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Title: NAFTA and the Wages of Married Women

Citation Type: Working Paper

Publication Year: 2018

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Abstract: Using US Census data for 1990-2000, we estimate effects of NAFTA on US wages, focusing on differences by gender. We find that NAFTA tariff reductions are associated with substantially reduced wage growth for married blue-collar women, much larger than the effect for other demographic groups. We investigate several possible explanations for this finding. It is not explained by differential sensitivity of female-dominated occupations to trade shocks, or by household bargaining that makes married women workers less able to change their industry of employment than other workers. We find some support for an explanation based on an equilibrium theory of selective non-participation in the labor market, whereby some of the higher-wage married women workers in their industry drop out of the labor market in response to their industry's loss of tariff. However, this does not fully explain the findings so we are left with a puzzle.

Url: http://www.nber.org/papers/w24424.pdf

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Authors: Hakobyan, Shushanik; McLaren, John

Series Title: NBER Working Paper Series

Publication Number: 24424

Institution: University of Virginia

Pages: 58

Publisher Location: Charlottesville, VA

Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Family and Marriage, Labor Force and Occupational Structure

Countries: United States