期刊名称:Discussion Paper Series / Department of Economics, New York University
出版年度:2007
卷号:1
出版社:New York University
摘要:The purpose of this paper is to study the joint determination of gender differentials in labor market
outcomes and in the household division of labor. Specifically, we explore the hypothesis that incentive
problems in the labor market amplify differences in earnings due to gender differentials in home hours.
In turn, earnings differentials reinforce the division of labor within the household, leading to a potentially
self-fulfilling feedback mechanism. The workings of the labor market are key in our story. The main
assumptions are that the utility cost of work effort is increasing in home hours, and that higher effort
should correspond to higher incentive pay. Household decisions are Pareto efficient, leading to a negative
correlation between relative home hours and earnings across spouses. We use the Census and the
PSID to study these predictions and find that they are supported by the data.