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Sample Literature Review of One Paper
Literature Review
Student's Name
Paper Citation: Johnson, William R. and Jonathan Skinner (1986) "Labor Supply and Martial Separation," The
American Economic Review, 76(3) (June): 455-469.
[Note the Format of the Citation: Author Names (Year) "Paper Title," Journal Title, Volume(Number) (Month):
page numbers. More examples of reference citation are at the end of this document.]
This paper examines the relationship between women's labor supply and divorce. The authors find that women
who divorce had increased their labor supply during the three years prior, raising questions as to the cause-
effect relationship between women's labor supply and marital dissolution. In other words, they try to
disentangle the question of whether women's increasing labor force participation contributes to increased
divorce or whether women who anticipate divorce increase their labor force participation as a result of that
anticipation.
[Note: This first paragraph is an overview or abstract of the paper]
Johnson and Skinner (1986) analyzed data from the Michigan Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), which
allowed them to estimate predicted divorce probabilities based on actual divorce. They then used this predicted
probability of divorce and actual divorce in estimates of female LFP, and though both variables had positive
coefficients, they were statistically insignificant.
Johnson and Skinner (1986) included residence in a state with no-fault divorce legislation in their predicted
labor supply equations. They concluded that living in a state with a no-fault divorce law has a negative impact
on women's labor supply. However, Johnson and Skinner's (1986) analysis used PSID data from 1972, when
only a few states had changed their divorce laws to no-fault; this created a small comparison group and a
limited amount of time for the laws' effects to occur.
Though Johnson and Skinner's (1986) analysis suggested that no-fault divorce had a negative impact on
married women's LFP, later research has consistently found that married women living in states with no-fault
divorce laws are more likely to work, but the effects are small.
[Note: These paragraphs summarize details of the paper's methodology and data that are relevant to the paper
this student is trying to write]
[Note: The in-text citation style is Author (Year)]
Sample full-fledged Literature Review for a research paper. This combines the summaries of each of the
previous papers reviewed in a coherent way that relates to the topic and empirical methods at hand.
PREVIOUS RESEARCH: DIVORCE, FERTILITY, AND LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION
There is a substantial amount of research on the LFP decisions of women and the impacts of divorce and
fertility on these decisions. Also relevant to this paper is previous work examining the relationship between
fertility and divorce. The existing literature on divorce and labor force participation, labor force participation
and fertility, and fertility and divorce are reviewed in this chapter.
Divorce and Labor Force Participation
As noted above and shown in Figure 1, a simultaneous rise in divorce rates and female LFP rates
occurred during the post-World War II era. As noted by Becker, et al. (1977), one possible explanation for
these trends is that wage increases and greater earnings ability among females increased the opportunity costs of
being married. In addition, wives working outside the home may invest less in marriage-specific capital than
their non-working counterparts, reducing the gains from marriage for both men and women. This interpretation
of Figure 1 suggests that the increase in LFP among women was a causal factor that led to the increased divorce
rate. However, it is also possible that the causality moves in the other direction. If a woman becomes divorced,
she may need to enter the workforce to support herself and her family. The number of divorced women
working would naturally increase as divorce rates increase, thus raising the female LFPR. As more women
observe the incidence and impacts of divorce among their mothers and peers, they may adjust their own
expectations regarding divorce risk upward, and subsequently increase their own LFP while married to insure
financial independence. Becker, et al. (1977, pg. 1181) state, "...the secular growth in wages, which contributed
significantly to the growth in the labor force participation of women, especially married women, probably also
contributed significantly to the growth in divorce rates. Again causation probably flows both ways: divorced
women (and women who anticipate divorce) have higher wages because they spend more time in the labor
force." To examine the relationship empirically, Michael (1985) included lagged divorce rates and lagged LFP
rates as independent variables in time-series equations explaining subsequent divorce and LFP rates. He found
that lagged divorce rates were positively correlated with subsequent LFP rates, but there was no significant
relationship between lagged LFP rates and subsequent divorce rates.
Johnson and Skinner (1986) analyzed data from the Michigan Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID),
which allowed them to estimate predicted divorce probabilities based on actual divorce. They then used this
predicted probability of divorce and actual divorce in estimates of female LFP, and though both variables had
positive coefficients, they were statistically insignificant. Green and Quester (1982) utilized U.S. Census'
Survey of Economic Opportunity data to generate a predicted divorce probability based on the demographic
characteristics of married women. They found married women's labor supply increases with divorce risk. In
addition, although it is often hypothesized that working could increase marital instability for married women,
this relationship was found to be statistically insignificant in both papers (Becker, et al. 1977).
Haurin (1989) used a dynamic model to estimate the labor market reactions of women who experience a
deviation in husband's actual work hours from the expected amount of work hours, as would occur when a
husband loses his job, falls ill, passes away, or when a couple separates. He concluded that there is a significant
increase in a woman's LFP following a divorce or separation. He also confirmed Johnson and Skinner's (1986)
finding that increases in the likelihood of divorce lead to increases in married women's labor force activity.
More recent studies on divorce suggest that divorce risk may not be as influential on female labor supply
as the earlier studies suggested. Sen (2000) compared responses to divorce risk among 1944-1954 and 1957-
1964 birth-cohorts using sub-samples from the National Longitudinal Surveys (NLS). The panel structure of
this data allowed Sen to proxy current divorce risk using actual divorce in the future, which was then included
in an LFP regression. Age at the time of marriage was also used in the LFP estimation as an instrument for
divorce risk because research suggests that divorce risk decreases with age at the time of marriage. The results
indicated that the impact of divorce risk on labor supply is significantly smaller for the younger cohort than the
older group. Though divorce had a positive effect on both cohorts by each measure, divorce risk had a
How to create a literature review?Literature Review OutlineGroup Articles into Categories. Suggestions for grouping articles into categories including distinguishing between articles that used qualitative versus quantitative research methods, articles that focus on a specific theoretical framework such ...Take Notes. ...Transform the Concept Map into the Written Literature Review. ...I. ...II. ...III. ...
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