The Great Transition: Kuznets Facts for Family-Economists

Jeremy Greenwood, Nezih Guner and Ricardo Marto

No 2021-050, Working Papers from Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group

Abstract: The 20th century beheld a dramatic transformation of the family. Some Kuznets style facts regarding structural change in the family are presented. Over the course of the 20th century in the United States fertility declined, educational attainment waxed, housework fell, leisure increased, jobs shifted from blue to white collar, and marriage waned. These trends are also observed in the cross-country data. A model is developed, and then calibrated, to address the trends in the US data. The calibration procedure is closely connected to the underlying economic logic. Three drivers of the great transition are considered: neutral technological progress, skill-biased technological change, and drops in the price of labor-saving household durables.

Keywords: average weekly hours; blue-collar jobs; college premium; fertility; housework; leisure; Marriage; neutral technological progress; price of labor-saving household durables; skill-biased technological change; theory-based identification; user guide; white-collar jobs (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D10 E13 J10 O10 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cwa, nep-evo, nep-his, nep-lab, nep-ltv and nep-mac
Note: FI
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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http://humcap.uchicago.edu/RePEc/hka/wpaper/Greenw ... on-kuznets-facts.pdf First version, November 9, 2021 (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: The Great Transition: Kuznets Facts for Family-Economists (2021)
Working Paper: The Great Transition: Kuznets Facts for Family-Economists (2021)
Working Paper: The Great Transition: Kuznets Facts for Family-Economists (2021)
Working Paper: The Great Transition: Kuznets Facts for Family-Economists (2021)
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