A recent (1990) national survey is used in an econometric analysis of Japanese women's hourly pay and employment patterns. It confirms many results from Western industrial countries but also indicates the important influence of Japan's unique family structure, the persistence of multigenerational households, on married women's employment patterns. Younger married women are more likely to take paid employment in such households, particularly on a full-time basis, than in nuclear family households. This appears to reflect in part the child-care role played by the woman's parents or parents-in-law.

Using large American and British survey data, this paper provides structural estimates of the production functions for birth weight and fetal growth. In addition to maternal smoking, we estimate the impact of when a mother stops work, which has not been considered in the literature. Mothers’ work interruptions of up to 3 months before birth have a positive effect on birth outcomes, especially among British children. Parental behavior appears to respond to child idiosyncratic endowments in a way that suggests that parents have inequity aversion concerns. Evidence in favor of inequity aversion emerges also from the analysis of breast-feeding decisions.