Data and Code for: Wind of Change? Cultural Determinants of Maternal Labor Supply

Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s) Barbara Boelmann, University of Cologne and ECONtribute; Anna Raute, Queen Mary University of London, CReAM and CEPR; Uta Schönberg, HKU Business School, CReAM and IAB

Version: View help for Version V1

Name	File Type	Size	Last Modified
data2			06/05/2024 05:31:PM
prog_main			12/21/2023 06:12:AM
prog_sup			12/21/2023 06:13:AM
Readme.pdf	application/pdf	162.3 KB	06/19/2024 01:06:AM

Project Citation:

Boelmann, Barbara, Raute, Anna, and Schönberg, Uta. Data and Code for: Wind of Change? Cultural Determinants of Maternal Labor Supply. Nashville, TN: American Economic Association [publisher], 2025. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2025-03-12. https://doi.org/10.3886/E195882V1

Project Description

Summary: We investigate the role of cultural norms in shaping women’s labor supply decisions after childbirth. Specifically, we are interested in the interplay between childhood socialization and adulthood environment. To that end, we leverage the setting of the German reunification when East Germany’s gender egalitarian culture induced by socialism and West Germany’s more traditional culture were brought together. We find that East German gender norms are persistent whereas West German ones are not. West German mothers adjust their behavior to that of their East German peers not only when immersed in East German environment but even after returning to the West.

This repository contains the code to generate the findings in the article.

Funding Sources: Fritz Thyssen Foundation; Harvard Kennedy School’s Women and Public Policy Program (WAPPP); European Research Council (project FirmIneq 818992); Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) (EXC 2126/1– 390838866)

Scope of Project

Subject Terms: gender gaps; cultural persistence; cultural adoption; maternal labor force participation; German reunification

JEL Classification:
      J10 Demographic Economics: General
      J20 Demand and Supply of Labor: General
      Z10 Cultural Economics; Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology: General

Geographic Coverage: Germany, Europe (European Value Study)

Time Period(s): 1984 – 2016 (Main data); 1981 – 2008 (European Values Study); 1975 – 2010 (SOEP)

Universe: Main data: Random sample of 50 percent of all women with German citizenship who were born between 1946 and 1994 and who ever held a job covered by the German social security system after 1975.

SOEP: Population of private households residing within the current boundaries of the Federal Republic of Germany.

European Values Study: Persons 18 years or older who are resident within private households.

Data Type(s): administrative records data; geographic information system (GIS) data; program source code; survey data

Methodology

Unit(s) of Observation: individual

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Published Versions

V1 [2025-03-12]

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