Worktime Regulations and Spousal Labor Supply

59 Pages Posted: 24 Nov 2011

See all articles by Dominique Goux

Dominique Goux

National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE)

Eric Maurin

Paris School of Economics (PSE); IZA Institute of Labor Economics; Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

Barbara Petrongolo

London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE) - Centre for Economic Performance (CEP); Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR); IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Date Written: November 2011

Abstract

We investigate cross-hour effects in spousal labor supply exploiting independent variation in hours worked generated by the introduction of the short workweek in France in the late 1990s. We find that female and male employees treated by the shorter legal workweek reduce their weekly labor supply by about 2 hours, and do not experience any reduction in their monthly earnings. While wives of treated men do not seem to adjust their working time at either the intensive or extensive margins, husbands of treated wives respond by cutting their labor supply by about half an hour to one hour per week, according to specifications and samples. Further tests reveal that husbands' labor supply response did not entail the renegotiation of usual hours with employers or changes in earnings, but involved instead a reduction in (unpaid) work involvement, whether within a given day, or through an increase in the take-up rate of paid vacation and/or sick leave. These margins of adjustment are shown to have no detrimental impact on men's (current) earnings. The estimated cross-hour effects are consistent with the presence of spousal leisure complementarity for husbands, though not for wives.

Keywords: cross-hour effects, spousal labour supply, workweek reduction

JEL Classification: J12, J22, J48

Suggested Citation

Goux, Dominique and Maurin, Eric and Petrongolo, Barbara, Worktime Regulations and Spousal Labor Supply (November 2011). CEPR Discussion Paper No. DP8666, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1964153

Dominique Goux (Contact Author)

National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE) ( email )

18, Boulevard Adolphe-Pinard
75675 Paris Cedex 14
France
+33 1 41 17 60 2 (Phone)
+33 1 41 17 60 4 (Fax)

Eric Maurin

Paris School of Economics (PSE) ( email )

48 Boulevard Jourdan
Paris, 75014 75014
France

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

London
United Kingdom

Barbara Petrongolo

London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE) - Centre for Economic Performance (CEP) ( email )

Houghton Street
London WC2A 2AE
United Kingdom
+44 20 7955 7799 (Phone)
+44 20 7955 7595 (Fax)

Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

London
United Kingdom

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

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