Labour supply: a review of alternative approaches

Richard Blundell () and Thomas MaCurdy
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Thomas MaCurdy: Institute for Fiscal Studies and Stanford University

No W98/18, IFS Working Papers from Institute for Fiscal Studies

Abstract:

This chapter surveys existing approaches to modeling labor supply and identifies important gaps in the literature that could be addressed in future research. The discussion begins with a look at recent policy reforms and labor market facts that motivate the study of labor supply. The analysis then presents a unifying framework that allows alternative empirical formulations of the labor supply model to be compared and their resulting elasticities to be interpreted. This is followed by critical reviews of alternative approaches to labor-supply modeling. The first review assesses the difference in-differences approach and its relationship to natural experiments. The second analyzes estimation

with non-linear budget constraints and welfare-program participation. The third appraises developments of family labor-supply models including both the standard unitary and collective labor-supply formulations. The fourth briefly explores dynamic extensions of the labor supply model, characterizing how participation decisions, learning-by-doing, human capital accumulation and habit formation affect the analysis of the lifecycle model. At the end of each of the four broad reviews, we summarize a selection of the recent empirical findings. The concluding section asks whether the developments reviewed in this chapter place us in a better position to answer the policy-reform questions and to interpret the trends in participation and hours with which we began this review.

q1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

JEL-codes: C21 C24 J21 J22 J24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 138 pp.
Date: 1998-10-01
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (152)

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Chapter: Labor supply: A review of alternative approaches (1999)
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