Do downward private transfers enhance maternal labor supply? Evidence from around Europe

Abstract

Using data on 2317 mother-daughter pairs from 10 European countries, we investigate the impact of downward time and monetary transfers on the career choices of transfer-receiving young mothers. For Europe as a whole, we find a strong positive effect of grandchild care on the labor force participation and the degree of labor market involvement of the young mother, but no impact of monetary transfers on either of these decisions. Both recipients and donors with better endowments are more likely to participate in a monetary transaction, while mothers with lower level of human capital are more likely to provide time transfers to their better endowed daughters. JEL Classification: D64, J13, J22

Grandparenting and mothers’ labour force participation: A comparative analysis using the Generations and Gender Survey

“…They do indeed show a positive impact of intergenerational co-residence on female labour force participation, highlighting a clear link between downward time transfers and work decisions of the recipient. Building on this work a range of studies started focussing on the importance of time transfers from parents to adult children, highlighting their positive effect on the participation rates of the latter (Chiuri 2000;Del Boca 2002;Bratti 2003;Pagani and Marenzi 2008;Arrondel and Masson 2006;Dimova and Wolff 2008;Dimova and Wolff 2011). As highlighted by Guzman (1999), in addition to economic and practical needs, childcare preferences also play an important role in explaining time transfers from grandparents.…”

Grandparenting and Childbearing in the Extended Family

“…They indeed show a positive impact of intergenerational co-residence on female labour force participation, highlighting a clear link between downward time transfers and the work effort of the recipient. Building on this work, a range of studies started focussing on the importance of time transfers from parents to adult children highlighting their positive effect on the participation rates of the latter (Chiuri, 2000;Del Boca, 2002;Bratti, 2003;Marenzi and Pagani, 2008;Arrondel and Masson, 2006;Laferrére and Wolff, 2006;Dimova and Wolff, 2006). Most of these studies are country specific, but they all indicate an important role for intergenerational support in mothers' being able to participate in the labour force.…”

“…Most of these studies are country specific, but they all indicate an important role for intergenerational support in mothers' being able to participate in the labour force. Dimova and Wolff (2006) analyze the impact of private transfers on the career choice of women, taking a comparative perspective. They highlight the fact that grandparenting is potentially endogenous with respect to mothers' behaviour.…”

Grandchildren and their grandparents' labor supply

“…In an empirical counterpart of this calibration study, Dimova and Wolff (2011) use cross-country data from the Survey of Health, Aging, and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) show that this is the case for young European mothers. Posadas and Vidal-Fernandez (2012) instrument the availability of grandparents-provided child care with death of the maternal grandmother in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79), and find that the availability of grandparents increases the labor force participation of mothers in the U.S. Compton and Pollak (2014) employ data from the U.S. Census and from the National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH), and show that spatial proximity to grandmothers increases the labor supply of women with young children, presumably because of the availability of grandparent-provided child care.…”