Want to stimulate the labor market? Start by having girls.
A trio of European economists concludes in a recent paper that in a group of large developed countries, having a first-born son means fewer hours worked outside the home for the mother. In sum, having a first-born boy increases fertility, leaving mothers out of the work force longer.
“In the U.S., the U.K., Italy and Sweden women whose first child is a boy are less likely to work in a typical week and work fewer hours than women with first-born girls,” economists Andrea Ichino, Elly-Ann Lindström and Eliana Viviano wrote in the paper, published by the Centre for Economic Policy Research.
The results, though “statistically significant” and suggesting “quantitatively relevant” losses in lifetime labor income, are nonetheless “a puzzle,” the authors wrote.
In less-developed countries, research shows that having a first-born girl tends to increase fertility in what is dubbed the “desire for a son” effect. That, in turn, would tend to keep mothers out of the labor force longer, as they have more children.
But the authors found another factor that more than offsets that effect: stability of the marriage itself. “A first-born girl reduces substantially the stability of a marriage,” the authors wrote, citing past research showing that divorce rates are 4% higher for women whose first born is a girl. That, in turn, suggests fewer children.
In the four large countries sampled, “the negative impact on fertility deriving from the fact that fewer pregnancies are needed to get a boy is more than compensated by the positive effect on fertility deriving from the greater stability of marriages,” the authors wrote.
“For this reason, in the countries that we consider, a first-born boy decreases maternal labor supply,” the authors conclude.