RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Motherhood and Female Labor Supply in the Developing World
JF Journal of Human Resources
JO J Hum Resour
FD University of Wisconsin Press
SP 800
OP 826
DO 10.3368/jhr.46.4.800
VO 46
IS 4
A1 Agüero, Jorge M.
A1 Marks, Mindy S.
YR 2011
UL http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/46/4/800.abstract
AB We introduce a new instrument for family size, infertility, to investigate the causal relationship between children and female labor force participation. Infertility mimics an experiment where nature assigns an upper bound for family size, independent of a woman’s background. This new instrument allows us to investigate the differential labor supply without restrictions on initial family size. Using the Demographic and Health Surveys from 26 developing countries we show that OLS estimates are biased upward. We find that the presence of children affects neither the likelihood of work nor its intensity, but impacts the type of work a woman pursues.