Stay at Home with Grandma, Mom Is Going to Work: The Impact of Grandmothers’ Retirement on Mothers’ Labor Decisions
利用阿根廷养老金改革带来的祖母退休外生变化，研究发现与祖母同住且祖母有资格退休的年轻母亲更可能进入劳动力市场并就业，效果显著。
Grandparents are an important source of childcare, especially when formal childcare supply is low. In this paper, I explore whether grandmothers’ retirement affects their daughters’ employment when they have young children. I exploit a pension reform in Argentina that induced an arguably exogenous variation in grandmothers’ retirement decisions. I find that mothers of young children coresiding with retirement-eligible grandmothers are significantly more likely to participate in the labor market and to be employed, and the effects are large. Although I find suggestive evidence that the underlying mechanism is an increase in grandmothers’ time availability, I cannot fully rule out an income effect. Also, I find no evidence that the policy affected fertility or household composition.