Belén Rodríguez Moro

Publications:

Moro, Belén Rodríguez. "The unchanging divide: housework and labor responsibilities in late family stages." SERIEs (2025): 1-41.

Working Papers:

Children, Household Specialization and Relationship Quality (with Olatz Román-Blanco)

Work in Progress:

Time After Birth: Parenthood and the Reorganization of Daily Life (with Alicia de Quinto, Libertad González, and Laura Hospido)

Gender differences in entrepreneurship: the role of family (with Giovanna Vallanti)

A Measure of Relationship Quality (with Olatz Román-Blanco)

The Unchanging Divide: Labour and Household Responsibilities in Late Family Stages (Published SERIEs)

Note: The figure presents predicted weekly unpaid housework and paid hours for young adults, mothers, and fathers at each young adult's age from sixteen to thirty years old, and the 95% confidence intervals.

ABSTRACT:

This paper investigates the allocation of paid labour market and unpaid domestic work during two critical late stages of the family life cycle: when young adult children (aged sixteen to thirty) reside in the parental home and after their emancipation. Using longitudinal data from the U.K., we employ OLS regressions and a dynamic difference-in-differences approach to analyze parental time arrangements. Our findings reveal persistent gender disparities, with mothers bearing the majority of housework even in female breadwinner households, while fathers’ contributions remain minimal. Young adult children provide limited support, with daughters contributing slightly more than sons. Emancipation results in only a modest reduction in mothers' housework, leaving longstanding imbalances largely unchanged. A counterfactual analysis highlights the potential for equitable housework redistribution to alleviate mothers' domestic workload and reduce associated earnings penalties. These findings underscore the need for policies that encourage men’s active participation in housework and foster young adults' involvement in shared domestic responsibilities, especially given trends of delayed emancipation.

Presented at: BSE Jamboree 2024, EDP Jamboree 2024, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, SAEe 2024

Time After Birth: Parenthood and the Reorganization of Daily Life

joint project with Alicia de Quinto and Laura Hospido

[DRAFT AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST]

Note: The figure presents The average impact of the birth of the first child on the number of daily minutes that new parents spend going to restaurants, cafés and bars, estimated separately for men (pink) and women (red). Each point represents a coefficient from a pseudo-event study specification. Bars indicate 95% confidence intervals. The sample comprises observations from the United States, utilizing repeated cross-sections from 2003 to 2023. Respondents who reported not engaging in a particular activity were assigned zero hours for that activity. Data source: Multinational Time Use Study.

ABSTRACT:

This paper investigates how the birth of a first child impacts the daily time allocation of parents across a detailed set of paid work, unpaid domestic tasks, and non-work-related activities. Using data from the American Time Use Survey (2003–2023) and a pseudo-event study design following \cite{kleven2023atlas}, we estimate the causal effects of childbirth on time use. We find that mothers sharply reduce their paid work while increasing caregiving and routine housework by even greater amounts. Fathers’ adjustments are smaller and less persistent. Both parents reduce time spent on leisure (e.g., cafés, restaurants) and self-care (e.g., personal hygiene). These findings reveal that fertility not only reshapes gender roles in household production but also leads to a broader reorganization of daily life in response to the demands of early parenthood.

See our post in Nada Es Gratis, and soon our presentation in SAEe 2025

Gender differences in entrepreneurship: the role of family

joint project with Giovanna Vallanti (LUISS)

[DRAFT AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST]

ABSTRACT:

This paper examines the gendered nature of intergenerational transmission in entrepreneurship among Ph.D. graduates in Italy. Using rich administrative survey data, we find that having entrepreneurial parents significantly increases the likelihood of entrepreneurship, but the effect is weaker for women, especially daughters of entrepreneurial mothers. We explore this asymmetry through the lens of local gender norms, proxied by provincial employment gaps and instrumented using historical referendum data. Preliminary results suggest that mothers may discourage daughters from entrepreneurship in traditional environments, consistent with theories of imperfect empathy.

Presented at: GRAPE Conference 2025

Children, household specialization, and relationship quality

joint project with Olatz Román-Blanco (EUI)

DRAFT AVAILABLE HERE

Note: This graph plots the event-time dummy coefficients obtained from estimating a dynamic TWFE equation with RQ as an outcome and using the robust estimator proposed by Callaway and Sant'Anna (2023). Confidence intervals are estimated at 95% level. Standard errors are clustered a the couple level. Data source is Understanding Society

ABSTRACT:

We investigate how having children impacts the quality of couples' relationships, a proxy of the non-material gains from being in a relationship. Using a novel measure of relationship quality (RQ), we perform a dynamic difference-in-differences estimation around the birth of the first child. We find a sharp and lasting decrease in RQ immediately after birth. We attribute this effect to changes in household specialization. Traditional gender-based specialization prevails after birth, regardless of the baseline distribution of tasks within the couple. Leveraging heterogeneous changes in household specialization after birth, we find that couples undergoing larger rearrangements also suffer larger RQ drops.

Measuring relationship quality

joint project with Olatz Román-Blanco (EUI)

[DRAFT AVAILABLE HERE]

ABSTRACT:

This paper introduces and validates a novel measure of relationship quality (RQ), the non-material gains from being in a relationship. We use survey data from the United Kingdom to construct and validate RQ, by demonstrating its predictive power for marital transitions and its comparability across individuals. We examine the evolution of RQ over time using panel data, testing common assumptions in the theoretical family economics literature. Our analysis reveals significant associations between RQ and individual and couple characteristics. The findings on the assortative matching on education underscore the importance of shared characteristics in enhancing RQ.

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