Elin Sundberg

Working Papers

Trading Off Career and Family at Labor Market Entry
Abstract: This paper examines the trade-off between career and family at labor market entry using unique data on job preferences among Swedish law graduates. Using ranked job applications, I document gender differences in employment and location preferences: women are less geographically mobile and less likely to pursue private-sector career paths. I focus on cohabitation status at labor market entry to investigate how early family ties may constrain preferences. Cohabiting applicants--regardless of gender--are less mobile, reflecting short-run career constraints. However, cohabitation at labor market entry does not predict long-run gender differences in earnings. Instead, career trajectories begin to diverge with the timing of parenthood, underscoring the unequal career costs of family formation. 

Moving to Opportunity, Together [SUBMITTED]
(with Seema Jayachandran, Lea Nassal, Matt Notowidigdo, Marie Paul & Heather Sarsons)
NBER WORKING PAPER
Abstract: Many couples face a trade-off between advancing one spouse’s career or the other’s. We study this trade-off using administrative data from Germany and Sweden. Using an event study approach, we find that when couples move across commuting zones, men’s earnings increase more than women’s. To distinguish between men’s greater potential earnings and a gender norm that prioritizes men’s careers, we examine how the patterns differ when the woman has higher potential earnings than her husband. We then estimate a model of household decision-making in which households can (and do) place more weight on income earned by the man. 

Paternity Leave and Child Outcomes [REJECT & RESUBMIT] (with Daniel Avdic, Arizo Karimi & Anna Sjögren)
Abstract: We study how fathers’ time impacts children’s human capital using the introduction of earmarked paternity leave in Sweden. We use administrative data on parents’ leave uptake and children’s educational outcomes in a difference-in-discontinuities design, exploiting the plausibly random timing of childbirth. We show that the reform decreased average school-leaving grade point averages of sons of non-college fathers by 0.07 standard deviations and increased intergenerational persistence of human capital by 30 percent. We give suggestive evidence that these findings are explained by asymmetric impacts on parents’ time investments owing to family disruptions and (lack of) substitutability of parents’ time inputs.

Work in Progress

Flexibility for Both Parents: Remote Work and the Evolution of Child Penalties (with Dana Scott)

Abstract: Child penalties--the reductions in employment and earnings experienced by women after becoming parents--are a major driver of gender gaps in the labor market. This paper investigates the potential for remote work to mitigate these penalties. We leverage rich administrative data from Sweden to study this question in the context of the rise of remote work during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. We find that access to remote work is associated with reductions motherhood penalties in employment and hours worked, though effects on wages and earnings are more ambiguous. Furthermore, we show that fathers' occupational flexibility influences maternal labor supply, underscoring the importance of joint household decision-making. To interpret these findings, we develop a theoretical model of couples’ labor supply in which each partner chooses how much to work and whether to adopt remote work. In the model, flexibility imposes a trade-off: on the one hand, it reduces commuting frictions; on the other, it may reduce workers' productivity. The model predicts that flexibility influences the marginal utility of additional work for both partners and that equilibrium labor supply responses will depend on gender differences in home production responsibilities. While our findings highlight the potential for remote work to narrow child penalties, we also emphasize its limits: remote work is not universally accessible across jobs or industries. Future work will explore key policy questions, including how much remaining child penalties could be attenuated if flexibility penalties for men and women equalized and how changes in social norms around home production might affect labor market outcomes. This study provides a foundation for evaluating the role of remote work in promoting gender equity while recognizing the constraints of occupational structures and household dynamics.

Employer Strategies to Employee Turnover in the Public Sector (with Arizo Karimi & Pengpeng Xiao)

Articles in Swedish

Boström, E. & A. Sundberg (2018), "Få men fler kvinnor i svensk nationalekonomi", Ekonomisk debatt, 46(4), s. 19–32.