Are All of the Good Men Fathers? The Effect of Having Children on Earnings

Arbeitspapier

This study reconsiders the empirical question of whether men's earnings increase because of children. Large Norwegian register data are used for brother and twin pairs who are followed over their life cycle from their first entry into the labour market. The data permit family-fixed effects to be modeled in various ways, as well as observing earnings growth before and after having children. The simple conditional correlation between children and earnings is positive. When only variation from between-sibling differences is used, the earnings effect post entry into first-fatherhood declines. The effect becomes small and non-significant when we use twins.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: IZA Discussion Papers ; No. 8113

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Time Allocation and Labor Supply ; Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity ; Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials ; Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth ; Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
• Subject: children ; earnings ; men ; siblings ; twins

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Kunze, Astrid
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)
• (where): Bonn
• (when): 2014

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/96797
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:42 AM CET