Wilfred Uunk

The Impact of Young Children on Women's Labour Supply A Reassessment of Institutional Effects in Europe

The proportion of women who withdraw from paid employment when they have children differs considerably among the countries of the European Union (EU), and the variation has mostly been attributed to institutional factors. In this study, we reassess the institutional explanation, because earlier supportive evidence is threatened by two alternative macro-level explanations: the influence of the economic necessity to work and the influence of gender role values in society. Our main research question is whether and to what extent these alternative explanations alter the effect of public childcare arrangements on mothers’ labour supply. Using panel data from 13 countries of the EU, we find evidence in favour of the institutional and economic explanations. In countries with more generous provision of public childcare and in countries with a lower level of economic welfare, the impact of childbirth on female labour supply is less negative than in other countries. Economic welfare appears to suppress rather than rival the institutional effect. More egalitarian gender role values in a country increase mothers’ labour supply, yet these values do not alter the institutional effect. Our results underpin the importance of publicly supported arrangements for enhancing female labour supply.

Popular Criteria for the Welfare Deservingness of Disability Pensioners: The Influence of Structural and Cultural Factors

Research has shown that several criteria underlie people’s opinions about the welfare deservingness of benefit recipients. However, it remains unknown which factors are associated with the emphasis that people place on such criteria. Using a 2006 Dutch national survey on the welfare deservingness of disability pension recipients, we study the influence of structural and cultural factors on people’s emphasis on three deservingness criteria: control, need, and reciprocity. OLS regression analyses show that people’s emphasis on specific deservingness criteria is strengthened by structural factors that indicate the possibility of resource competition such as the following: age, lower levels of education, unemployment, and lower income. However, actual personal experience with receiving welfare benefits weakens criteria emphasis. Cultural factors such as the espousal of views from the political right and the possession of a strong work ethic are associated with a heightened emphasis on deservingness criteria.

Does the Cultural Context Matter? The effect of a country's gender-role attitudes on female labor supply

ABSTRACT Despite substantial country variation in gender-role attitudes and female labor supply and theoretical arguments stressing the consequences of contextual attitudes for individual behavior, prior research did not find evidence for an effect of a countrys gender-role attitudes on female labor supply. In this study I reassess this finding using a powerful multilevel design on the 2008 wave of the European Values Study on 33 countries. I find a substantial positive and independent effect of a countrys egalitarian gender-role attitudes on individual womens odds of labor market attachment. The original, gross effect can for one-fourth be attributed to an effect of individual gender-role attitudes and one-tenth to an institutional effect. These findings indicate that the cultural (attitude) context matters for female labor supply.

Female-supportive policies and women's employment after divorce

In recent decades the probability of divorce and separation among married and cohabiting couples has increased significantly in most European countries. Focusing on both economic and social aspects, this comprehensive volume explores the consequences of partnership dissolution at the individual level. The contributors use personal characteristics, properties of the partnerships and the institutional context to explain coping behaviours.

Does the ethnic gap in homeownership vary by income? An analysis on Dutch survey data

Abstract Lower levels of homeownership among immigrant populations have frequently been related to the particular financial constraints that immigrant households can face. Various problems have been raised with this explanation for the ethnic gap in homeownership rates. This paper responds to these criticisms by sensitizing the financial constraints explanation to the possibility of differential effects of ethnicity depending upon level of income. The hypothesis that the ethnic gap is stronger for lower income groups is tested through logistic analyses of the housing tenure of Turkish and Moroccan immigrants and a comparison group of native citizens in the Netherlands. High-income Turks are revealed to have comparable rates of homeownership to high-income natives, whereas in low-income groups a large ethnic gap exists. The ethnic gap in homeownership among low-income groups could not be explained by other financial constraints (education, couple’s earning status, parental resources). Housing preferences and discrimination are possible explanations for this ethnic gap among low-income households.

The shadow of future homeownership: the association of wanting to move into homeownership with labour supply

Previous research has shown that labour supply – especially of partnered women with supplemental incomes – is positively associated with homeownership status. This literature is advanced by testing whether wanting to move into homeownership before the actual entry into homeownership affects individuals’ labour supply in couples. The empirical analysis is based on longitudinal data from the British Household Panel Survey (1991–2008). Fixed-effects panel regression models are used to predict the labour supply of women and men separately. Labour supply changes associated with homeownership are found to mainly occur when individuals want to move into homeownership and prior to the actual entry into homeownership. When wanting to move into homeownership, women and men increase their labour supply, where women are more likely to take up work and men to increase work hours. For women, the association between wanting to move into homeownership and labour supply is moderated by regional house price changes.