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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Biasi, Paola (International Social Security Association); De Paola, Maria (University of Calabria); Gioia, Francesca (University of Milan) |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the influence of the male breadwinner norm on fathers' decisions regarding childcare responsibilities. We study the complex interplay between economic factors and gender norms in shaping the division of household labor within families by analyzing the impact a breadwinning mother has on fathers' choices regarding paternity leave (fully subsidized) and parental leave (partially or not subsidized). We exploit administrative data, provided by the Italian National Security Institute (INPS), including demographic and working characteristics of both parents together with information on the use of paternity and parental leave by fathers in the 2013-2023 period. We find that, in line with the "doing gender" hypothesis, when the leave is fully subsidized, as for paternity leave, fathers are less likely to engage in childcare when their wives earn more than they do. In contrast, this dynamic does not apply in cases of parental leave, where the economic costs of aligning with the gender norm are substantial. The effects we find are robust when replacing the actual probability of there being an out-earning mother with the potential probability and are amplified by the salience of the gender identity norm. |
| Keywords: | paternity leave, parental leave, gender identity norms |
| JEL: | D10 J12 J16 |
| Date: | 2025–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17601 |
| By: | Rui Castro; Fabian Lange; Markus Poschke |
| Abstract: | Labor Force States and flows between are useful tools to model individual dynamics in the labor market. This chapter reviews recent literature uncovering substantial heterogeneity in transitions across Labor Force States. We review methods and results by replicating leading studies using Canadian data and relate our findings to important literatures on recall non-employment, duration dependence, and job ladders. |
| JEL: | J6 J64 |
| Date: | 2024–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:33200 |
| By: | Katarína Borovičková; Robert Shimer |
| Abstract: | We develop a random search model with two-sided heterogeneity and match-specific productivity shocks to explain why high-productivity workers tend to work at high-productivity firms despite low-productivity workers gaining about as much from such matches. Our model has two key predictions: i) the average log wage that a worker receives is increasing in the worker's and employer's productivity, with low-productivity workers gaining proportionally more at high-productivity firms and ii) there is assortative matching between a worker's productivity and that of her employer. Selective job acceptance drives these patterns. All workers are equally likely to meet all firms, but workers have higher surplus from meeting firms of similar productivity. The high surplus meetings result in matches more frequently, generating assortative matching. Only the subset of meetings that result in matches are observed in administrative wage data, shaping wages. We show that our findings are quantitatively consistent with recent empirical results. Moreover, we prove this selection is not detected using standard empirical approaches, highlighting the importance of theory-guided empirical work. Our results imply that encouraging high-wage firms to hire low-wage workers may be less effective at reducing wage inequality than wage patterns suggest. |
| JEL: | J31 J64 |
| Date: | 2024–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:33184 |
| By: | Samuel Bazzi; Abel Brodeur; Martin Fiszbein; Joanne Haddad |
| Abstract: | This paper explores how historical gender roles become entrenched as norms over the long run. In the historical United States, gender roles on the frontier looked starkly different from those in settled areas. Male-biased sex ratios led to higher marriage rates for women and lower for men. Land abundance favored higher fertility. The demands of childcare, compounded with isolation from extended family, markets, and social infrastructure, constrained female opportunities outside the home. Frontier women were less likely to report “gainful employment, ” but among those who did, relatively more had high-status occupations. Together, these findings integrate contrasting narratives about frontier women—some emphasizing their entrepreneurial independence, others their prevailing domesticity. The distinctive frontier gender roles, in turn, shaped norms over the long run. Counties with greater historical frontier exposure exhibit lower female labor force participation through the 21st century. Time use data suggests this does not come with additional leisure but rather with more household work. These gender inequalities are accompanied by weaker political participation among women. While the historical frontier may have been empowering for some women, its predominant domesticity reinforced inegalitarian gender norms over the long run. |
| Keywords: | American frontier, culture, fertility, gender norms, labor supply, marriage |
| JEL: | J12 J13 J22 N31 N91 O15 P16 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11598 |
| By: | Le Barbanchon, Thomas (Bocconi University) |
| Abstract: | This paper tests whether partially unemployed workers value future preserved benefits when they bunch at the kink of the unemployment insurance benefit-withdrawal schedule. I extend the bunching formula of Saez (2010) to a dynamic setting that accounts for the value of future benefits tied to taxation. This yields new tests of tax-benefit linkage based on bunching heterogeneity. I verify in quasi-experiments that UI extension programs that decrease the value of future benefits lead to more bunching and to lower labor supply. Last, a quantification exercise of the dynamic bunching formula provides extra support for a strong tax-benefit linkage. |
