Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP17790
Authors: Teodora Boneva; Marta Golin; Katja Kaufmann; Christopher Rauh
Abstract: This paper provides representative evidence on the perceived returns to maternal labor supply. We design a novel survey to elicit subjective expectations, and show that a mother’s decision to work is perceived to have sizable impacts on child skills, family outcomes, and the future labor market outcomes of the mother. Examining the channels through which the impacts are perceived to operate, we document that beliefs about the impact of additional household income can account for some, but not all, of the perceived positive effects. Beliefs about returns substantially vary across the population and are predictive of labor supply intentions under different policy scenarios related to childcare availability and quality, two factors that are also perceived as important. Consistent with socialization playing a role in the formation of beliefs, we show that respondents whose own mother worked perceive the returns to maternal labor supply as higher.
Keywords: subjective expectations; maternal labor supply; childcare; child penalties
JEL Codes: J22; J13; I26
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Maternal labor supply (J22) | Child skills (J13) |
| Part-time work (J22) | Child skills (J13) |
| Full-time work (J29) | Child skills (J13) |
| Part-time work (J22) | Mother-child relationship satisfaction (J12) |
| Full-time work (J29) | Mother-child relationship satisfaction (J12) |
| Part-time work (J22) | Likelihood of returning to full-time work (J22) |
| Childcare availability (J13) | Perceived returns to maternal labor supply (J22) |
| Perceived returns to maternal labor supply (J22) | Intended labor supply decisions (J22) |
| Childcare availability (J13) | Intended labor supply decisions (J22) |