Nature or nurture? Learning and the geography of female labor force participation.

Autor/inn/en	Fogli, Alessandra; Veldkamp, Laura
Titel	Nature or nurture? Learning and the geography of female labor force participation. Gefälligkeitsübersetzung: Natur oder Erziehung? Lernen und die Geographie der Frauenerwerbstätigkeit.
Quelle	In: Econometrica, 79 (2011) 4, S. 1103-1138 PDF als Volltext Link als defekt meldenVerfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	online; gedruckt; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0012-9682; 1468-0262
DOI	10.3982/ECTA7767
Schlagwörter	Sozialpsychologie; Ehefrau; Mutter; Frau; Lernen; Regionale Disparität; Sozialgeschichte; Erwerbsbeteiligung; Frauenerwerbstätigkeit; Regionaler Arbeitsmarkt; Regionaler Faktor; Informationsfluss; USA
Abstract	"One of the most dramatic economic transformations of the past century has been the entry of women into the labor force. While many theories explain why this change took place, we investigate the process of transition itself. We argue that local information transmission generates changes in participation that are geographically heterogeneous, locally correlated, and smooth in the aggregate, just like those observed in our data. In our model, women learn about the effects of maternal employment on children by observing nearby employed women. When few women participate in the labor force, data are scarce and participation rises slowly. As information accumulates in some regions, the effects of maternal employment become less uncertain and more women in that region participate. Learning accelerates, labor force participation rises faster, and regional participation rates diverge. Eventually, information diffuses throughout the economy, beliefs converge to the truth, participation flattens out, and regions become more similar again. To investigate the empirical relevance of our theory, we use a new county-level data set to compare our calibrated model to the time series and geographic patterns of participation." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku). Die Untersuchung enthält quantitative Daten. Forschungsmethode: empirisch-quantitativ; empirisch; Längsschnitt; historisch. Die Untersuchung bezieht sich auf den Zeitraum 1940 bis 2005.
Erfasst von	Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung, Nürnberg
Update	2012/1