Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/227175 
Year of Publication: 
2020
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 13648
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
Using data on American women and the health status of their children, this paper studies the effect of remote work on female earnings. Instrumental variables estimates, which exploit a temporary child health shock as exogenous variation in the propensity to work at home, yield an hourly wage penalty of 77.1 percent. Earnings losses together with positive selection, and alternative first stage regressions, suggest that task re-assignment or lack of social interaction are likely mechanisms. The estimates also have implications for the costs of social distancing during a pandemic and may be especially applicable when children must be temporarily quarantined.
Subjects: 
female labor supply
female earnings
remote work
fertility
health
instrumental variables
COVID-19
pandemic
quarantine
lockdown
JEL: 
C26
J13
J22
I19
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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