Wind of Change? Cultural Determinants of Maternal Labor Supply

Barbara Boelmann (), Anna Raute () and Uta Schönberg ()
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Barbara Boelmann: Department of Economics, University College London, CReAM and University of Cologne, 30 Gordon Street, London WC1H 0AX, United Kingdom
Anna Raute: School of Economics and Finance, Queen Mary University of London, CReAM and CEPR, Mile End Road, London E1 4NS, United Kingdom
Uta Schönberg: Department of Economics, University College London, CReAM and IAB, 30 Gordon Street, London WC1H 0AX, United Kingdom

No 90, ECONtribute Discussion Papers Series from University of Bonn and University of Cologne, Germany

Abstract: Does the culture in which a woman grows up influence her labor market decisions once she has had a child? And to what extent can exposure to a different cultural group in adulthood shape maternal labor supply? To address these questions, we exploit the setting of the German reunification. A state socialist country, East Germany strongly encouraged mothers to participate in the labor market full-time, whereas West Germany propagated a more traditional male breadwinner-model. After reunification, these two cultures were suddenly thrown together, with consequent increased social interactions between East and West Germans through migration and commuting. Zooming in on East and West Germans who migrated across the former inner-German border, we document a strong asymmetry in the persistence of the culture in which women were raised. Whereas East German female migrants return to work earlier and work longer hours than their West German colleagues even after long exposure to the more traditional West German culture, West German migrants adjust their post-birth labor supply behavior nearly entirely to that of their East German colleagues. West German return migrants continue to be influenced by the more gender egalitarian East German norm even after their return to the West, pointing towards the importance of learning from peers. Finally, taking advantage of differential inflows of East German migrants across West German workplaces in the aftermath of reunification, we show that even a partial exposure to East German colleagues induces “native” West German mothers to accelerate their return to work after childbirth, suggesting that migration might be a catalyst for cultural change.

Keywords: cultural transmission; social norms; maternal labor force participation; German reunification (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J1 J2 Z1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 78 pages
Date: 2021-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lab and nep-soc
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (34)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ajk:ajkdps:090

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