In the past decade, several countries, notably France, Spain and Germany, have experienced a joint increase in female participation and fertility, mainly because of national policies aimed at balancing work and family life. In Italy, by contrast, fertility has remained relatively stable (after a...

Microlevel individual data for Italy from the Quarterly Labour Force Survey (Rilevazione Trimestrale delle Forze di Lavoro) are used to undertake a microeconometric analysis of the factors affecting women’s labour force participation. The main research questions are: 1) does the availability...