Life cycle employment and fertility across institutional environments

Daniela Del Boca and Robert Sauer

European Economic Review, 2009, vol. 53, issue 3, 274-292

Abstract: In this paper, we formulate a dynamic utility maximization model of female labor force participation and fertility choices and estimate approximate decision rules using data on married women in Italy, Spain and France. The estimated decision rules indicate that first-order state dependence is the most important factor determining female labor supply behavior in all three countries. We also find that cross-country differences in state dependence effects are consistent with the order of country-level measures of labor market flexibility and child care availability. Counterfactual simulations of the model indicate that female employment rates in Italy and Spain could reach EU target levels were French social policies to be adopted in those countries.

Keywords: Female; labor; force; participation; Fertility; Institutions; approximate; decision; rules (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (83)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0014-2921(08)00060-3
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
Working Paper: Life Cycle Employment and Fertility Across Institutional Environments (2006)
Working Paper: Life Cycle Employment and Fertility Across Institutional Environments (2006)
Working Paper: Life Cycle Employment and Fertility Across Institutional Environments (2006)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:eecrev:v:53:y:2009:i:3:p:274-292

Access Statistics for this article

European Economic Review is currently edited by T.S. Eicher, A. Imrohoroglu, E. Leeper, J. Oechssler and M. Pesendorfer

More articles in European Economic Review from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().