The Triple Day Thesis Versus Neoclassical Models of Labour Supply: Alternative Perspectives and Policies

ABSTRACT

In this theoretical paper, we respond to the Triple Day Thesis (TDT) by positioning it within the context of the neoclassical labour supply literature and existing public policy. The TDT applies a theoretical lens to the practical experiences of mothers as they distribute time between self-reproductive, reproductive, and waged work. Self-reproductive work refers to self-care, self-investment, and self-realizable activities, including time for good sleep, schooling, and intellectual and social engagements that promote mothers’ human development and well-being. The TDT identifies the Triple Day Problem (TDP) as the lack of freedom or inability of mothers to engage in self-reproductive work as they balance the increasing demands of reproductive work with waged work and proposes Motherhood Compensation as a social policy solution. In this paper, we demonstrate that the existence of the TDP can be used to explain persistent gender differences in labour force participation. We envision the TDT as a novel theoretical approach to promoting mothers’ labour force participation and social mobility through self-reproductive work. We suggest that Motherhood Compensation can be created from a mix of already existing family programs, including paid leave, parental allowance, and cash transfer programs.

KEYWORDS:

• Triple Day Thesis
• Labour-Leisure Model
• Time Allocation Model
• Gender Differences
• Labour Force Participation
• Motherhood Compensation and Public Policy

JEL CODES:

• B54
• D13
• D63
• J13
• J16
• J22
• J32
• I38
• O15
• Z13

Acknowledgments

We specifically would like to thank Colin Cannonier for his role as mentor and reader for our paper and our ongoing work with the Triple Day Thesis. We would also like to thank Duncan Foley, Ying Chen, Katherine Moos, and Paulo Dos Santos for their contributions and advice in the theorising of the Triple Day. Additionally, we would like to thank participants of the International Association for Feminist Economics 2022 conference and the Gender Inequalities and Economic Theory and Policy Workshop at the Levy Institute of Bard College for their responses and feedback to earlier versions of our paper. We finally would like to thank Karen Devivo for her feedback through the American Economics Association (AEA) mentoring programme.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 The labour force participation rate is a measure of the proportion of a country’s working-age population that engages actively in the labour market, either by working or looking for work; it provides an indication of the size of the supply of labour available to engage in the production of goods and services, relative to the population at working age. The breakdown of the labour force (formerly known as economically active population) by sex and age group gives a profile of the distribution of the labour force within a country (Bourmpoula et al., 2017).

2 In this paper the term women and mothers will be used interchangeably. By mothers, the TDT, specifically refers to women who experience motherhood which includes childbearing and childrearing – reproductive work. However, to the extent that men as fathers and househusbands (Wentworth and Chell 2001) take up childrearing roles, the TDT would apply to men and fatherhood as well.

3 The TDT uses Foley’s interpretation of motherhood as non-wage labour or non-wage work. Foley (1986) introduces non-wage work in addition to wage work to understand value creation in capitalist commodity production. The reproductive work of motherhood – childbearing and childrearing – is described as socially necessary non-wage work. Socially necessary because like waged work, motherhood is within the boundaries of what is considered to be needed for capitalist commodity production. Non-wage work because the reproductive activity of motherhood like all domestic activities is unpaid.

4 Tontoh (2021a) further categorizes and theorizes these self-reproductive activities into five forms of self-reproduction: Recreation, Healthy-living, Social Engagement/Forming Friendships, Schooling/ Intellectual Self-reproduction, and Me-time.

5 Both Nussbaum (2000) and Sen (1995) consider human functioning to include a person’s achievements, which can include such basic things as being educated, being well-nourished, and being in good health.

6 Per Gruber (1994), the case of mandated maternity leave in the US correlates with lower wages for users of the program: working mothers. We would advocate for a Pareto optimal Motherhood Compensation, where no one is made worse off. But, we make special note that changes in wages do not always equate to reciprocal changes in well-being, especially when safety net programs have income requirements where beneficiaries may not want higher wages (F. D. Blau 1998; Diener and Biswas-Diener 2009).

7 For our purposes, we employ Waldfogel’s (2001) classification of family-friendly government policies to outline existing Motherhood Compensation-type programs. The author groups policies into three groups: parental leave programs, childcare policies, and early childhood benefits. With the specified groupings, Waldfogel (2001) argues that the arrangement of policies employed by a country has implications on the decisions parents make about care arrangements for their children and ultimately, how much time is allocated to the triple-day.

8 By age of reproductive dependence, Tontoh (2021b) means the early years of a child's life where the domestic labour of motherhood or fatherhood is most needed, a time when parents are most actively engaged in child rearing.

9 According to Neumark and Shirley (2020), more generous EITC benefits have positive effects such as higher long-run earnings and more labour market experience on single mothers, but the opposite effect on married mothers. Yet, it should be noted such tax incentives, especially those with increasing rates per additional child, would not be helpful in countries seeking to reduce their populations.

10 The third cohort the Magnolia Mother’s Trust provided ninety-five (95) low-income single Black mothers in with an unconditional guaranteed income of $1,000 per month for 12 months via direct deposit from April 2021 to March 2022, as well as a $1,000 deposit in a 529 Children’s Savings Account for each of their children. Program participants, aged between 21 and 45 years old, have an average of two children, with about 59% of moms having at least one child under five years old (Moore et al. 2022).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Tracey Freiberg

Tracey Freiberg holds a PhD in Public and Urban Policy from the Milano School of Policy, Management, and Environment at The New School. She focuses on labour economics, labour policy, and benefits, with special attention to disparities across traditionally marginalised communities. Her research is interdisciplinary in nature: blend of applied economics and policy analysis with a focus on federal- and state-level American labour policies. Outside of academia, she has over 10 years of experience in insurance, financial services, consulting, and research.

Deon Frederick Gibson

Deon Federick Gibson holds a PhD in Economics from the New School for Social Research. His specialisations are in labour economics and public policy, with research interests that broadly focus on the impact of bargaining power on socio-economic outcomes and the pedagogy of economics. Dr. Gibson has more than 10 years of experience in teaching and research and has taught introductory courses on Macroeconomics and Microeconomics, Labour Economics, International Economics, Money and Banking, and Finance.

Elaine Agyemang Tontoh

Elaine Agyemang Tontoh is a Maternal Economic Theorist and a Development Economist. For her doctoral dissertation at the New School for Social Research, Dr. Tontoh developed the Triple Day Thesis (TDT). The objective of her ongoing theoretical economic research is to promote human flourishing within motherhood towards a positive realisation of the dignity of women and mothers within capitalist societies. Dr. Tontoh has experience teaching Macroeconomics, Women in Development, and Development Economics through the lens of Least Developed Countries (LDCs). Her focus on LDCs is motivated by her previous experience at the Least Developed Country unit of UN-OHRLLS.