IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/ecorec/v89y2013i286p319-338.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Impact of Fertility on Mothers' Labour Supply in Australia: Evidence from Exogenous Variation in Family Size

Author

Listed:
  • Julie Moschion

Abstract

This paper estimates the impact of fertility on mothers’ labour supply in Australia, using exogenous variation in family size generated by twin births and the gender mix of siblings. Results show that having more than one child decreases labour market participation by 15.5 percentage points and hours worked by around 6 hours per week. Having more than two children reduces labour market participation by between 12 and 20 percentage points and hours worked by between 3 and 8 hours a week, depending on the instrument used. Interestingly, fathers also reduce both their labour market participation (by 10 percentage points) and their number of hours worked per week (by 4 hours) when having more than one child. Compared with the results obtained with the same methodology for other countries, the effects for Australia are large, which partly reflects the constraints on public childcare and the lack of a national paid parental leave scheme prior to 2011.
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)

Suggested Citation

  • Julie Moschion, 2013. "The Impact of Fertility on Mothers' Labour Supply in Australia: Evidence from Exogenous Variation in Family Size," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 89(286), pages 319-338, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ecorec:v:89:y:2013:i:286:p:319-338
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/1475-4932.12042
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rosenzweig, Mark R & Wolpin, Kenneth I, 1980. "Life-Cycle Labor Supply and Fertility: Causal Inferences from Household Models," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 88(2), pages 328-348, April.
    2. Iacovou, Maria, 2001. "Fertility and female labour supply," ISER Working Paper Series 2001-19, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    3. Cruces, Guillermo & Galiani, Sebastian, 2007. "Fertility and female labor supply in Latin America: New causal evidence," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(3), pages 565-573, June.
    4. Joshua D. Angrist & Alan B. Krueger, 2001. "Instrumental Variables and the Search for Identification: From Supply and Demand to Natural Experiments," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 15(4), pages 69-85, Fall.
    5. Sandra E. Black & Paul J. Devereux & Kjell G. Salvanes, 2010. "Small Family, Smart Family? Family Size and the IQ Scores of Young Men," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 45(1).
    6. Imbens, G. & Angrist, J.D., 1992. "Average Causal Response with Variable Treatment Intensity," Harvard Institute of Economic Research Working Papers 1611, Harvard - Institute of Economic Research.
    7. Boeri, Tito & Del Boca, Daniela & Pissarides, Christopher (ed.), 2005. "Women at Work: An Economic Perspective," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199281886.
    8. Olivier Thévenon, 2011. "Family Policies in OECD Countries: A Comparative Analysis," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 37(1), pages 57-87, March.
    9. Julie Moschion, 2009. "Offre de travail des mères en France : l’effet causal du passage de deux à trois enfants," Économie et Statistique, Programme National Persée, vol. 422(1), pages 51-78.
    10. repec:adr:anecst:y:2010:i:99-100:p:10 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Paresh Kumar Narayan & Russell Smyth, 2006. "Female labour force participation, fertility and infant mortality in Australia: some empirical evidence from Granger causality tests," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(5), pages 563-572.
    12. James J. Heckman & Thomas E. MaCurdy, 1985. "A Simultaneous Equations Linear Probability Model," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 18(1), pages 28-37, February.
    13. Andrew Leigh, 2009. "Does child gender affect marital status? Evidence from Australia," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 22(2), pages 351-366, April.
    14. Heckman, James J, 1978. "Dummy Endogenous Variables in a Simultaneous Equation System," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 46(4), pages 931-959, July.
    15. Joshua D. Angrist, 2004. "Treatment effect heterogeneity in theory and practice," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 114(494), pages 52-83, March.
    16. Willem Adema & Maria Huerta & Annette Panzera & Olivier Thevenon & Mark Pearson, 2009. "The OECD Family Database: Developing a Cross-National Tool for Assessing Family Policies and Outcomes," Post-Print hal-00439109, HAL.
    17. Katharina Wrohlich, 2006. "Labor Supply and Child Care Choices in a Rationed Child Care Market," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 570, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    18. Marc Frenette, 2011. "How does the stork delegate work? Childbearing and the gender division of paid and unpaid labour," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 24(3), pages 895-910, July.
    19. Tomas Kögel, 2004. "Did the association between fertility and female employment within OECD countries really change its sign?," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 17(1), pages 45-65, February.
    20. Aydogan Ulker & Cahit Guven, 2011. "Determinants of Maternity Leave Duration in Australia: Evidence from the HILDA Survey," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 87(278), pages 399-413, September.
    21. Denise Doiron & Guyonne Kalb, 2005. "Demands for Child Care and Household Labour Supply in Australia," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 81(254), pages 215-236, September.
    22. repec:fth:prinin:455 is not listed on IDEAS
    23. Angrist, Joshua D & Evans, William N, 1998. "Children and Their Parents' Labor Supply: Evidence from Exogenous Variation in Family Size," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(3), pages 450-477, June.
    24. Chris Herbst & Burt Barnow, 2008. "Close to Home: A Simultaneous Equations Model of the Relationship Between Child Care Accessibility and Female Labor Force Participation," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 29(1), pages 128-151, March.
    25. Bruce Chapman & Yvonne Dunlop & Matthew Gray & Amy Liu & Deborah Mitchell, 2001. "The Impact of Children on the Lifetime Earnings of Australian Women: Evidence from the 1990s," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 34(4), pages 373-389, December.
