Grandmothers' labor supply

Arbeitspapier

The labor supply effects of becoming a grandmother are not well established in the empirical literature. We estimate the effect of becoming a grandmother on the labor supply decision of older workers. Under the assumption that grandmothers cannot predict the exact date of conception of their grandchild, we identify the effect of the first grandchild on employment (extensive margin). Our Timing-of-Events approach shows that having a first grandchild increases the probability of leaving prematurely the labor market. This effect is stronger when informal childcare is more valuable to the mother. To estimate the effect of an additional grandchild (intensive margin), we assume that the incidence of a twin birth among the third generation is not correlated with unobserved determinants of the grandmother's labor supply (first generation). Our respective instrumental variable estimations show a significant effect of further grandchildren. Our results highlight the important influence of the extended family on the decisions of older workers and point to mediating effects of different institutional settings.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: IHS Economics Series ; No. 336

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth ; Economics of the Elderly; Economics of the Handicapped; Non-labor Market Discrimination ; Time Allocation and Labor Supply
• Subject: Grandchildren ; female labor supply ; timing of events ; instrumental variables

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Frimmel, Wolfgang ; Halla, Martin ; Schmidpeter, Bernhard ; Winter-Ebmer, Rudolf
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Institute for Advanced Studies (IHS)
• (where): Vienna
• (when): 2017

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/183479
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:43 AM CET