Explaining Changes in Female Labor Supply in a Life-Cycle Model
- (pp. 1517-52)
Abstract
This paper studies the life-cycle labor supply of three cohorts of American women, born in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. We focus on the increase in labor supply of mothers between the 1940s and 1950s cohorts. We construct a lifecycle model of female participation and savings, and calibrate the model to match the behavior of the middle cohort. We investigate which changes in the determinants of labor supply account for the increases in participation early in the life-cycle observed for the youngest cohort. A combination of a reduction in the cost of children alongside a reduction in the wage-gender gap is needed. (JEL D91, J16, J22, J31)Citation
Attanasio, Orazio, Hamish Low, and Virginia Sánchez-Marcos. 2008. "Explaining Changes in Female Labor Supply in a Life-Cycle Model." American Economic Review, 98 (4): 1517-52. DOI: 10.1257/aer.98.4.1517Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- D15 Intertemporal Consumer Choice; Life Cycle Models and Saving
- J16 Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
- J22 Time Allocation and Labor Supply
- L31 Nonprofit Institutions; NGOs