    26. James P. Vere, 2011. "Fertility and parents' labour supply: new evidence from US census data," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 63(2), pages 211-231, April.
    27. Trevor Breusch & Edith Gray, 2004. "New Estimates of Mothers’ Forgone Earnings Using HILDA Data," Australian Journal of Labour Economics (AJLE), Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School, vol. 7(2), pages 125-150, June.
    28. Vella, Francis, 1993. "Nonwage Benefits in a Simultaneous Model of Wages and Hours: Labor Supply Functions of Young Females," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 11(4), pages 704-723, October.
    29. Avraham Ebenstein, 2009. "When is the Local Average Treatment Close to the Average?: Evidence from Fertility and Labor Supply," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 44(4).
    30. Julie Moschion, 2010. "Reconciling Work and Family Life: The Effect of the French Paid Parental Leave," Annals of Economics and Statistics, GENES, issue 99-100, pages 217-246.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Semih Tumen & Belgi Turan, 2023. "The effect of fertility on female labor supply in a labor market with extensive informality," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 65(4), pages 1855-1894, October.
    2. Bruce Bradbury & Anna Zhu, 2018. "Welfare Entry and Exit after Marital Separation among Australian Mothers," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 94(307), pages 405-423, December.
    3. Rohde, Nicholas, 2024. "Child gender and differences in risky health behavior among parents," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 340(C).
    4. Öberg, Stefan, 2018. "Instrumental variables based on twin births are by definition not valid (v.3.0)," SocArXiv zux9s, Center for Open Science.
    5. Yew Seng Law & Chung-Khain Wye, 2023. "The effects of fertility on female labour force participation in OECD countries: the role of education and health," Studies in Economics and Econometrics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(3), pages 280-302, July.
    6. Tomoko Kishi, 2014. "Female Labour Supply in Australia and Japan: The Effects of Education and Qualifications," Australian Journal of Labour Economics (AJLE), Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School, vol. 17(3), pages 233-255.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Anna Baranowska, 2013. "The family size effects on female employment. Evidence from the “natural experiments” related to human reproduction," Working Papers 57, Institute of Statistics and Demography, Warsaw School of Economics.
    2. Hupkau, Claudia & Leturcq, Marion, 2017. "Fertility and mothers’ labor supply: new evidence usingtime-to-conception," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 69045, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    3. Anna Baranowska-Rataj & Anna Matysiak, 2016. "The Causal Effects of the Number of Children on Female Employment - Do European Institutional and Gender Conditions Matter?," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 37(3), pages 343-367, September.
    4. Petter Lundborg & Erik Plug & Astrid Würtz Rasmussen, 2017. "Can Women Have Children and a Career? IV Evidence from IVF Treatments," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(6), pages 1611-1637, June.
    5. Finlay, Jocelyn E., 2021. "Women’s reproductive health and economic activity: A narrative review," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    6. KUEPIE Mathias & DZOSSA Anaclet Désiré & KELODJOUE Samuel, 2013. "Determinants of labor market gender inequalities in Cameroon, Senegal and Mali: the role of human capital and the fertility burden," LISER Working Paper Series 2013-08, Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER).
    7. Bhalotra, Sonia & Clarke, Damian & Walther, Selma, 2022. "Women's Careers and Family Formation," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1120, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    8. Jose Maria Cabrera, 2011. "Fecundidad e Ingresos en Uruguay," Documentos de Trabajo/Working Papers 1110, Facultad de Ciencias Empresariales y Economia. Universidad de Montevideo..
    9. van der Stoep, Gabrielle, 2008. "Childbearing and labour force participation in South Africa: sibling composition as an identification strategy?," MPRA Paper 52908, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Caroline Krafft, 2020. "Why is fertility on the rise in Egypt? The role of women’s employment opportunities," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 33(4), pages 1173-1218, October.
    11. Del Boca, Daniela & Locatelli, Marilena, 2006. "The Determinants of Motherhood and Work Status: A Survey," IZA Discussion Papers 2414, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Öberg, Stefan, 2018. "Instrumental variables based on twin births are by definition not valid (v.3.0)," SocArXiv zux9s, Center for Open Science.
    13. Mahdi Majbouri, 2019. "Twins, family size and female labour force participation in Iran," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(4), pages 387-397, January.
    14. Oliveira, Jaqueline, 2016. "The value of children: Inter-generational support, fertility, and human capital," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 1-16.
    15. Angelov, Nikolay & Karimi, Arizo, 2012. "Mothers’ income recovery after childbearing," Working Paper Series 2012:20, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.
    16. Emla Fitzsimons & Bansi Malde, 2014. "Empirically probing the quantity–quality model," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 27(1), pages 33-68, January.
    17. Zhang, Junchao, 2017. "A dilemma of fertility and female labor supply: Identification using Taiwanese twins," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 47-63.
    18. Dorrit, Posel & Gabrielle, van der Stoep, 2008. "Co-resident and absent mothers: Motherhood and labour force participation in South Africa," MPRA Paper 52907, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. Lundborg, Petter & Plug, Erik & Rasmussen, Astrid Würtz, 2014. "Fertility Effects on Female Labor Supply: IV Evidence from IVF Treatments," IZA Discussion Papers 8609, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    20. Krzysztof Karbownik & Michał Myck, 2016. "For some mothers more than others," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 24(4), pages 705-725, October.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:ecorec:v:89:y:2013:i:286:p:319-338. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/esausea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.