This paper asks whether the availability of breastfeeding facilities at the workplace helps to reconcile breastfeeding and work commitments. Using data from the 2005 UK Infant Feeding Survey, we model the joint probability to return to work and breastfeeding and analyse its association with the...

We empirically study the determinants of intra-household decision power with respect to economic and financial choices using a suitable direct measure provided in the 1989-2010 Bank of Italy Survey of Household Income and Wealth. Focusing on a sample of couples, we evaluate the effect of each...

Higher birth order positions are often associated with poorer outcomes, possibly due to fewer resources received within the household. Using a sample of PSID-CDS children, we investigate whether the birth order effects in their outcomes are due to unequal allocation of the particular resource...

This paper summarizes the most recent empirical research on parental and social investments in children, with a focus on policies providing non-parental child care. The empirical findings are conceptualized in a simple theoretical framework showing how parents' decisions and policy intervention...

We investigate the historical determinants of the education gender gap in Italy in the late nineteenth century, immediately following the country’s Unification. We use a comprehensive newly-assembled database including 69 provinces over twenty-year sub-samples covering the 1861- 1901 period....

We explore the role of relative physical attractiveness in the household on the hours worked by married men and women. Using PSID data, we find that husbands who are thinner relative to their wives work fewer hours, while wives who are heavier relative to their husbands work more hours. High...

We develop a matching model on the marriage market, where individuals have preferences over the smoking status of potential mates, and over their socioeconomic quality. Spousal smoking is bad for non-smokers, but it is neutral for smokers, while individuals always prefer high socioeconomic...

While a large literature has focused on the impact of parental investments on child cognitive development, very little is known about the role of child's own in- vestments. Information on how children invest their time separately from parents is probably little informative for babies and...

In this paper we explore the relationship between parents’ inputs, childcare inputs and child cognitive outcomes using one of the few data sources available for Italy, the ISFOL-PLUS dataset. Our empirical results indicate that mothers’ work, in reducing the time devoted to children, has...