Working Paper: NBER ID: w10320
Authors: Casey B. Mulligan; Yona Rubinstein
Abstract: The empirical labor supply literature includes some simple aggregate studies, and some individual-level studies explicitly accounting for heterogeneity and the discrete choice, but sometimes leaving open the ultimately aggregate questions that motivated the study. As a middle ground, we construct household-based measures of labor supply by within-household aggregating answers to the usual weeks and hours worked questionnaire items. Household (H) measures are substantially different than the more familiar person (P) measures: H employment rates are relatively higher, with little trend, and relatively little fluctuations. From the H point of view, essentially all aggregate hours trends and fluctuations can be attributed to changes on the intensive' margin and not the extensive' margin a characterization that is opposite of that derived from P measures. The cross-H distribution of hours is richer, and less spiked, than the cross-P distribution. Labor supply is more wage elastic from an H point of view.
Keywords: No keywords provided
JEL Codes: J22; J12
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| household accounts (H) (D14) | personal accounts (P) (D14) |
| employment rates in household accounts (H) (J69) | employment rates in personal accounts (P) (J68) |
| household accounts (H) (D14) | labor supply elasticity (J20) |
| differences in household and personal accounts (H and P) (D14) | understanding of labor market dynamics (J29) |