Volume 22, Number 4 (Fall) 1987
Shack-Marquez, Janice and William L. Wascher. 1987. "Some Direct Evidence on the Importance of Borrowing Constraints to the Labor Force Participation of Married Women." Journal of Human Resources 22(4):593-602.
This paper examines the link between credit availability and the labor supply decisions of married women. In Particular, it uses data from the Survey of Consumer Finances to test the role of some direct measures of borrowing constraints in a standard labor force participation equation. Although imperfect capital markets may alter the options available to households in a life-cycle context, the results suggest that borrowing constraints are of little importance to the labor force participation decisions of married women.
The authors are with the Division of Research and Statistics, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. They are grateful to Robert Avery, Jack Goodman, Clifford Hawley, Arthur Kennickell, and the referees for helpful comments and suggestions, and to Robert Avery and Gregory Elliehausen who provided a cleaned version of the 1983 Survey of Consumer Finances. The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Federal Reserve Board or of other staff members.
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