Collaborative Research: Optimal Parental Leave Policies in the Presence of Statistical Discrimination and Child Development

合作研究：存在统计歧视和儿童发展的情况下的最佳育儿假政策

• 批准号: 2049819
• 负责人: Andres Hincapie
• 金额: $ 20万
• 依托单位: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-06-01 至 2024-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2049819&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Optimal; Parental; Leave

This research project will use large data sets and modern economic theory and measurement methods to investigate the best parental leave policies for the US. It develops and tests a sophisticated theory of parental leave policy that accounts for how households and businesses make decisions about labor supply and demand as well as whether and how many children to have, taking into consideration government parental leave policies. This model provides a formal economic framework for analyzing arguments on several sides of the debate. Rising female workforce participation and reduction in gender gaps in schooling and earnings are some of the most important changes in labor markets over the past few decades in high income countries. While several competing parental leave policies have been proposed for the United States, there is not much research to guide which of the competing proposals will be best for the United States. In addition to studying the best parental policy for the US, the project will also train graduate and undergraduate students in cutting-edge economic research. The results of this research project will provide guidance on how best to establish efficient parental leave policies for the US, thus improving the operations of the labor market. It will also help to establish the US as a global leader in parental leave policies.There is a large empirical literature on parental leave policies; however the evidence does not provide a unique verdict on the efficacy of these policies. On the one hand, these policies may foster gender equity and child development by enabling working mothers to combine careers and motherhood. On the other hand, these policies may have long-term negative consequences for women as they may inhibit women from building up their careers due to losses in work experience. This project addresses the optimal design of parental leave policies and various ways of funding them by presenting a theory of how households make decisions regarding fertility, labor participation and the allocation of resources, how leave policies affect these decisions, and how profit-maximizing firms respond to these policies. The project provides a framework for the assessment of the optimality of paid family leave policies combining quasi-experimental policy variation with an explicit, structural modeling of the mechanisms through which female employees and their employers may respond to these interventions. Unlike earlier research, this research considers statistical discrimination, household bargaining, and child development together in a general equilibrium model of the labor market. The semi-parametric, structural difference-in-difference approach of the project facilitates rigorous testing of the various mechanisms through which both sides of the market respond. The results of this research project will provide guidance on how best to establish parental leave policies, thus improving the operations of the labor market. It will also help to establish the US as a global leader in parental leave policies.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

本研究项目将使用大型数据集和现代经济理论和测量方法来调查美国的最佳育儿假政策。它开发并测试了一个复杂的育儿假政策理论，该理论解释了家庭和企业如何在考虑政府育儿假政策的情况下，就劳动力供求以及是否生育和生育几个孩子做出决策。这个模型提供了一个正式的经济框架来分析辩论的几个方面的论点。过去几十年，高收入国家劳动力市场发生了一些最重要的变化，其中包括女性劳动力参与率的提高以及受教育程度和收入方面性别差距的缩小。虽然美国已经提出了几种相互竞争的育儿假政策，但没有太多研究来指导哪些相互竞争的建议最适合美国。除了研究美国最好的父母政策外，该项目还将培养研究生和本科生从事前沿经济研究。本研究项目的结果将为如何最好地为美国建立有效的育儿假政策提供指导，从而改善劳动力市场的运作。它还将有助于确立美国在育儿假政策方面的全球领导者地位。关于育儿假政策的实证文献很多；然而，这些证据并没有对这些政策的有效性提供一个独特的判断。一方面，这些政策可以促进性别平等和儿童发展，使职业母亲能够兼顾事业和母性。另一方面，这些政策可能会对妇女产生长期的负面影响，因为它们可能会由于失去工作经验而阻碍妇女建立自己的事业。本项目通过介绍家庭如何就生育、劳动参与和资源配置做出决策，休假政策如何影响这些决策，以及利润最大化企业如何应对这些政策的理论，解决了育儿假政策的最佳设计和各种资助方式。该项目为评估带薪家庭假政策的最优性提供了一个框架，将准实验性政策变化与女性雇员及其雇主可能对这些干预措施作出反应的机制的明确结构建模相结合。与早期的研究不同，本研究在劳动力市场的一般均衡模型中考虑了统计歧视、家庭讨价还价和儿童发展。该项目的半参数化、结构性差异方法有助于对市场双方作出反应的各种机制进行严格测试。本研究项目的结果将为如何最好地制定育婴假政策提供指导，从而改善劳动力市场的运作。它还将有助于确立美国在育儿假政策方面的全球领导者地位。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。