Motherhood and Female Labor Supply in the Developing World: Evidence from Infertility Shocks

Jorge M. Agüero · Mindy S. Marks

113 citations0/0 files storedThe Journal of Human Resources

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Gender, Labor, and Family Dynamics Family Dynamics and Relationships Work-Family Balance Challenges

Abstract

We introduce a new instrument for family size, infertility, to investigate the causal relationship between children and female labor force participation. Infertility mimics an experiment where nature assigns an upper bound for family size, independent of a woman’s background. This new instrument allows us to investigate the differential labor supply without restrictions on initial family size. Using the Demographic and Health Surveys from 26 developing countries we show that OLS estimates are biased upward. We find that the presence of children affects neither the likelihood of work nor its intensity, but impacts the type of work a woman pursues. Journal: Journal of Human Resources

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References

2001Econometric Analysis of Cross Section and Panel Data 1996How Important to India's Poor Is the Sectoral Composition of Economic Growth?1996Children and Their Parents' Labor Supply: Evidence from Exogenous Variation in Family Size 1998Understanding the ‘Family Gap’ in Pay for Women with Children 2007Fertility, Female Labor Force Participation, and the Demographic Dividend 2000Women's Work and Economic Development 2008Early Marriage, Age of Menarche, and Female Schooling Attainment in Bangladesh 1994The economic consequences of unwed motherhood: using twin births as a natural experiment.

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2015Working Women Worldwide. Age Effects in Female Labor Force Participation in 117 Countries 2017Children and Careers: How Family Size Affects Parents’ Labor Market Outcomes in the Long Run n.d.A new approach to the economic theory of fertility behavior 2018The motherhood pay gap: A review of the issues, theory and international evidence 2017Fertility, household structure, and parental labor supply: Evidence from China

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