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Category: Project

Description: The transition to parenthood deepens economic inequalities between women and men. In labour markets, motherhood leads to substantial wage penalties for women, whereas the wage progression of men marches on come fatherhood. Yet relatively little evidence exists on whether fatherhood grants men a wage premium or superior wages spur the transition to fatherhood instead. Also, most longitudinal studies have focused on the US, neglecting a comparative perspective that may unravel the contextual underpinnings of fatherhood wage premiums (if any). I carry out here a comparative and longitudinal analysis of how fatherhood may affect men's wages. Micro-level mechanisms supporting the idea of a wage premium - changes in men's work effort, couple specialization, and employer discrimination - are discussed in light of stability and changes in the institutional settings of two modi?ed male-breadwinner societies, the UK and Germany. Empirical evidence in this study, however, cannot support the idea of a causal premium for men, even in such contexts. Rather, I highlight the role of previously neglected sources of selection into fatherhood, particularly on the basis of prior wage growth.