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Zusammenfassung: Im beitrag wird untersucht, welche familienpolitischen Maßnahmen (Kinderbetreuung, elternzeit, Transferleistungen) die Arbeitsmarktpartizipation von Müttern fördern. Im gegensatz zu bisherigen Studien wird weiter evaluiert, inwiefern ein Zusammenhang zwischen erwerbsfördernden Maßnahmen und kulturellem Mutterbild besteht und ob letzteres die Arbeitsmarktpartizipation beeinflusst. Im Rahmen einer Mehrebenenanalyse werden 21 europäi-sche Staaten anhand der Daten der zweiten Welle des European Social Survey (ESS) aus den Jahren 2004/2005 in Kombination mit Makrovariablen der Organisation für wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung (OECD) untersucht. Den theoretischen Rahmen der Studie bildet ein rationales entscheidungsmodell: die mikroökonomische Theorie des Arbeitsangebotes. Zentrales Ergebnis der Analyse ist, dass einzig ein hohes Betreuungsangebot für unter dreijährige Kinder die Arbeitsmarktpartizipation, insbesondere jene von Müttern sehr junger Kinder, fördert. Diese familienpolitische Maßnahme weist einen engen Zusammenhang mit der nationalen Kultur auf.Abstract: This article investigates the effects of family policies (child care, parental leave, financial transfers) on labour market participation of mothers in 21 European countries. In contrast to previous studies, the correlation of child care provision with national culture and the cultural influence on maternal employment decisions are also estimated. The microeconomic theory of labour supply provides the theoretical framework of the analysis. With the use of hierarchical logistic regression models the hypotheses are tested on the data of the European Social Survey (2004/2005) and contextual variables of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. As a central result the level of child care provision for children below the age of three is found to be the single variable with regards to increasing labour market participation, particularly for mothers of young children. This political measure is strongly correlated to national culture.

The objective of this article is to examine the association between women's income and first birth risks in two fairly similar countries: Denmark and Finland. The benefit of comparing these two countries is that observed variation in fertility behaviour might be attributed to the few differences in context factors, with a special focus on detailed differences in family policies. The economic theory of fertility, as well as models about bargaining processes within the family, serve as a theoretical framework for explaining individual childbearing decisions within the specific context of each country. Discrete time multiple regressions are estimated to test the hypotheses on the data from the European Community Household Panel (1994)(1995)(1996)(1997)(1998)(1999)(2000)(2001). In Denmark, women's income has a positive effect on first birth risks, but the effect in Finland is insignificant. A second result is that Finnish women who earn more than their partner have lower first birth risks than those earning approximately the same.

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