeev Dehejia & Rajeev Dehejia & Andrew Jordan & Cristian Pop-Eleches & Cyrus Samii & Karl Schulze, 2017. "The Effect of Fertility on Mothers’ Labor Supply over the Last Two Centuries," Working Paper Series WP-2017-14, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedhwp:wp-2017-14
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Twins; instrumental variables; development; economic history; fertility; labor supply;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F63 - International Economics - - Economic Impacts of Globalization - - - Economic Development
    • F66 - International Economics - - Economic Impacts of Globalization - - - Labor
    • J00 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - General
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • N00 - Economic History - - General - - - General

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