Full Citation
Title: Essays in Labor Economics
Citation Type: Dissertation/Thesis
Publication Year: 2016
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Abstract: In my first chapter, I consider the long-term effects of World War II on women. WWII drew women into the workforce in unprecedented numbers and, often, into atypical occupations. After the war, they returned home where they became the mothers of the baby boom generation. Their daughters changed the female labor force by pursuing higher education and careers. My research analyzes whether cultural change during World War II helped to produce this break with the past. I use data on war manufacturing infrastructure and armed forces mobilization rates to predict whether the daughters were affected by the war’s impact on their mothers. I also construct a measure of predicted war plants using pre-war infrastructure to remove the possibility of an endogenous decision to locate plants where women were particularly amenable to employment. My analysis shows that these war-related variables increased baby boomer women’s education, although not their labor force participation. The primary impact was on their attainment of a college degree. The Quiet Revolution in women’s employment, careers and education was therefore impacted greatly by their mothers’ experiences before their daughters were born. My second chapter also considers intergenerational impacts on women’s careers, though in a more contemporary context. This chapter considers the effect of a stay-at-home mother on her daughter’s career choice, specifically her tendency to choose her father’s career. I provide some descriptive statistics of women who choose to be homemakers and those . . .
Url: https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/33493356/COOK-STUNTZ-DISSERTATION-2016.pdf?sequence=1
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Authors: Cook-Stuntz, Elizabeth Ann
Institution: Harvard University
Department: Economics
Advisor: Claudia Goldin; Jerry Green
Degree: PhD
Publisher Location: Cambridge, MA
Pages: 134
Data Collections: IPUMS USA
Topics: Gender, Labor Force and Occupational Structure, Other, Poverty and Welfare
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