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.

该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研究美国的最佳育儿假政策。 它制定并测试了一项复杂的育儿假政策理论，该理论说明了家庭和企业如何对劳动力供应和需求做出决定以及是否有多少儿童，考虑到政府育儿假政策。该模型为分析辩论的多个方面的论点提供了正式的经济框架。 在过去几十年中，女性劳动力的参与和减少教育和收入中的性别差距的减少是劳动力市场上最重要的变化。 尽管已经为美国提出了几项竞争育儿假政策，但没有太多的研究可以指导哪些竞争性提案对美国来说是最好的。除了研究美国的最佳父母政策外，该项目还将培训毕业生和本科生的尖端经济研究。 该研究项目的结果将提供有关如何最好地为美国制定有效的育儿假政策的指导，从而改善劳动力市场的运营。 这也将有助于将美国作为育儿休假政策的全球领导人。但是，证据并未对这些政策的功效提供独特的判决。一方面，这些政策可以通过使工作母亲能够结合职业和母性来促进性别平等和儿童发展。另一方面，这些政策可能会对妇女产生长期的负面影响，因为由于工作经验的损失，她们可能会抑制妇女建立职业。 该项目通过提出关于家庭如何做出关于生育能力，劳动参与和资源分配的决定的理论，介绍了育儿假政策的最佳设计以及各种资助它们的资金，如何影响这些决策以及如何对利润的企业对这些政策做出回应。该项目为评估有偿家庭假政策的最佳性提供了一个框架，该政策将准实验政策变化与女性雇员及其雇主可以对这些干预做出反应的机制的明确结构建模相结合。 与较早的研究不同，这项研究考虑了统计歧视，家庭谈判和儿童发展，以劳动力市场的一般均衡模型共同考虑。项目的半参数，结构差异方法有助于对市场双方响应的各种机制进行严格的测试。该研究项目的结果将提供有关如何最好地制定育儿假政策的指导，从而改善劳动力市场的运营。 这也将有助于将美国作为育儿假政策的全球领导者。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并使用基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的审查标准，被认为值得通过评估来获得支持。