Review of Economics of the Household最新文献

This study estimates the heterogeneous effects of the first childbirth on mothers’ annual income, using data from several waves (1979-2018) of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. Women usually experience an immediate decrease in their income after childbirth, compared to what they would have earned if they had not become mothers. This gap closes somewhat over time, though mothers never fully catch up to their counterfactuals. Previous work tried to explain this “motherhood penalty” by estimating the average treatment effect of children on women’s income; however, these effects can be quite heterogeneous across mothers with different observable characteristics. Instead, our analysis centers on the distribution of the individual-level effects of the first childbirth on mothers’ income, using the Changes-in-Changes model and quantile regression. Identifying the features of this distribution is a challenging task as it requires knowledge of joint distribution. We find that around 73% of mothers have lower income after their first childbirth than they would have had if they had not had a child. These adverse effects are particularly pronounced among 10–20% of mothers. Our quantile regression analysis indicates that the first childbirth most negatively affects older, single/divorced, white, and more educated mothers.

We use a matched employer-employee dataset covering the universe of employees in the Italian private sector to compare labor market outcomes of mothers and fathers during the pandemic. We find that mothers experienced a larger penalty in terms of reduced labor market earnings compared to fathers (−14.1 vs. −6.9 %) in 2020 and the first half of 2021. In contrast, starting from July 2021, we observe similar trends in mothers’ and fathers’ earnings. Evidence highlighting differences in penalties according to the sector of activity (essential vs. non-essential and easiness of access to work from home), the type of contract, the age of children, and the pre-pandemic mother-father pay gap suggests that both demand and supply factors have played a role in explaining the gendered impact of COVID-19.

Prior studies show men commute longer than women, often due to household responsibilities. However, research on commuting differences within couples is limited. This study examines gender gaps in commuting times and mode choices among dual-earner couples in Spain, Italy, South Korea, and the UK. Using Ordinary Least Squares regressions, we find that the presence of children significantly increases gender gaps in commuting times in Italy and the UK, supporting the household responsibility hypothesis. Conversely, no significant link between children and gender gaps is observed in Spain and Korea. Additionally, children’s presence affects commuting mode choices in Italy across all modes, and in Korea for public transit only, with Italian women showing the most changes in commuting mode when children are present.

We examine the relationship between unemployment insurance generosity and reported intimate partner violence in the U.S. by leveraging the staggered adoption of the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation program, which increased unemployment insurance payments by $600 per week in 2020. Using detailed nationwide police report data, we find that states that implemented this program reported 9% more cases of intimate partner violence (IPV) than states which had not yet implemented the program, driven primarily by increases in aggravated assault, intimidation, and sexual assault. This is consistent with prior evidence on changes in government transfers and IPV. These results are not explained by local differences in unemployment, sheltering in place, economic impact payments, COVID-19 case rates, or temperature. We also find a decrease in total reported IPV against men, but more serious offenses increase.

This study estimates the effects of state laws that allow access to independently owned bank accounts without a custodian. In states where minors can own accounts, youth aged 16 through 19 are more likely to be banked, although by age 24 those young adults are banked at similar rates to teens who grew up in states that do not allow minors to own accounts independently. However, young adults who had access to independently owned accounts as teens are then more likely to use high-cost non-bank financial services, particularly check-cashing services. Young adults who had access to non-custodial accounts as teens also show lower credit scores and more loan delinquencies at ages 21 through 24. While state banking policies can increase financial inclusion for teenagers, minors with bank accounts could face frictions transitioning to adult accounts.

US state legislation requiring parental involvement in the abortion decision of a minor has grown in prevalence since its origin in the 1970s. Today, 36 states impose a parental involvement requirement on their residents below the age of 18. These laws come in two primary categories: parental notification and parental consent. Though much research estimates the effects of these policies, limited evidence exists regarding any differential impact between parental notification and parental consent. This paper uses the synthetic control method to determine if the increased marginal cost of an abortion imposed by a parental consent statute affects the abortion rate and birth rate for minors relative to parental notification. Results indicate no evidence of a marginal effect of parental consent laws on the abortion/birth rate for minors overall, suggesting that the additional cost of a parental consent law may be small.

Using American Community Survey data from 2005 to 2021, we document differences in housing outcomes by race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation. Relative to White couples, Black couples have substantially lower homeownership probabilities and home values. The Hispanic-White gap in housing outcomes is smaller than the Black-White gap. With respect to sexual orientation, same-sex couples have lower ownership probabilities than married, different-sex couples. By revealing where inequities in housing exist, our results can inform policies to close the gaps in housing outcomes.

This study contributes to the growing literature on Work from Home (WfH), focusing on the responsiveness of the phenomenon to the business cycle. In particular, the Great Recession led many states to implement unprecedented and expansionary unemployment benefit measures (Extended Benefit, EB), which were often revoked when the recession resumed. EB measures differ widely in generosity and timing across states. We exploit this, for identification purposes, by linking the interview date of the respondents to the American Time Use Survey (ATUS) to the dates of implementation of EB programs, in the respondent’s state of residence. ATUS provides unique cross-sectional information on WfH for a representative sample of Americans. Taking an approach inspired by a Regression Discontinuity Design, we find that recessions, as proxied by EB expansionary measures, significantly increase women’s commuting. In contrast, women’s remote work increases with economic recovery, as captured by EB contractionary measures. The evidence for men is less clear-cut.

We examine whether religion influences sex-selection behavior under a persistent son preference. Specifically, we investigate whether religion promotes a different sex ratio among children under 5 years of age and whether religiosity has externalities on secular households, using whole-population census data and religious establishments in Vietnam. The results show that the ratio of boys is lower among religious households in both commune fixed effects and the instrumental variable (IV) approach. Furthermore, using the 1955–1974 North–South Vietnam division that reallocated religious communities for another commune-level IV, we find that a higher pious follower ratio leads to a lower ratio of boys in the secular population.

While a growing literature documents the negative impact of motherhood on women’s career trajectories, the specific mechanisms behind their “decisions” to leave the labor market remain largely undocumented. Our paper fills this gap by showing that career breaks due to health-related issues restrict young mothers from full labor force participation. Using Belgian administrative data from 2002-2016 and an event study design, we reveal that the gender gap in sickness absences only appears after the birth of a first child, and is predominantly reflecting an increase in mental health disorders. Surprisingly, this child penalty does not disappear over the long run: even up to eight years after childbirth, women are 1.2 percentage points more likely than men to stop working because of health-related issues. When connecting sickness absences to the overall child penalty in employment, we find that 17% of women who leave the labor market after having children go on to claim sickness benefits. This effect is the largest for mothers in physically demanding jobs, and more moderate for those in family-friendly occupations.