Intra-Household Labor Supply, Migration, and Subsistence Constraints in a Risky Environment: Evidence from Rural El Salvador We use panel data from El Salvador to investigate migration and the intra-household allocation of labor as a strategy for coping with uninsured risk. Consistent with a model of a farm household with a binding subsistence constraint, we show that adverse agricultural produ...

This paper suggests that a signi...cant factor explaining the increase in female labor force participation over time was the growing presence of a new type of man. This man was brought up with a di¤erent family model–one in which his mother worked. A working mother either in‡uenced her son’s preferences for a working wife or directly made him a better partner for a working woman. The increase i...

The aim of this study is to explain two remarkable changes that occurred in the female labor market between the 1970s and the 1990s using a human capital investment model: (1) labor supply of married women has been more compatible with having children and (2) married women have faced higher wage growth rates as a result of higher participation. To this end, this paper constructs a dynamic stoch...

The aging of the U.S. population, combined with an increasing probability that any given older individual will work, means that the importance of older workers to the labor force is rising. One possible solution to the solvency problems facing the Social Security System is increasing the labor supply of older workers. Understanding how policy levers can affect the labor supply of the elderly th...

This work shows that the factors affecting labor supply have been key determinants of the changes in employment, unemployment and income differentials taking place in Latin America in the 1990s. The two main forces driving labor supply in the region have been demographics and education. The following demographic trends have had significant effects on the labor market: C The rate of population g...

Why Are Fertility and Women’s Employment Rates So Low in Italy? Lessons from France and the U.K. According to the agenda for employment set by the EU in 2000 for the following ten years, the target for female employment was set at 60 per cent for the year 2010. While Northern and most Continental countries have achieved this quantitative target, the Mediterranean countries are lagging behind. L...

The authors use a laboratory experiment to examine the impact of relative wages on labor supply. They test the hypothesis that, ceteris paribus, making a given wage high (low) relative to other wage levels will lead to an increase (decrease) in labor supply. They find that labor supply does respond significantly to relative pay, and in the expected direction. However, when a strong enough reaso...

This paper develops a new method of estimating risk aversion using data on labor supply behavior. In particular, I show that existing evidence on labor supply behavior places a tight upper bound on risk aversion in the expected utility model. I derive a formula for the coe¢ cient of relative risk aversion ( ) in terms of (1) the ratio of the income elasticity of labor supply to the wage elastic...

This paper econometrically analyzes the relationship between public spending and gendered urban employment in China for the period 1999-2009. Proponents of gender-sensitive public policies suggest that spending on healthcare and education may increase long-run growth and women’s relative employment via the expansion of paid care work (increasing labor demand) and reductions in unpaid labor (inc...