| Keywords: | tax-benefit linkage, bunching, unemployment insurance |
| JEL: | J65 H24 H31 |
| Date: | 2025–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17600 |
| By: | Claudia Olivetti; Jessica Pan; Barbara Petrongolo |
| Abstract: | This chapter traces the evolution of the study of gender in the labor market, focusing on how academic thinking on this topic has evolved alongside real world developments in gender inequality from the 1980s to the present. We present a simple model of female labor supply to illustrate how various forces discussed in the literature (e.g., productivity differentials, unequal gender roles, wage markdowns) affect the gender earnings gap. A major development in the literature is a clearer distinction between intrinsic differences in preferences and skills between men and women versus differential constraints in driving gender gaps. We discuss insights from research on the relative importance of these explanations, and the implications for economic efficiency. We highlight that much of the literature today emphasizes the relevance of gendered constraints, where women and men typically face differential trade-offs between family and career, with implications for job sorting, job search, and earnings. These constraints have their roots in gender roles within the household that are shaped by wider societal norms. We review recent research that establishes the relevance of identity and norms for understanding gender inequalities in the labor market, both on the supply-side and on the demand-side, as well as what drives the formation and evolution of these norms. Finally, we conclude with suggestions for future research. |
| JEL: | J12 J16 J20 J30 |
| Date: | 2024–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:33153 |
| By: | Bach, Nicoline Josephine (VIVE - The Danish Centre for Social Science Research); Rasmussen, Astrid Würtz (Aarhus University); Smith, Nina (Aarhus University) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the relationship between the timing of childbirth and the motherhood penalty among high-skilled Danish women. Earlier studies typically find that delaying first childbirth increases female earnings. However, postponing the first birth may also have negative fertility consequences, as it often leads to greater difficulties in conceiving. If women have their first childbirth early, before entering the labor market, this can potentially result in both positive and negative effects on their labor market outcomes. Positive effects may arise if student-mothers signal to employers that they will take up less future maternity and parental leave once they enter the labor market. Negative effects may occur if student-mothers face a delayed entry into the labor market or if they signal a preference for higher fertility compared to students without children. Using a sibling fixed effects design, we find that student-mothers have higher drop-out rates than non-student-mothers at both universities and university colleges. However, for those women completing their education, student-mothers from university colleges experience a considerably higher growth rate in earnings after labor market entry compared to non-student-mothers, and by the age of 40, they have surpassed non-student-mothers in earnings. In contrast, university student-mothers do not fully catch up with non-student-mothers by age 40, although they, on average, enter the labor market at a higher earnings level compared to non-student-mothers. |
| Keywords: | wage differentials, female wages, parental leave, signaling, motherhood penalty |
| JEL: | J13 J31 D82 |
| Date: | 2025–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17603 |
| By: | Berger, Thor (Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study (SCAS),); Karadja, Mounir (Department of Economics, Uppsala University); Prawitz, Erik (Department of Economics and Statistics, Linnaeus University) |
| Abstract: | We document that large cities were instrumental in shaping women’s work and family outcomes in the early 20th century. We focus on migrants to Stockholm, Sweden’s largest city, using representative, linked census data. Female migrants to Stockholm saw persistent changes in work and family outcomes over the life-cycle. Migrants were approximately 50 percentage points more likely to enter the labor force and less likely to marry or have children than their sisters migrating to rural areas. They experienced skill-upgrading and higher real incomes, without adverse mortality effects. Early structural shifts towards services partly explain these patterns. |
| Keywords: | Female labor force participation; Migration; Urbanization; Economic history |
| JEL: | I15 N93 Q25 |
| Date: | 2025–01–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:1516 |
| By: | Iris Kesternich; Frederic Vermeulen; Alexander Wintzeus |
