Abstract
This study exploits plausibly exogenous variation derived from the youngest sib-ling’s school eligibility to estimate the effects of maternal work on the weight outcomes of older children. We first show that mothers’ work hours increase gradually along both the extensive and intensive margins as the age of the youngest child rises, whereas mothers’ spouses’ work hours do not appear to be responsive. We develop an instrumental-variables model that shows that mothers’ work hours lead to larger increases in children’s body mass index z-scores and probabilities of being overweight/obese than those identified in previous studies. Subsample analyses find that the effects are concentrated among advantaged households.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 553-584 |
Number of pages | 32 |
Journal | Journal of Human Capital |
Volume | 13 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Dec 1 2019 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2019 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved.
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Economics, Econometrics and Finance