Fertility and parents’ labour supply: new evidence from US census data

摘要

This article uses US Census data from 1980, 1990, and 2000 to estimate synthetic-cohort life cycle effects of fertility on women’s and couples’ labour supply. Multiple births are used as an instrument to control for unobserved heterogeneity. For single women, the causal effect of fertility has declined significantly over time. Couples, however, have become more specialized along traditional lines, with married men tending to increase labour earnings rather than reduce hours worked.