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Source: Department of Economics, Boston University
Resulting in 2 citations.
1. Barua, Rashmi
Intertemporal Substitution in Maternal Labor Supply: Evidence Using State School Entrance Age Laws
Working Paper, Department of Economics, Boston University, November 2007.
Also: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1056323
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: Department of Economics, Boston University
Keyword(s): Geocoded Data; Labor Market Outcomes; Maternal Employment; School Entry/Readiness; State-Level Data/Policy

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

In this paper, I propose a new framework to study the intertemporal labor supply hypothesis. I use an exogenous source of variation in maternal net earning opportunities, generated through school entrance age of children, to study intertemporal labor supply behavior. Employing data from the 1980 US Census and the NLSY, I estimate the effect of a one year delay in school attendance on long run maternal labor supply. To deal with the endogeneity of school attendance age, I exploit the variation in child month of birth and state kindergarten entrance age laws.

IV estimates imply that having a 5 year old enrolled in school increases labor supply measures for married women, with no younger children, by between 7 to 34 percent. In contrast to the results for married mothers, I do not find any statistically significant effect on labor market outcomes for single mothers or mothers of 5 year olds with additional younger children. Further, using a sample of 7 to 10 year olds from the NLSY, I investigate persistence in employment outcomes for a married mother whose child delayed school entry. The estimates suggest that delayed school enrollment has long run implications for maternal labor supply. Results point towards significant intertemporal substitution in labor supply. Rough calculations yield an uncompensated wage elasticity of 0.76 and an intertemporal elasticity of substitution equal to 1.1.

Bibliography Citation
Barua, Rashmi. "Intertemporal Substitution in Maternal Labor Supply: Evidence Using State School Entrance Age Laws." Working Paper, Department of Economics, Boston University, November 2007.
2. Kroeger, Sarah
The Role of Gender in Income Mobility: Evidence from the NLSY79
Working Paper, Department of Economics, Boston University, October 2010.
Also: http://people.bu.edu/skroeger/files/kroeger_mobility2010.pdf
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Department of Economics, Boston University
Keyword(s): Earnings; Income; Intergenerational Patterns/Transmission; Mobility, Economic

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Previous studies of intergenerational income mobility in the United States have focused primarily on the transmission of earnings from fathers to sons. However, thanks to the increase in female labor force participation during the last several decades and the collection of longitudinal, multi-generational data, it is now possible to include both mothers and daughters in this analysis. I estimate the total magnitude of the inter-generational elasticity of income, and provide a decomposition of this elasticity into paternal and maternal effects. Although the magnitude of the paternal effect is the larger, the maternal effect is significant. Roughly one fourth of intergenerational income transmission can be attributed to maternal earnings, and omitting maternal income biases the estimate of the effect of paternal income by over 20 percent.

I used data from the National Longitudinal Study to estimate income elasticity with respect to parental earnings. In particular, my goal was to measure the difference in the degree of income mobility experienced by daughters versus sons, as well as the relevance of maternal earnings to income mobility.

Bibliography Citation
Kroeger, Sarah. "The Role of Gender in Income Mobility: Evidence from the NLSY79." Working Paper, Department of Economics, Boston University, October 2010.