Cost of living and labor force participation: Married women in urban labormarkets

I present and rest the hypothesis that the cost of living (COL) positively influences the labor force participation (LFP) of married women. Based on h ousing values and regional variables, I first predict COL for a sample of 1 50 metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) using a smaller subsample for whic h geographically comparable family budget data are available for 1980. Resu lts from estimating a logistic LFP model using census MSA data confirm my h ypothesis and suggest that COL embodies locality-specific amenities rather than "pure" prices.