| Abstract: | Flexible work schedules and telecommuting may help to improve the combination of work and family. This is arguably most important in households with (young) children. An open question is whether job flexibility can increase the well-being of the children, which depends, in part, on the time spent on child care by the parents. In couples, the allocation of time depends not only on the time and budget constraints these couples are faced with, but also on the (possibly diverging) preferences of mothers and fathers and their respective bargaining positions. To address this question, we propose a rich collective model describing the intrahousehold allocation of time and money, where children’s well-being is treated as a domestically produced good. Job flexibility may influence this domestic production process as a production shifter, capturing that flexible jobs can ease constraints on child care time parents may encounter. We apply our model to a unique sample of Dutch couples with children and find that job flexibility significantly impacts the production of children’s well-being. While the results indicate that more job flexibility for fathers may help parents to balance work and family, they imply that more job flexibility for mothers may not allow parents to achieve the same. The overall implications for children’s well-being appear negative, albeit limited. |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ete:ceswps:757479 |
| By: | Alan S Duncan (Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin University); Silvia Salazar (Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre, Curtin University); Loan Vu (Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre, Curtin Business School) |
| Abstract: | The ninth report in the BCEC|WGEA Gender Equity Insights series provides an in-depth analysis of the evolving nature of part-time work and implications of this change for the future of work in Australia. Part-time roles have been dropping in Australia, by 3.2 percentage points in the past two years. The labour market appears to be shifting, especially in women’s part-time and flexible work, with a rise in flexible full-time and hybrid roles enabling more employee choice. This signals a need for action to prioritise gender equity across all job levels, not just management. The report identifies an important shift in how employees choose to engage in the workforce, as they increasingly seek flexibility and opportunities to tailor work schedules and locations to their needs and calls on employers to develop a plan for action that normalises both flexible and part-time work, without career penalties. |
| Keywords: | gender equity, gender equality, industry segregation, part-time employment, flexible work, remote working, women in leadership, gender pay gap, workplace policies and actions, gender policies. |
| JEL: | J16 J7 J4 M2 L2 |
| Date: | 2024–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ozl:bcecrs:ge09 |
| By: | Andrea Caria |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the causal impact of Italy’s transition from analog to digital terrestrial television on fertility rates, exploiting the staggered rollout between 2008 and 2012 as a natural experiment. Employing a difference-in-differences analysis and a doubly robust estimator, I find a statistically significant negative effect of digital terrestrial television adoption on fertility, particularly pronounced in urban, progressive areas characterized by low pre-treatment fertility, fewer young couples with children, higher population density, and taxpayers. While a simple time substitution effect (between television viewing and reproductive activities) is unlikely to be the primary driver, evidence suggests that digital terrestrial television facilitated more individualized viewing experiences through increased household television ownership. The findings point to a significant shift in gender roles following digital terrestrial television adoption: I observe an increase in female labor force participation and a more equitable division of domestic work, with men undertaking a larger share of lighter household tasks. |
| Keywords: | reproductive decisions, digital terrestrial television, media influence, difference-in-differences analysis |
| JEL: | J13 J16 L82 C23 D83 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11591 |
| By: | Kirill Borusyak; Peter Hull; Xavier Jaravel |
| Abstract: | A recent econometric literature shows two distinct paths for identification with shift-share instruments, leveraging either many exogenous shifts or exogenous shares. We present the core logic of both paths and practical takeaways via simple checklists. A variety of empirical settings illustrate key points. |
| JEL: | C18 C21 C26 F16 J21 J61 |
| Date: | 2024–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:33236 |
| By: | Anup Malani; Ari Jacob |
| Abstract: | The world has experienced a dramatic decline in total fertility rate (TFR) since the Industrial Revolution. Yet the consequences of this decline flow not merely from a reduction in births, but from a reduction in the number of surviving children. We propose a new measure of the number of surviving children per female, which we call the effective fertility rate (EFR). EFR can be approximated as the product of TFR and the probability of survival. Moreover, TFR changes can be decomposed into changes that preserve EFR and those that change EFR. We specialized EFR to measure the number of daughters that survive to reproduce (reproductive EFR) and the number children that survive to become workers (labor EFR). We use three data sets to shed light on EFR over time across locations. First, we use data from 165 countries between 1950-2019 to show that one-third of the global decline in TFR during this period did not change labor EFR, suggesting that a substantial portion of fertility decline merely compensated for higher survival rates. Focusing on the change in labor EFR, at least 40% of variation cannot be explained by economic factors such as income, prices, education levels, structural transformation, an urbanization, leaving room for explanations like cultural change. Second, using historical demographic data on European countries since 1750, we find that there was dramatic fluctuation in labor EFR in Europe around each of the World Wars, a phenomenon that is distinct from the demographic transition. However, prior to that fluctuation, EFRs were remarkably constant, even as European countries were undergoing demographic transitions. Indeed, even when EFRs fell below 2 after 1975, we find that EFRs remained stable rather than continuing to decline. Third, data from the US since 1800 reveal that, despite great differences in mortality rates, Black and White populations have remarkably similar numbers of surviving children over time. |
