The Effects of Gender Composition and Fertility on Mothers’ Marital Status and Labor Supply: Using Twin Births As a Natural Experiment

Abstract

I employ the twin-first methodology to analyze the exogenous relationship between fertility, gender composition, and mothers’ marital status and labor supply. The regressions are based on the combination of genders and fertility in the first birth. The results show that white mothers with first birth as single boy are more likely to be involved in marriage than those with single girl. Comparing with non-twin mothers, holding the same gender, twin mothers have lower probabilities of marital dissolution, and they are less likely to participate in the labor market when the children were under 6. There is no impact of gender composition on mothers’ labor supply. Among twin mothers, there is no significant impact of gender composition on either mothers’ marriage stability or labor supply. For black mothers, neither the gender composition, nor birth of twins has impact on mothers’ marriage stability and labor supply.