Child Penalties and Parental Role Models: Classroom Exposure Effects

Henrik Kleven, Giulia Olivero and Eleonora Patacchini

No 33002, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: This paper investigates whether the effects of children on the labor market outcomes of women relative to men—child penalties—are shaped by the work behavior of peers’ parents during adolescence. Leveraging quasi-random variation in the fraction of peers with working mothers across cohorts within schools, we find that greater exposure to working mothers reduces the child penalty in employment later in life. The effect is economically meaningful, precisely estimated, and robust across specifications. Evidence on mechanisms suggests that these effects are driven by exposure to maternal employment as a parental role model, shaping child-related gender gaps in the labor market.

JEL-codes: J13 J16 J21 J22 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dem and nep-gen
Note: CH LS PE
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