The influence of grandchildren on the labor supply decision of grandparents is not well established in the empirical literature. We fill this gap and estimate the consequence of becoming a grandmother on the labor supply decision of female workers. Our results show that having a grandchild increases the probability of leaving the labor market prematurely by around 9%. We provide suggestive evidence that the response to a grandchild is stronger when informal grandchildcare is more valuable to the mother. Estimating the effects of additional grandchildren, we find substantial heterogeneity along the distribution. Especially grandmothers at the bottom of the duration distribution reduce their labor supply substantially.
Presented by:
Bernhard Schmidpeter, ISER
Date & time:
March 1, 2017 1:00 pm - March 1, 2017 2:00 pm
Venue:
2N2.4.16 - ISER Seminar Room
Internal seminars home