Working Paper: NBER ID: w29668
Authors: Tatyana Deryugina; Olga Shurchkov; Jenna E. Stearns
Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic created unexpected and prolonged disruptions to childcare access. Using survey evidence on time use by academic researchers before and after the pandemic, we analyze the extent to which greater access to either school-based or partner-provided childcare mitigated the severe disruptions to research observed among parents during COVID-19. We find that access to public schools offset the research time loss to a greater extent among mothers of young children relative to fathers, narrowing the emerging post-pandemic gender gap. Having a stay-at-home partner reduced the disruptions to research time equally for both genders.
Keywords: COVID-19; Childcare; Gender Gap; Academic Productivity
JEL Codes: J13; J16; J22
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| access to public schools (I24) | research time loss for mothers (J22) |
| access to public schools (I24) | research time loss for fathers (J22) |
| stay-at-home partner (D13) | research time loss for both genders (J22) |
| school openness (I24) | research time loss for mothers (J22) |
| school openness (I24) | research time loss for fathers (J22) |
| stay-at-home partner (D13) | research time loss for mothers (J22) |
| stay-at-home partner (D13) | research time loss for fathers (J22) |
| research time loss for mothers (J22) | gender gap in academic productivity (D29) |
| research time loss for fathers (J22) | gender gap in academic productivity (D29) |