Fathers' Involvement in Domestic Work and Mothers' Employment: Evidence from Bunching

Mika Akesaka and Nobuyoshi Kikuchi
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Mika Akesaka: Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry and Research Institute for Economics & Business Administration, Kobe University, JAPAN
Nobuyoshi Kikuchi: Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Tokyo Metropolitan University, JAPAN

No DP2026-15, Discussion Paper Series from Research Institute for Economics & Business Administration, Kobe University

Abstract: We study how husbands' weekday domestic work affects wives' labor supply among couples with children aged 9 or younger. To address endogenous selection, we use a control function approach that exploits bunching at zero in husbands' weekday domestic work hours. Using Japanese panel data, we find that the positive association between husbands' domestic work and wives' labor supply disappears after correcting for selection on unobservables. This suggests that the association is largely driven by selection. At the same time, husbands' domestic work increases wives' weekday domestic work, suggesting complementarities in couples' domestic work time.

Keywords: Labor supply; Domestic work; Childcare; Time use; Control function (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D13 J13 J16 J22 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 40 pages
Date: 2026-04
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