We investigate the role of gender norms in shaping parental childcare following changes in the relative take-home pay of mothers and fathers. Exploiting variation from Swedish tax reforms, we estimate the elasticity of substitution in parental child-care for native and immigrant couples from a variety of countries characterized by varying gender norms. Couples originating from countries with relatively conservative norms are more likely to reallocate childcare to mothers following a reduction in the father?s tax rate and less likely to reallocate childcare to fathers following a reduction in the mother?s tax rate, thereby reinforcing a traditional allocation of childcare across parents.

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1 July 2024

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Journal of Labor Economics 2024

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DOI: 10.1086/732773

https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/732773

This Journal article is published under the centre's Labour programme.