Child Penalties and the Gender Gap in Home Production and the Labor Market

32 Pages Posted: 25 Mar 2024

See all articles by Pim Koopmans

Pim Koopmans

Leiden University

Max Lent

Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) - Department of Economics

Jim Been

Leiden University - Department of Economics; Netspar

Abstract

The consequence of the arrival of children for the gender wage gap - known as the child penalty - is substantial and has been documented for many countries. Little is still known about the impact of having children beyond paid work in the labor market, such as home production. In this paper we estimate - deploying an event study with Dutch survey data - the child penalty in both home production and the labor market. In line with the literature we find no labor market effects for men. For women we find a strong reduction in work hours and lower wages. However, we find an increase in home production for women roughly similar to the decline in paid work. Consequently, time allocated to the labor market plus home production is roughly equal across gender before and after the arrival of children. This result rejects the hypothesis that women substitute paid work for leisure after the arrival of children.

Keywords: gender gaps, child penalty, intra-household allocation, event study, home production

JEL Classification: C33, D12, D13, J16, J22

Suggested Citation

Koopmans, Pim and Lent, Max and Been, Jim, Child Penalties and the Gender Gap in Home Production and the Labor Market. IZA Discussion Paper No. 16871, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4769908 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4769908

Pim Koopmans (Contact Author)

Leiden University

Postbus 9500
Leiden, 2300 RA
Netherlands

Max Lent

Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) - Department of Economics ( email )

P.O. Box 1738
3000 DR Rotterdam
Netherlands

Jim Been

Leiden University - Department of Economics ( email )

Steenschuur 25 PO Box 9520
Leiden, 2300 RA
Netherlands

HOME PAGE: http://www.law.leiden.edu/organisation/taxlawandeconomics/economics/staff/been.html

Netspar ( email )

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Tilburg, 5000 LE
Netherlands

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