Lisa J. Dettling

Broadband in the Labor Market

The author investigates how high-speed home Internet use has affected labor supply. Using an instrumental variables strategy that exploits cross-state variation in supply-side constraints to residential broadband Internet access, she finds that exogenously determined high-speed Internet use leads to a 4.1 percentage point increase in labor force participation for married women. No corresponding effect is found for single women or men. Among married women, the largest increases in participation are found among college-educated women with children. Supplemental analyses suggest that Internet use for telework and saving time in home production explains the increase in participation. The results suggest that home Internet facilitates work-family balance.

Recent Trends in Wealth-Holding by Race and Ethnicity : Evidence from the Survey of Consumer Finances

Data from the newly released 2016 Survey of Consumer Finances show wealth has grown for families across race and ethnicity groups since 2013, but substantial disparities between groups persist.

Broadband in the Labor Market: The Impact of Residential High Speed Internet on Married Women's Labor Force Participation

This paper investigates how high-speed home Internet has impacted married womens labor force participation. I estimate the net effect of individual Internet usage on labor supply using an instrumental variables strategy which exploits cross-state variation in supply-side constraints to residential broadband Internet access. Results indicate that married women who use the Internet are more likely to participate in the labor force. The average effects mask substantial heterogeneity and increases in participation are concentrated on women with higher levels of education and children. The results suggest home Internet facilitates work-family balance for highly educated women.

A Wealthless Recovery? Asset Ownership and the Uneven Recovery from the Great Recession

Data from the Federal Reserve Boards Survey of Consumer Finances indicate that although total household wealth has fully recovered from the Great Recession, there has been only modest growth for the vast majority of families since 2010, and most families have not recovered to pre-recession wealth levels. This uneven recovery is explained by declines in home and stock ownership, which have shown little signs of reversing; thus, these disparities appear poised to persist.