Published Papers
International Differences in Gradients in Early Childhood Overweight and Obesity: The Role of Maternal Employment and Formal Childcare Attendance with Lidia Panico, et al. (2023). European Journal of Public Health. URL.
The Role of Energy Balance Related Behaviors in Socioeconomic Inequalities in Childhood Body Mass Index: A Comparative Analysis of Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States with Sanneke de la Rie, et al. (2022). Social Science & Medicine. URL.
Working Papers
The Motherhood Penalty: Gender Norms, Occupational Sorting,
and Labour Supply with Jonathan Norris, and Agnese Romiti. IZA Discussion Paper.
Under review.
Abstract: In this paper, we examine how
pre-birth gender norms shape women’s labor market trajectories and
occupational choices around motherhood in the United Kingdom. Using data
from the British Household Panel Survey, we first quantify the impact of
gender norms on earnings and labor supply post-childbirth. Our results
show that traditional mothers experience a 18-percentage-point (pp)
higher motherhood penalty in earnings and a 20-pp higher motherhood
penalty in hours worked compared to egalitarian mothers. Second, we
investigate the role of pre-birth comparative advantage within couples,
finding that this mechanism applies only to egalitarian parents. Third,
we examine the interaction between occupational characteristics,
including their degree of family-friendliness, and pre-birth gender
norms. We find that accounting for occupational sorting significantly
reduces the average earnings penalty for both traditional and
egalitarian mothers, driven entirely by hours worked for traditional
mothers. In addition, we show that occupational sorting explains 80% of
the short-run earnings penalty gap between traditional and egalitarian
and eliminates the difference in hours worked penalties entirely. Thus,
traditional women seem to sort pre-birth into occupations that
facilitate a larger reduction in hours worked post-motherhood, which in
turn have a substantial impact on their earnings trajectory.
Beliefs on Children’s Human Capital Formation and Mothers at
Work with Jonathan Norris, Agnese Romiti, Zhan Shi, and Paul
Telemo. IZA Discussion
Paper. Under review.
Abstract: Mothers may face
pressure to sort out of the labor market due to perceptions that women
have an absolute advantage in child-rearing, even when their earnings
potential matches that of men. Guided by a simple model, we use a survey
experiment where we equalize earnings potential across gender and show
that women are perceived to hold an absolute advantage in childrearing.
We then experimentally test mechanisms underlying these beliefs, finding
that mothers are expected to spend more time on skill investments with
their children than fathers who have equivalent time available. Finally,
we find that when mothers work full-time, children’s actual performance
is generally underestimated, but providing factual information about
their outcomes, leads to more accurate beliefs and reduced expectations
of harm to the child. Our results show that beliefs about an absolute
advantage for women in child-rearing are indeed present and highlight
the need for targeted interventions to address misinformation about
children’s outcomes when mothers pursue careers.
Work in Progress
The Transition from Universal to Means-Tested Benefits in France: Effets on Families and Children with Lidia Panico and Agnese Romiti.
Gender Differences in Cognitive Ability at School Entry: the Role of School Readiness Skills with Lidia Panico and Michelle Kelly-Irving.
Presentations & Invited Seminars
2024 : PGR conference, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow – UK | Scottish Graduate Programme in Economics (SGPE) Annual Conference, Crieff – UK (Awarded Best Presentation Prize)
2023: AIEL Conference, University of Genoa – Italy | Royal Economic Society PhD Conference, University of Glasgow, Glasgow - UK | PGR conference, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow – UK.
2022: PGR conference, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow – UK.
2020: RC28, Turku – Finland (accepted to present but cancelled due to the pandemic).
Project Participation