| JEL: | J1 J13 |
| Date: | 2024–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:33175 |
| By: | Jirjahn, Uwe (University of Trier) |
| Abstract: | This article reviews quantitative research on unions and collective bargaining in Sub-Saharan Africa. It discusses the consequences of unions for wages, inequality, economic performance and employer-employee relations. The article also highlights the role of unions in society, a role that goes beyond the economic sphere. Moreover, the article discusses evidence on how the specific situation in Sub-Saharan Africa influences unionization and collective bargaining. The informal sector, ethnic divide and globalization entail serious threats to workers' unionization. The increasing influence of China and neoliberal policy prescriptions by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank are challenging factors, too. |
| Keywords: | Africa, industrial relations, political spillover, informal sector, ethnic diversity, globalization |
| JEL: | J51 J52 F66 O10 O55 |
| Date: | 2025–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17597 |
| By: | Henrique Salviano Fernandes; Jose Luis Oreiro |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the relationship between the fiscal multiplier and disguised unemployment in Brazil, focusing on the effectiveness of fiscal policies in scenarios of underutilization of the workforce. Based on a review of pre-existing literature for calculating disguised unemployment in Brazil and the application of a vector autoregressive (VAR) model, the impacts of fiscal shocks on GDP and the rates of open and disguised unemployment were analyzed. Data suggests the existence of disguised unemployment in Brazil, especially in the traditional services sector. In addition, the results indicate that investment and other expenditures shocks have the highest positive fiscal multipliers, while payroll expenditures have a negative impact. Finally, the analysis also highlights that fiscal policies aimed at increasing income transfers could be a viable way of reducing disguised unemployment. |
| Keywords: | Fiscal multiplier; Disguised unemployment; Fiscal policy; Labor market |
| JEL: | E24 E26 H30 J01 J64 |
| Date: | 2025–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pke:wpaper:pkwp2502 |
| By: | Calmfors, Lars (Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN)) |
| Abstract: | he various form of pattern bargaining with manufacturing, as representative of the tradables sector, deciding the norm for wage increases in the Nordic countries are reviewed. This form of bargaining has been consistent with strong international competitiveness and has widespread support among practitioners based on informal analysis. It is, however, hard to build a convincing case in more formal modelling for the idea that wage leadership for the tradables sector is particularly conducive to wage restraint. The conclusion is rather that it is norm setting in itself, irrespective of by whom it is done, that promotes wage moderation. In the future, when changing demograhics may motivate a reallocation of labour to welfare services, a rigid application of international competitiveness norms may imply an undesirable status-quo bias. More weight should probably be given to overall labour market conditions and more relative-wage flexibility allowed. |
| Keywords: | Pattern bargaining; Coordination of wage setting; the Scandinavian model; Stackelberg leadership; Social norms; Labour reallocation |
| JEL: | E24 J21 J51 |
| Date: | 2025–01–14 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:1517 |
| By: | Ethan Kaplan; Suresh Naidu |
| Abstract: | We survey and summarize recent literature on labor unions in political economy. While labor unions have been a long-standing subject of study in labor and macroeconomics, until recently they have been less studied by political economists, despite being important political actors in many policy-relevant contexts. We first organize the literature into work on the external influence of unions on the political system, including effects on voting, campaign finance, lobbying, and intraparty bargaining. We then discuss work on the internal politics and organization of unions, including issues of selection and representation, union aggregation of preferences. We pay special attention to the economic and political effects of public sector unions. We also discuss union behavior in weakly institutionalized contexts, where crime, corruption, rent-seeking, political strikes, and violence are all issues. We conclude with directions for future work. |
| JEL: | J5 P0 |
| Date: | 2024–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:33295 |
| By: | Mirjam Bachli (HEC University of Lausanne); Albrecht Glitz (Universitat Pompeu Fabra) |
| Abstract: | Immigration may affect income inequality not only by changing factor prices but also by inducing policy makers to adjust the prevailing income tax system. We assess the relative importance of these economic and political channels using administrative data from Switzerland where local authorities have a high degree of tax autonomy. We show that immigrant inflows not only raise gross earnings inequality but also reduce the progressivity of local income taxes, further increasing after-tax inequality. Our estimates suggest that 10 percent of the impact of immigration on the net interquartile and interdecile earnings gaps can be attributed to the political channel. |
