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Journal of Labor Economics Vol. 41 No. 2 2023

Mothers Working during Preschool Years and Child Skills: Does Income Compensate?

Cheti Nicoletti1,2,3,4; Kjell G. Salvanes5,3,6; Emma Tominey3,4

1 University of Essex · 2 York University · 3 IZA - Institute of Labor Economics · 4 University of York · 5 Center for Economic and Policy Research · 6 Norwegian School of Economics

open access

Abstract

Increasing mother’s labor supply during a child’s preschool years may reduce time investments, yielding a negative direct effect on midchildhood and teenage outcomes. But as mother’s work hours increase, income will rise. Can income compensate for the negative effect of hours? Our mediation analysis exploits exogenous variation in both mother’s hours and family income. Results suggest a negative, insignificant direct effect from increasing mother’s hours on child test scores. However, the positive mediating effect of income creates a positive total effect on test scores (26% of a standard deviation) for a 10-hour increase in mother’s weekly hours in preschool years.

DOI
10.1086/719688
Volume
41
Issue
2
Pages
389-429
Language
en
Sources
openalex crossref

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