Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/161125 
Year of Publication: 
2017
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 10502
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
Our model explains the observed gender-specific patterns of career and child care choices through endogenous social norms. We study how these norms interact with the gender wage gap. We show that via the social norm a couple's child care and career choices impose an externality on other couples, so that the laissez-faire is inefficient. We use our model to study the design and effectiveness of three commonly used policies. We find that child care subsidies and women quotas can be effective tools to mitigate or eliminate the externality. Parental leave, however, may even intensify the externality and decrease welfare.
Subjects: 
social norms
child care
women's career choices
women quotas
child care subsidies
parental leave
JEL: 
D13
H23
J16
J22
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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