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The effect of housework on wages in Sweden

Mikkelsen, Sara LU and Åkesson, Anna LU (2015) NEKP01 20151
Department of Economics
Abstract
The purpose of this thesis is to examine the effect of housework on wages for women and men in Sweden using both linear and non-linear specifications of the effect. Furthermore, we investigate the effort and selection hypotheses, i.e. whether the effect of housework on wages can be explained by reduced effort and/or selection into jobs which are more compatible with housework. Three methods are applied: OLS, IV regressions and propensity score matching. The latter two methods are used in attempt to reduce potential endogeneity of housework. We find weak support for the effort and selection hypotheses but there is a statistically significant wage penalty for women in the linear specification, while the effect for men is less pronounced.... (More)
The purpose of this thesis is to examine the effect of housework on wages for women and men in Sweden using both linear and non-linear specifications of the effect. Furthermore, we investigate the effort and selection hypotheses, i.e. whether the effect of housework on wages can be explained by reduced effort and/or selection into jobs which are more compatible with housework. Three methods are applied: OLS, IV regressions and propensity score matching. The latter two methods are used in attempt to reduce potential endogeneity of housework. We find weak support for the effort and selection hypotheses but there is a statistically significant wage penalty for women in the linear specification, while the effect for men is less pronounced. However, in the upper part of the housework scale, which is captured in the non-linear specification, the result is somewhat reversed in that performing housework 18 hours or more per week penalise the wages of men more than those of women. We discuss our results in relation to potential endogeneity of housework, which is an important, although often neglected, issue throughout previous literature on the subject. (Less)
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author
Mikkelsen, Sara LU and Åkesson, Anna LU
supervisor
organization
course
NEKP01 20151
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
Housework, wages, endogeneity, instrumental variables, matching methods
language
English
id
5462993
date added to LUP
2015-06-30 10:24:08
date last changed
2015-06-30 10:24:08
@misc{5462993,
  abstract     = {{The purpose of this thesis is to examine the effect of housework on wages for women and men in Sweden using both linear and non-linear specifications of the effect. Furthermore, we investigate the effort and selection hypotheses, i.e. whether the effect of housework on wages can be explained by reduced effort and/or selection into jobs which are more compatible with housework. Three methods are applied: OLS, IV regressions and propensity score matching. The latter two methods are used in attempt to reduce potential endogeneity of housework. We find weak support for the effort and selection hypotheses but there is a statistically significant wage penalty for women in the linear specification, while the effect for men is less pronounced. However, in the upper part of the housework scale, which is captured in the non-linear specification, the result is somewhat reversed in that performing housework 18 hours or more per week penalise the wages of men more than those of women. We discuss our results in relation to potential endogeneity of housework, which is an important, although often neglected, issue throughout previous literature on the subject.}},
  author       = {{Mikkelsen, Sara and Åkesson, Anna}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{The effect of housework on wages in Sweden}},
  year         = {{2015}},
}