Venue: The Fuqua School of Business, Duke University, 1 Towerview Drive, Durham, NC 27708-0120
Presentation
Husband-wife caregiving decisions in two-worker households
This study explores how husbands and wives respond differently to economic and family factors when they decide to take leave to care for sick family members. Focusing on households in which both the husband and wife participate in the labor market, the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) of 2003 enables me to investigate the factors that affect caregiving, which can be thought of as a household public good. The results of logit analyses show that the wives' own economic factors, like wage and the presence of another child in the household, are significant determinants of the likelihood of lost work days due to other family members' illnesses. For husbands, the spouse's characteristics matter some but not as much, while economic factors of the spouse, the presence of college-aged child with a chronic condition and the presence of other adult family members are significant determinants of the absence. The interpretation of the results is also interesting when examined in light of the effects of maternity benefits. Maternity leave (without paternity leave) tends to distort gender roles within households, encouraging women to follow more traditional responsibilities for home production.