American Economic Review Vol. 104 No. 1 2014

Worktime Regulations and Spousal Labor Supply

Dominique Goux¹; Eric Maurin²; Barbara Petrongolo³

¹ CREST, 60 rue Etienne Dolet 92240 Malakoff, France (e-mail: ) · ² Paris School of Economics, 48 boulevard Jourdan, 75014 Paris, France (e-mail: ) · ³ Queen Mary University, Mile End Road, London E1 4NS, UK, and CEP, LSE, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE, UK. (e-mail: )

Abstract

We study interdependencies in spousal labor supply by exploiting the design of the French workweek reduction, which introduced exogenous variation in one's spouse's labor supply, at constant earnings. Treated employees work on average two hours less per week. Husbands of treated women respond by reducing their labor supply by about half an hour, consistent with substantial leisure complementarity, and specifically cut the nonusual component of their workweek, leaving usual hours unchanged. Women's response to their husband's treatment is instead weak and rarely statistically significant, possibly due to heavier constraints in the organization of their workweek.

DOI

10.1257/aer.104.1.252

Volume

104

Issue

1

Pages

252-276

Language

en

Sources

bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref

Cite

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