Intergenerational links in female labor force participation

Melinda Morrill and Thayer Morrill

Labour Economics, 2013, vol. 20, issue C, 38-47

Abstract: Fernandez, Fogli, and Olivetti (2004) introduce an innovative model of how the experiences of one generation of women affect the behavior of the next generation of women via their sons/husbands. Empirically they find that a woman is more likely to work if her mother-in-law worked than if her own mother worked. We confirm this intriguing result but demonstrate that there is also a link between the labor force participation choices of mothers and daughters. Further, in an alternative theoretical model we show that the relationship between the labor force participation of mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law may be due instead to a woman's own preferences formed before selecting a spouse. Interestingly, the model demonstrates that the correlation in labor force status may be stronger for a mother-in-law/daughter-in-law pair than a mother/daughter pair, even if the preference formation channel is solely from mothers to daughters.

Keywords: Intergenerational transmission; Women's labor force participation; Assortative mating (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (43)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:labeco:v:20:y:2013:i:c:p:38-47

DOI: 10.1016/j.labeco.2012.10.002

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