@techreport{JessenSchweighoferKodritschWeinhardtetal., type = {Working Paper}, author = {Jessen, Jonas and Schweighofer-Kodritsch, Sebastian and Weinhardt, Felix and Berkes, Jan}, title = {Separate Housework Spheres}, series = {Berlin School of Economics Discussion Papers}, journal = {Berlin School of Economics Discussion Papers}, edition = {No. 43}, doi = {10.48462/opus4-5549}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b1570-opus4-55494}, pages = {39, xxiv}, abstract = {Using novel time-use data from Germany before and after reunification, we document two facts: First, spouses who both work full-time exhibit similar housework patterns whether they do so voluntarily or due to a full-time mandate, as in the GDR. Second, men's amount of housework is independent of their spouse's labour supply. We theoretically explain this pattern by the presence of two household goods and socially learned gender-specific comparative advantage in their home production. We label this gender specialisation as separate housework spheres. Empirical evidence strongly confirms separate housework spheres in the GDR, West Germany, subsequent years post-reunification, and in international time-use data across 17 countries since the 1970s. We consider several implications, such as those for child penalties, where separate housework spheres provide a novel explanation for why it is the mothers whose labour market outcomes strongly deteriorate upon the arrival of children.}, language = {en} } @techreport{JessenKinneBattisti, type = {Working Paper}, author = {Jessen, Jonas and Kinne, Lavinia and Battisti, Michele}, title = {Child Penalties in Labour Market Skills}, series = {Berlin School of Economics Discussion Papers}, journal = {Berlin School of Economics Discussion Papers}, edition = {No. 52}, doi = {10.48462/opus4-5647}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b1570-opus4-56477}, pages = {36}, abstract = {Child penalties in labour market outcomes are well-documented: after childbirth, mothers' employment and earnings drop persistently compared to fathers. Beyond gender norms, a potential driver could be the loss in labour market skills due to mothers' longer employment interruptions. This paper estimates child penalties in adult cognitive skills by adapting the pseudo-panel approach to a single cross-section of 29 countries in the PIAAC dataset. We find a persistent drop in numeracy skills after childbirth for both parents between 0.13 (short-run) and 0.16 standard deviations (long-run), but no statistically significant difference between mothers and fathers. Estimates of child penalties in skills strongly depend on controlling for pre-determined characteristics, especially education. Additionally, there is no evidence for worse occupational skill matches for mothers after childbirth. Our findings suggest that changes in general labour market skills cannot explain child penalties in labour market outcomes, and that a cross-sectional estimation of child penalties can be sensitive to characteristics of the outcome variable.}, language = {en} }