Early Child Care, Maternal Labor Supply, and Gender Equality: A Randomized Controlled Trial?
Henning Hermes, Marina Krauß, Philipp Lergetporer, Frauke Peter, Simon Wiederhold
IWH Discussion Papers,
No. 14,
2024
Abstract
We provide experimental evidence that enabling access to universal early child care increases maternal labor supply and promotes gender equality among families with lower socioeconomic status (SES). Our intervention offers information and customized help with child care applications, leading to a boost in child care enrollment among lower-SES families. 18 months after the intervention, we find substantial increases in maternal full-time employment (+160%), maternal earnings (+22%), and household income (+10%). Intriguingly, the positive employment effects are not only driven by extended hours at child care centers, but also by an increase in care hours by fathers. Gender equality also benefits more broadly from better access to child care: The treatment improves a gender equality index that combines information on intra-household division of working hours, care hours, and earnings by 40% of a standard deviation, with significant increases in each dimension. For higher-SES families, we consistently observe negligible, insignificant treatment effects.
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Frühkindliche Betreuung erhöht den Arbeitsmarkterfolg von Müttern ohne Abitur
Henning Hermes, Marina Krauß, Philipp Lergetporer, Frauke Peter, Simon Wiederhold
Wirtschaft im Wandel,
No. 3,
2023
Abstract
In den meisten Ländern wirkt sich die Geburt eines Kindes negativ auf den Arbeitsmarkterfolg von Müttern aus, insbesondere bei Müttern mit niedrigerem Schulabschluss. In diesem Beitrag werden die Ergebnisse eines Feldexperiments in Deutschland vorgestellt, in dem Familien bei der Bewerbung für einen Platz in einer Kindertagesstätte (Kita) unterstützt wurden. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass der verbesserte Zugang zu frühkindlicher Betreuung die Wahrscheinlichkeit erhöht, dass Mütter ohne Abitur in Vollzeit arbeiten, und deren Haushaltseinkommen steigert. Um den Arbeitsmarkterfolg von Müttern zu verbessern, sollte die Politik den Zugang zu frühkindlicher Betreuung erleichtern und die Zahl der Kita-Plätze noch weiter erhöhen.
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Gender Equality & Anti-Discrimination
Equal Opportunities at IWH IWH commits to actively promoting equal opportunities for men and women, going beyond already existing guidelines. In 2013, 2016, 2019, and again in…
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ENTRANCES
ENTRANCES aims at examining the effects of the coal phase-out in Europe. How does the phase-out transform society – and what can politics do about it? The EU-funded,…
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Gender Equality & Anti-Discrimination
Equal Opportunities at IWH IWH commits to actively promoting equal opportunities for men and women, going beyond already existing guidelines. In 2013, 2016, 2019, and again in…
See page
Males Should Mail? Gender Discrimination in Access to Childcare
Henning Hermes, Philipp Lergetporer, Fabian Mierisch, Frauke Peter, Simon Wiederhold
American Economic Association Papers and Proceedings,
May
2023
Abstract
This study investigates discrimination against women when searching and applying for childcare in a nationwide field experiment. We send emails from fictitious parents to 9,313 childcare centers in Germany inquiring about access to childcare. We randomize whether the email is sent by the child's mother or father. Our results show that women receive shorter and less positive responses than men. The probability of receiving a response does not differ by gender, highlighting the importance of going beyond response rates to detect discrimination. We provide suggestive evidence that regional differences in gender discrimination are related to gender norms.
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Early Child Care and Labor Supply of Lower-SES Mothers: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Henning Hermes, Marina Krauss, Philipp Lergetporer, Frauke Peter, Simon Wiederhold
CESifo Working Paper,
No. 10178,
2022
Abstract
We present experimental evidence that enabling access to universal early child care for families with lower socioeconomic status (SES) increases maternal labor supply. Our intervention provides families with customized help for child care applications, resulting in a large increase in enrollment among lower-SES families. The treatment increases lower-SES mothers' full-time employment rates by 9 percentage points (+160%), household income by 10%, and mothers' earnings by 22%. The effect on full-time employment is largely driven by increased care hours provided by child care centers and fathers. Overall, the treatment substantially improves intra-household gender equality in terms of child care duties and earnings.
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The Gender Pay Gap under Duopsony: Joan Robinson meets Harold Hotelling
Boris Hirsch
Scottish Journal of Political Economy,
No. 5,
2009
Abstract
This paper presents an alternative explanation of the gender pay gap resting on a simple Hotelling-style duopsony model of the labour market. Since there are only two employers, equally productive women and men have to commute and face travel cost to do so. We assume that some women have higher travel cost, e.g., due to more domestic responsibilities. Employers exploit that women on average are less inclined to commute and offer lower wages to all women. Since women's firm-level labour supply is for this reason less wage-elastic, this model is in line with Robinson's explanation of wage discrimination.
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