Working Paper: NBER ID: w10589
Authors: Raquel Fernández; Alessandra Fogli; Claudia Olivetti
Abstract: This paper presents intergenerational evidence in favor of the hypothesis that a significant factor explaining the increase in female labor force participation over time was the growing presence of men who grew up with a different family model--one in which their mother worked. We use differences in mobilization rates of men across states during WWII as a source of exogenous variation in female labor supply. We show, in particular, that higher WWII male mobilization rates led to a higher fraction of women working not only for the generation directly affected by the war, but also for the next generation. These women were young enough to profit from the changed composition in the pool of men (i.e., from the fact that WWII created more men with mothers who worked). We also show that states in which the ratio of the average fertility of working relative to non-working women is greatest, have higher female labor supply twenty years later.
Keywords: female labor force participation; preference formation; World War II; intergenerational effects; fertility ratios
JEL Codes: J22; Z10; J12
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| higher mobilization rates during World War II (H56) | increase in female labor force participation (J21) |
| higher mobilization rates during World War II (H56) | higher fraction of women working for the generation directly affected by the war (J21) |
| higher mobilization rates during World War II (H56) | higher fraction of women working for the subsequent generation (J21) |
| increase in mobilization rates (J62) | increase in weeks worked by women aged 45-50 in 1980 (J21) |
| presence of men raised by working mothers (J12) | increase likelihood of women entering the labor force (J21) |
| relative fertility ratios of working to non-working women (J19) | greater female labor supply in the next generation (J21) |