We analyse the effect of a mandatory kindergarten for four-year-old children on mothers' labour supply in Switzerland. Since education policy is regulated on a federal level, we exploit spatial variation as well as staggered implementation. Using a difference-in-differences approach, we find an...

We analyse the effect of a mandatory kindergarten for four-year-old children on maternal labour supply in Switzerland by using two quasi-experiments: Firstly, we use a large administrative dataset and apply a non-parametric Regression Discontinuity Design to evaluate the effect of the reform at...

In order to highlight the uneven impact of recession on the labor market in Catalonia (Spain), especially regarding wage structure, this study examines the evolution of its main variables in the period 2005-2012 from a gender perspective. For ten years prior to recession, female employment...

We analyse whether the rise in female labour force participation in Germany over the last decades can be explained by technological progress increasing the demand for non-routine social and cognitive skills, traditionally attributed to women. We do so by examining which task groups and...

In Catalonia, between 2008 and 2014, the rate of youth unemployment has exponentially increased and it has turned into a structural problem: when the fourth quarter of 2014 ended, among the people under the age of 30, the number of unemployed people was 1,495,600, 645,000 more than in the first...

Large regional differences exist in female participation across regions within Japan. This paper uses two datasets to show that a significant convergence in female participation took place from 1940 to 2010. Historically, urban areas have had low participation, whereas non-urban areas have had...

This paper examines how culture determines within-couple gender inequality. Exploiting the setting of Germany's division and reunification, I compare child penalties of couples socialised in a more gender-egalitarian culture to those in a gendertraditional culture. The long-run penalty on the...

We analyse a model in which families may either be “traditional” single-earner with caring for the child at home or “modern” double-earner households using market child care. Family policies may favour either the one or the other group, like market care subsidies vs. cash for care....