Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/173131 
Authors: 
Year of Publication: 
2018
Series/Report no.: 
Economics Discussion Papers No. 2018-6
Publisher: 
Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW), Kiel
Abstract: 
Over the last three decades, Spanish female labor force participation (LFP) has tremendously increased, particularly, that of married women. At the same time, the income tax structure, the fiscal treatment of families, policies to reconcile family and work, and the education distribution of married couples have substantially changed. By contrast, the gender wage gap has remained quite stable. In this paper the author investigates the relevance of these factors in accounting for the growth in Spanish married women labor force participation from 1994 to 2008. For that purpose, she uses Kaygusuz (Taxes and female labor supply, 2010) model of household labor market participation, and data from Eurostat to calibrate the model and evaluate its performance. The model successfully accounts for the rise in aggregate female labor force participation, and matches hours worked by males and females. The model is also able to replicate the pattern of female labor force participation by age and education. From this analysis we can conclude that changes in tax rates and in the education distribution are the main factors behind the increase in female LFP during the late nineties, while changes in child care costs and earning profiles are mainly responsible for the subsequent growth in the 2000s.
Subjects: 
female labor force participation
gender wage gap
income tax
educational distribution
wage profiles
child care costs
JEL: 
J11
J12
J13
J22
J31
Creative Commons License: 
cc-by Logo
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
246.66 kB





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