The results in the study suggest the dominance of the endowment channel over the preference channel.

Read more in:

Zhongda Li & Lu Liu:
Preference or endowment? Intergenerational transmission of women’s work behavior and the underlying mechanisms
Journal of Population Economics, Vol. 32 (2019), Issue 4 (October), pp. 1401-1435.

GLO Fellow Lu Liu

Journal Website, complete issue 4.

Author Abstract: Existing studies have established a positive correlation between a married woman’s work behavior and her mother-in-law’s. Such linkage is attributable to the profound influence of maternal employment on son’s gender role preferences or household productivity. This paper systematically investigates the relative importance of the two potential mechanisms using the Chinese survey data. We show that a substantive part of the intergenerational correlation is left unexplained even if we control for the husband’s gender role attitudes. Instead, we find that the husband’s household productivity is more crucial in the wife’s work decision, suggesting the dominance of the endowment channel over the preference channel.

Read also the Lead Article of issue 4 (2019):
Gautam Hazarika, Chandan Kumar & Sudipta Sarangi:
“Ancestral ecological endowments and missing women“
Journal of Population Economics, Vol. 32 (2019), Issue 4 (October), pp. 1101-1123
Journal Website, complete issue 4. Paper PDF – OPEN ACCESS.
GLO Fellows Gautam Hazarika, Chandan Kumar Jha & Sudipta Sarangi

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