LIS/LWS Users Conference 2017 Family Policies, Women’s Earnings and Relative Inequality Among Households: Trends in 18 OECD Countries from 1981 to 2008 Rense Nieuwenhuis, Ariana Need and Henk van der Kolk Discussion Hema Swaminathan LIS/LWS Users Conference 2017 Luxembourg April 28th, 2017

Key contributions Inequality: topical, important and affects us all deeply Highlighting the role of institutions with respect to inequality via labour market integration of women Multiple pathways linking family policies and earnings inequality Fresh insights into causes and consequences of FLFPR dynamics Why do we care about women’s LFP?

Discussion Suggest thinking of these as two different models to unpack the underlying mechanisms Policy & FLFPR linkages Inequality and the three driving mechanisms A log-log model, for example, will help shed light on relative elasticities The first model helps understand the exact relative contributions of reconciliation policies and financial support policies (the model can be extended to include multiple policies of each kind) to FLPR. There is renewed interest in understanding the determinants of female labor force participation and this extension can make a good contribution. The second suggested modelling framework, I believe explicitly clarifies (at least for economists) the relative impacts of the three factors considered here, directly on inequality. Also, such a regression framework can help set the base for ultimately thinking about causal pathways beyond associative relationships.

Discussion Theoretical motivation from classical FLFPR literature; how does this relate to Claudia Goldin’s work on U shape relationship between economic growth and FLFP? Grand gender convergence: removing the non-linear relationship of earnings with hours worked Is there a non-monotonic relationship between family policies and FLFPR? Policies to increase female labour force participation Importance of reducing the gender wage gap Full time work vs. part time work Labour markets exhibit horizontal segregation and vertical segregation Check to see how female labour force participation is defined. Is there a difference in intensity of employment?

Discussion WORLD Policy Analysis Center database can help extend this analysis beyond OECD countries https://www.worldpolicycenter.org/