American Economic Journal:
Economic Policy
ISSN 1945-7731 (Print) | ISSN 1945-774X (Online)
The Rise of Working Mothers and the 1975 Earned Income Tax Credit
American Economic Journal: Economic Policy
vol. 12,
no. 3, August 2020
(pp. 44–75)
Abstract
The rise of working mothers radically changed the US economy and the role of women in society. In one of the first studies of the 1975 introduction of the Earned Income Tax Credit, I find that this program increased maternal employment by 6 percent, representing 1 million mothers and an elasticity of 0.58. The EITC may help explain why the US has long had such a high fraction of working mothers despite few childcare subsidies or parental leave policies. I also find suggestive evidence that this influx of working mothers affected social attitudes and led to higher approval of working women.Citation
Bastian, Jacob. 2020. "The Rise of Working Mothers and the 1975 Earned Income Tax Credit." American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 12 (3): 44–75. DOI: 10.1257/pol.20180039Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- H24 Personal Income and Other Nonbusiness Taxes and Subsidies; includes inheritance and gift taxes
- J16 Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
- J22 Time Allocation and Labor Supply
- J31 Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
- K34 Tax Law
- Z13 Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification
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