Abstract
Background: Chile is a paradoxical case in its economic performance in recent decades. Although this country has implemented significant pro-market modernization reforms, it has an unexpectedly low female participation rate, wasting a vital source of economic growth. Several studies indicate that the cause of this low female labor participation in Chile would be a low conciliation between labor and family life. This experience is an important lesson for other developing economies that want to implement similar reforms. Methodology: In this article, we estimate a general equilibrium model by using Bayesian econometrics to quantify the effects of work-family conciliation at the aggregated level, through the effect of childcare. Results: Taking the case of Chile, we estimate important gains in increasing conciliation levels due to an increase in productivity rather than an increase in the labor supply. Conclusions: The main economic policy consequence for other developing or emerging economies is that higher levels of conciliation have important effects on economic activity, exceeding the financing costs.
Original language | American English |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 543-582 |
Number of pages | 40 |
Journal | Trimestre Economico |
Volume | 85 |
Issue number | 339 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 1 Jul 2018 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Families in macroeconomics
- Family life
- Labor participation
- Reconciling work