My Research
JOB MARKET PAPER
Women's Relative Income and Bargaining Power: An Analysis of Childcare Expenditures in Households
Abstract: This study uses the intrahousehold allocation model adopted by Browning, Bourguignon, Chiappori and Lechen (1994) and household-level expenditure data from the Consumer Expenditure Survey 2014 to 2021 and the Panel Study of Income Dynamics 1999 to 2021 to examine how the relative earnings of mothers affect the heterosexual household’s childcare expenditure decisions. When wives have equal or substantially higher earnings than their husbands, households spend more on childcare. Moving from the lowest wife/husband income ratio quartile to top quartile households results in a $1,142 increase in childcare expenditures. This suggests that mothers with better bargaining positions will allocate more resources toward childcare expenditures and suggests that childcare expenditures are mother’s private goods. These results are consistent with the gender norm of mothers being responsible for childcare.
Working Papers
The pandemic shock and the excess demand for childcare: A tax on mothers' earnings
Abstract: This paper examines how the closing of schools and childcare facilities during the pandemic has created a differential effect on the weekly earnings of custodial mothers compared to custodial fathers and women who do not live with children. To do the analysis, I perform a difference-in-difference analysis using CPS data from January 2018 to December 2022. There is found 9.72% wage gap between mothers and fathers who live with their children. When observing post-pandemic earnings, I find that custodial mothers' earnings receive significant earning premium, around 1.3%, from those of custodial fathers. Furthermore, my robustness results indicate that if these mothers were still receiving the prepandemic wages, the premium would increase to 9.38%. Also, my results suggest, mothers would receive more than 5% more than women without children. This rises in earnings for mothers results from women with children dropping out of the labor force that used to work part-time/for low income during pre-pandemic. The findings indicate a reduction in mothers' pay during the post-pandemic period, emphasizing the need for accessible and affordable childcare facilities as well as a shift in social norms that require women to handle household duties.
How Telework Affected Female Labor Supply During the COVID-19 Pandemic (with Shatil Anaholy)
Abstract: This study investigates the impact of working from home on women’s labor force outcomes during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Using monthly and yearly data from the Current Population Survey (CPS) from May 2020 to September 2022, we find that women who worked from home spent more hours per week at their primary job than men and women who did not work from home. However, we also find that women in general worked fewer hours than men, suggesting that working from home may not have reduced the gender gap in labor market participation. We use a novel measure of remote work derived from the CPS data, which allows us to capture the actual behavior of workers rather than their self-reported preferences or expectations. Our study contributes to the literature on the effects of workplace flexibility on women's economic empowerment and well-being.