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(Non)persistent effects of fertility on female labour supply

Author

Listed:
  • Concetta Rondinelli

    (Bank of Italy)

  • Roberta Zizza

    (Bank of Italy)

Abstract

The negative association between fertility and female labour market participation is complicated by the endogeneity of fertility. We address this problem by using an exogenous variation in family size caused by infertility shocks, mainly related to the fact that nature prevents some women from achieving their desired fertility levels. Despite a widely documented reduction of female labour supply around childbirth, using the Bank of Italy's SHIW we find that this effect dissipates over time, with some clues of penalties related to job quality. Results are confirmed exploiting the Istat Birth Survey, with insights of a different impact according to the age of the child.

Suggested Citation

  • Concetta Rondinelli & Roberta Zizza, 2010. "(Non)persistent effects of fertility on female labour supply," Temi di discussione (Economic working papers) 783, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    • Handle: RePEc:bdi:wptemi:td_783_10
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Angelov, Nikolay & Karimi, Arizo, 2012. "Mothers’ Income Recovery after Childbearing," Working Paper Series, Center for Labor Studies 2012:19, Uppsala University, Department of Economics.
    2. Francesca Modena & Concetta Rondinelli & Fabio Sabatini, 2014. "Economic Insecurity and Fertility Intentions: The Case of Italy," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 60(S1), pages 233-255, May.
    3. Rupert, Peter & Zanella, Giulio, 2018. "Grandchildren and their grandparents' labor supply," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 89-103.
    4. 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.
    5. Richiardi Matteo & Poggi Ambra, 2012. "Imputing Individual Effects in Dynamic Microsimulation Models. An application of the Rank Method," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis. Working Papers 201213, University of Turin.
    6. Massimiliano Bratti & Laura Cavalli, 2014. "Delayed First Birth and New Mothers’ Labor Market Outcomes: Evidence from Biological Fertility Shocks," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 30(1), pages 35-63, February.
    7. Yu, Haiyue & Cao, Jin & Kang, Shulong, 2021. "Who cares : Deciphering China’s female employment paradox," BOFIT Discussion Papers 7/2021, Bank of Finland, Institute for Economies in Transition.
    8. Matteo Picchio & Claudia Pigini & Stefano Staffolani & Alina Verashchagina, 2021. "If not now, when? The timing of childbirth and labor market outcomes," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 36(6), pages 663-685, September.
    9. Ambra Poggi & Matteo Richiardi, 2012. "Accounting for Unobserved Heterogeneity in Discrete-time, Discrete-choice Dynamic Microsimulation Models. An application to Labor Supply and Household Formation in Italy," LABORatorio R. Revelli Working Papers Series 117, LABORatorio R. Revelli, Centre for Employment Studies.
    10. Yu, Haiyue & Cao, Jin & Kang, Shulong, 2021. "Who cares: Deciphering China's female employment paradox," BOFIT Discussion Papers 7/2021, Bank of Finland Institute for Emerging Economies (BOFIT).
    11. Jorge M. Agüero & Mindy Marks & Neha Raykar, 2020. "Economic Development and the Motherhood Wage Penalty," Working papers 2020-06, University of Connecticut, Department of Economics.
    12. Matteo Richiardi & Ambra Poggi, 2014. "Imputing Individual Effects in Dynamic Microsimulation Models. An application to household formation and labour market participation in Italy," International Journal of Microsimulation, International Microsimulation Association, vol. 7(2), pages 3-39.
    13. repec:zbw:bofitp:2021_007 is not listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    participation; children; motherhood; female employment rate; Italy;
    All these keywords.

    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
    • C25 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Discrete Regression and Qualitative Choice Models; Discrete Regressors; Proportions; Probabilities

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