Chen, Natalie, Conconi, Paola and Perroni, Carlo (2007) Does migration empower married women? Working Paper. University of Warwick, Department of Economics, Coventry.

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Abstract

Household migration can affect labor market opportunities differently for the two spouses, both because of gender-specific differences between the skills of migrants and the skills that are in demand in the host country, and because of differences in the extent of gender-based labor market discrimination between the country of origin and the host country. Standard bargaining theory suggests that, if household migration leads to a comparative improvement in labor market opportunities for married women, it should be beneficial to them. We show that, if renegotiation possibilities for migrant women are limited, the opposite may be true, particularly if women are specialized in household activities and the labor market allows more flexibility in their labor supply choices. Evidence from the German Socio-Economic Panel indeed shows that, holding everything else constant, improvements in relative wages for migrant women do not translate into better outcomes for them.

Item Type:	Working or Discussion Paper (Working Paper)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HQ The family. Marriage. Woman H Social Sciences > HC Economic History and Conditions
Divisions:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Economics
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung. Projektgruppe "Das Sozio-ökonomische Panel", Women -- Social conditions, Marriage -- Economic aspects -- Germany, Labor market -- Germany, Germany -- Emigration and immigration -- Economic aspects
Series Name:	Warwick economic research papers
Publisher:	University of Warwick, Department of Economics
Place of Publication:	Coventry
Date:	August 2007
Number:	No.812
Number of Pages:	40
Status:	Not Peer Reviewed
Access rights to Published version:	Open Access
Funder:	Economic and Social Research Council (Great Britain) (ESRC)
Grant number:	RES-000-22-1367 (ESRC)
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URI:	http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/id/eprint/1403

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