Skip to main content
School of Economics and Finance

No. 887: Economic incentives, home production and gender identity norms

Andrea Ichino , European University Institute, U. Bologna and CEPR
Martin Olsson , Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN, Stockholm)
Barbara Petrongolo , Queen Mary University London, CEP (LSE) and CEPR
Peter Skogman Thoursie , Stockholm University and IFAU

July 1, 2019

Download full paper

Abstract

We infer the role of gender identity norms from the reallocation of childcare across parents, following changes in their relative wages. By exploiting variation from a Swedish tax reform, we estimate the elasticity of substitution in parental childcare for the whole population and for demographic groups potentially adhering to differently binding norms. We find that immigrant, married and male breadwinner couples, as well as couples with a male first-born, react more strongly to tax changes that induce a more traditional allocation of spouses time, while the respective counterpart couples react more strongly to tax changes that induce a more egalitarian division of labour.

J.E.L classification codes: D13, H24, J22

Keywords:Home production, taxes, gender identity, gender gaps

Back to top