It Pays to Value Family : Work and Family Tradeoffs Reconsidered

We use longitudinal data to assess whether individuals who place greater importance on marriage and family pay a price for that priority in subsequent labor market success. Males placing a high priority on family before entering the labor market earn more, contrary to behavioral research but consistent with the economics literature. More important, females who place a high priority on family do not suffer in terms of subsequent earnings, contrary to most previous research