| Keywords: | Immigration, Income Taxes, Earnings Inequality |
| JEL: | H23 H24 H71 J31 J61 |
| Date: | 2024–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:2435 |
| By: | Lawrence Blume; Neil A. Cholli; Steven N. Durlauf; Aleksandra Lukina |
| Abstract: | This paper proposes some new measures of intergenerational persistence based on the idea of characterizing the memory of origin in the stochastic process that links the socioeconomic classes of parents and children. We introduce “memory curves” for all future generations given any initial condition of class for a family dynasty, which reveal how initial conditions interact with the transition process between parents and children to create mobility and persistence. We also propose ways to aggregate information across different classes to produce overall characterizations of mobility in the population. To illustrate our measures, we estimate occupational “memory curves” using U.S. survey data. Our findings show that, on average, the memory of initial conditions dissipates largely within three generations, though there is meaningful heterogeneity in mobility rates across dynasties originating from different occupational classes. |
| JEL: | C10 C50 D30 J6 |
| Date: | 2024–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:33166 |
| By: | Rukundo, Emmanuel Nshakira; Schroeder, Sarah; Hisarciklilar, Mehtap; McKay, Andrew D. |
| Abstract: | We study the effect of a health insurance premium change on labour supply. Using a matching with difference-in-differences strategy on a pooled nationwide cross-sectional and panel data, we find that both premium waivers and premium increased led to a reduction in labor supply by almost similar margins. We also show that the policy change reduced the probability of wage employment and increased domestic labour supply, , pointing to potential income effects for waivers and potential manipulation effects for premium increases. Our results are robust fo various specifications and raise concerns of the unintended effects of popular but likely inefficient community-based welfare targeting methods. |
| Abstract: | Wir untersuchen die Auswirkungen einer Änderung der Krankenversicherungsprämienpolitik auf das Arbeitsangebot. Unter Verwendung einer Matching-mit-Differenz-in-Differenz-Strategie auf gepoolten landweiten Querschnitts-und-Paneldaten stellen wir fest, dass, sowohl Prämienbefreiungen und Prämienerhöhungen zu einer Verringerung des Arbeitskraftangebots in fast gleicher Größenordnung führen. Wir zeigen auch, dass der Politikwechsel die Wahrscheinlichkeit einer Lohnbeschäftigung verringert und das inländische Arbeitsangebot im Inland, was auf einen potenziellen Einkommenseffekt bei Prämienbefreiungen und einen potenziellen Manipulationseffekt bei Erhöhungen hinweisen. Unsere Ergebnisse sind robust gegenüber verschiedenen Spezifikationen und geben Anlass zur Sorge über die unbeabsichtigten Auswirkungen von populären, aber wahrscheinlich ineffizienten gemeindebasierten Methoden der Wohlfahrtsausrichtung. |
| Keywords: | Health insurance, premium changes, labor supply, Rwanda |
| JEL: | I13 I15 I18 J01 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:rwirep:308800 |
| By: | Mette Gørtz; Ida L. Kristiansen; Tianyi Wang |
| Abstract: | While physicians are crucial to patient outcomes, what determines physician behavior and decision making remains to be understood. In this paper, we study how physicians’ family characteristics influence physicians’ behavior and patient health outcomes. Using administrative data from Denmark and the natural experiment of a child’s gender, we find that having daughters affects male primary care physicians’ practices and the health of their female patients. Specifically, female patients cared for by male physicians with one additional daughter (compared to one additional son) are 5.5% less likely to die from female-specific cancers, including breast and gynecologic cancers. This improvement in outcomes appears to stem from enhanced cancer screening and preventive efforts, leading to earlier detection and more successful prevention. Exploring potential mechanisms, we find that male physicians with more daughters show greater attentiveness to female-specific health guidelines and are more likely to collaborate with women. We also find suggestive evidence from survey data that female patients report higher levels of trust, empathy, and clearer communication with these physicians. |
| JEL: | I10 I14 J12 |
| Date: | 2024–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:33146 |
| By: | Matthias Mertens; Benjamin Schoefer |
| Abstract: | We document and dissect a new stylized fact about firm growth: the shift from labor to intermediate inputs. This shift occurs in input quantities, cost and output shares, and output elasticities. We establish this fact using German firm-level data and replicate it in administrative firm data from 11 additional countries. We also document these patterns in micro-aggregated industry data for 20 European countries (and, with respect to industry cost shares, for the US). We rationalize this novel regularity within a parsimonious model featuring (i) an elasticity of substitution between intermediates and labor that exceeds unity, and (ii) an increasing shadow price of labor relative to intermediates, due to monopsony power over labor or labor adjustment costs. The shift from labor to intermediates accounts for one half to one third of the decline in the labor share in growing firms (the remainder is due to wage markdowns and markups) and rationalizes most of the labor share decline in growing industries. |
| JEL: | E0 J0 L0 M0 O0 |
| Date: | 2024–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:33172 |