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Labor Force Participation Elasticities of Women and Secondary Earners within Married Couples: Working Paper 2014-06

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  • Robert McClelland
  • Shannon Mok

Abstract

Labor supply elasticities are often used to evaluate the effect of changes in tax rates on the total hours worked in the economy. Historically, married women have tended to have larger labor supply elasticities than their spouses because they were the secondary earners in a couple. However, those elasticities have fallen sharply in recent decades—a decline that has been attributed to greater labor force participation rates and increased career orientation among married women. Indeed, a growing share of wives earn more than their husbands, raising the question whether a

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  • Robert McClelland & Shannon Mok, 2014. "Labor Force Participation Elasticities of Women and Secondary Earners within Married Couples: Working Paper 2014-06," Working Papers 49433, Congressional Budget Office.
    • Handle: RePEc:cbo:wpaper:49433
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Patricia Apps & Ray Rees, 2018. "Optimal family taxation and income inequality," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 25(5), pages 1093-1128, October.
    2. Park, Cyn-Young & Petri, Peter A. & Plummer, Michael G., 2021. "Economic Implications of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership for Asia and the Pacific," ADB Economics Working Paper Series 639, Asian Development Bank.
    3. Ganghua Mei & Lei Yue, 2022. "Labor supply and time use: evidence from cohabiting women in the United States," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 54(44), pages 5133-5158, September.
    4. Patricia Apps & Ray Rees, 2022. "Inequality measurement and tax/transfer policy," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 29(4), pages 953-984, August.
    5. Charlotte Bartels & Cortnie Shupe, 2023. "Drivers of participation elasticities across Europe: gender or earner role within the household?," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 30(1), pages 167-214, February.
    6. Emily Y. Lin & Patricia K. Tong, 2017. "Married couple work participation and earnings elasticities: evidence from tax data," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 24(6), pages 997-1025, December.
    7. Elliott Isaac, 2018. "Suddenly Married: Joint Taxation And The Labor Supply Of Same-Sex Married Couples After U.S. v. Windsor," Working Papers 1809, Tulane University, Department of Economics.
    8. Harris, Jorgen, 2022. "Do wages fall when women enter an occupation?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    9. Lundberg, Jacob & Norell, John, 2018. "Taxes, benefits and labour force participation: A survey of the quasi-experimental literature," Ratio Working Papers 313, The Ratio Institute.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • H00 - Public Economics - - General - - - General
    • H31 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents - - - Household
    • J30 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - General
    • J20 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - General

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