Document Type
Working Paper
Date of this Version
11-9-2021
Funding
This research was supported by the National Science Foundation.
Abstract
The 20th century beheld a dramatic transformation of the family. Some Kuznets style facts regarding structural change in the family are presented. Over the course of the 20th century in the United States fertility declined, educational attainment waxed, housework fell, leisure increased, jobs shifted from blue to white collar, and marriage waned. These trends are also observed in the cross-country data. A model is developed, and then calibrated, to address the trends in the US data. The calibration procedure is closely connected to the underlying economic logic. Three drivers of the great transition are considered: neutral technological progress, skill-biased technological change, and drops in the price of labor-saving household durables.
Keywords
average weekly hours, blue-collar jobs, calibration, college premium, education, family economics, fertility, housework, Kuznets, leisure, macroeconomics, market work, marriage, neutral technological progress, price of labor-saving household durables, skilled-biased technological change, theory-based identification, user guide, white-collar jobs
Recommended Citation
Greenwood, Jeremy, Nezih Guner, and Ricardo Marto. 2021. "The Great Transition: Kuznets Facts for Family-Economists." University of Pennsylvania Population Center Working Paper (PSC/PARC), 2021-65. https://repository.upenn.edu/psc_publications/65.
Included in
Demography, Population, and Ecology Commons, Education Commons, Family, Life Course, and Society Commons, Gender and Sexuality Commons, Work, Economy and Organizations Commons
Date Posted: 03 March 2021