Autor: Porto Natalia*, Carella Laura*, Rucci Ana Clara**, Velazquez Cecilia***
Institución: *Instituto de Investigaciones Economicas - UNLP, **Instituto de Investigaciones en Turismo - UNLP, CEDLAS-IIE-UNLP***
Año: 2023
JEL: I12
Resumen:
This paper aims to estimate the effect of a child's disability on mothers' labor supply. It uses data from the 2019-20 UNICEF’s Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) of Argentina. Four measures of disability were used: children with a functional disability (based on Washington Group criteria) - distinguishing physical (for seeing, hearing or walking) from other types of functional disability- and children with a disability certificate or pension. The results suggest that having a child with a physical disability reduces a mother's probability of participating in the labor force by 8.3 percentage points. When the child has a disability certificate or pension, the probability that a mother participates in the labor force is reduced by 13.4 percentage points. No significant effect is found for mothers of a child with a functional disability or a non-physical disability. The evidence also shows heterogeneous effects depending on the mother’s education. The disincentive to participate is present for non-graduated mothers, while the effect is not statistically significant for graduated ones. These findings are particularly relevant for policymakers in a developing country like Argentina.