Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/147437 
Year of Publication: 
2015
Series/Report no.: 
Memorandum No. 19/2015
Publisher: 
University of Oslo, Department of Economics, Oslo
Abstract: 
We use miscarriage as a biological shock to fertility in order to estimate the causal impact of motherhood on labor market outcomes. The number of instruments is increased by exploiting the response-heterogeneity to miscarriage along three dimensions: time, age, and birth order. This allows us to separately identify the effect of the first, second and third child as well as the effects of pregnancy and caretaking for small children. We find each child reduces female earnings by around 18%, only part of it due to reduced work hours. We find no evidence of an adverse health effect of having children.
Subjects: 
female labor supply
health
motherhood
fertility shock
JEL: 
C26
I10
J13
J22
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
683.05 kB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.