Umeå Economic Studies, Department of Economics, Umeå University
No 805:
Conflicting Identities and Social Pressure - Effects on the long-run evolution of female labor supply
Andréa Mannberg ()
and Tomas Sjögren ()
Abstract: Over the last half-century female employment rates have
increased significantly in many countries. This change has partly been
attributed to a change in gender norms. The purpose of this paper is to
present a dynamic model within which the evolution of female labor supply
can be analyzed. Drawing on psychological literature, we let individuals
define themselves in terms of different social identities, each of which
prescribes a certain type of behavior. These prescriptions may imply
conflicting incentives which provide agents with a motive to continuously
revise the importance they attach to a given identity. Applying this
approach within the context of a dynamic model of labor supply, we are able
to make some novel predictions about what may cause labor supply to change
over time. Our results suggest that the fear of becoming an outsider in
society may have prevented a complete transition of women from housewives
to breadwinners. In addition, we show that the discrepancy between personal
and social norms may have interesting implications for labor supply: an
increase in the hours of work prescribed by a working norm need not
necessarily lead to more hours of work. Finally, our analysis shows that
not recognizing that the weights attached to different social identities
are endogenous may imply that the long-run effects on labor supply of a
higher wage may be underestimated.
Keywords: Female Labor Supply; Social Norms; (follow links to similar papers)
JEL-Codes: J21; J22; (follow links to similar papers)
42 pages, April 30, 2010
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