Volume 30, Number 1 (Winter) 1995
van Soest, Arthur. 1995. "Structural Models of Family Labor Supply: A Discrete Choice Approach." Journal of Human Resources 30(1):63-88.
A static neoclassical structural model is presented, explaining labor supply of both spouses in two adults households. Family preferences are described with a direct translog utility function, with the husband's leisure, the wife's leisure, and the family income as its arguments. We assume that the choice set of each family is finite. Account is taken of the Dutch tax and benefits system. We allow for hours restrictions and random preferences, and account for unobserved wages of nonworkers. The models are estimated using smooth simulated maximum likelihood. Results based upon Dutch cross-section data from 1987 are illustrated by confidence intervals for elasticities, and by several policy simulations.
Arthur van Soest is a professor of economics at Tillburg University. He is grateful to Stephen Jenkins, Menno Pradhan, and the referees for useful comments. This research was made possible by a fellowship of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. The Netherlands Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) kindly provided the data. The views expressed in this paper do not necessarily reflect those of the CBS. For information on access to the data used in this article, please contact the author at Tillburg University, P.O. Box 90153, Tillburg, The Netherlands, email AVAS@KUB.NL.
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