TY - JOUR
T1 - Does income moderate the satisfaction of becoming a parent? In Germany it does and depends on education
AU - Le Moglie, Marco
AU - Mencarini, Letizia
AU - Rapallini, Chiara
PY - 2019
Y1 - 2019
N2 - We investigate the role of individual labor income as a moderator of parental subjective well-being trajectories before and after the birth of the first child in Germany. Analyzing the German Socio-Economic Panel Survey (SOEP), we found that income matters negatively for parental life satisfaction after the first birth, though with important differences by education and gender. In particular, among better-educated parents, those with higher income experience a steeper decrease in their subjective well-being. Income is measured as the average of individual labor income within 3 years before the birth. We provide evidence that our results are robust to potential endogeneity between income and first childbirth using the individual labor income at 3 years from the event, and for an alternative measure, i.e. the equivalent household income. Results are discussed in terms of different aspirations and difficulties parents may experience, especially in terms of work and family balance.
AB - We investigate the role of individual labor income as a moderator of parental subjective well-being trajectories before and after the birth of the first child in Germany. Analyzing the German Socio-Economic Panel Survey (SOEP), we found that income matters negatively for parental life satisfaction after the first birth, though with important differences by education and gender. In particular, among better-educated parents, those with higher income experience a steeper decrease in their subjective well-being. Income is measured as the average of individual labor income within 3 years before the birth. We provide evidence that our results are robust to potential endogeneity between income and first childbirth using the individual labor income at 3 years from the event, and for an alternative measure, i.e. the equivalent household income. Results are discussed in terms of different aspirations and difficulties parents may experience, especially in terms of work and family balance.
KW - EDUCATION GERMANY
KW - INDIVIDUAL INCOME
KW - SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING
KW - EDUCATION GERMANY
KW - INDIVIDUAL INCOME
KW - SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING
UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10807/177446
UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00148-018-0689-9
U2 - 10.1007/s00148-018-0689-9
DO - 10.1007/s00148-018-0689-9
M3 - Article
SN - 0933-1433
VL - 32
SP - 915
EP - 952
JO - Journal of Population Economics
JF - Journal of Population Economics
ER -