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on Demographic Economics |
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Issue of 2012‒05‒22
28 papers chosen by Clarence Nkengne Tsimpo University of Montreal and World Bank Group |
| By: | Prettner, Klaus (Harvard University); Bloom, David E. (Harvard University); Strulik, Holger (University of Hannover) |
| Abstract: | It is widely argued that declining fertility slows the pace of economic growth in industrialized countries through its negative effect on labor supply. There are, however, theoretical arguments suggesting that the effect of falling fertility on effective labor supply can be offset by associated behavioral changes. We formalize these arguments by setting forth a dynamic consumer optimization model that incorporates endogenous fertility as well as endogenous education and health investments. The model shows that a fertility decline induces higher education and health investments that are able to compensate for declining fertility under certain circumstances. We assess the theoretical implications by investigating panel data for 118 countries over the period 1980 to 2005 and show that behavioral changes partly mitigate the negative impact of declining fertility on effective labor supply. |
| Keywords: | demographic change, effective labor supply, human capital, population health, economic growth |
| JEL: | I15 I25 J24 O47 |
| Date: | 2012–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6527&r=dem |
| By: | Jellal, Mohamed; Bouzahzah, Mohamed |
| Abstract: | In this paper we analyzed a model of endogenous fertility in presence of financial market assets and social security pensions. Given the children externality and in the absence of corrective policy, the fertility rate chosen in market economy is too low. Indeed, in his optimal choice of family size, the representative household does not take into account of this children externality which leads to a sub optimal demography. We have shown that an optimal demographic allocation exists and can be implemented through a subvention taxation policy if it is available |
| Keywords: | Fertility; social security; financial maket; old age security |
| JEL: | J13 H55 E2 J1 D1 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:38804&r=dem |
| By: | Joshi, Shareen (Georgetown University); Schultz, T. Paul (Yale University) |
| Abstract: | The paper analyzes the impact of an experimental maternal and child health and family-planning program that was implemented in Matlab, Bangladesh in 1977. Village data from 1974, 1982 and 1996 suggest that program villages experienced extra declines in fertility of about 17%. Household data from 1996 confirm that this decline in "surviving fertility" persisted for nearly two decades. Women in program villages also experienced other benefits: lower child mortality, improved health status, and greater use of preventive health inputs. Some benefits also diffused beyond the boundaries of the program villages into neighboring comparison villages. These program effects are robust to the inclusion of individual, household, and community characteristics. This paper concludes that the benefits of this reproductive and child health program in rural Bangladesh have many dimensions extending well beyond fertility reduction, which do not appear to dissipate after two decades. |
| Keywords: | program evaluation, health and women's work, health and development, family planning, fertility, Bangladesh |
| JEL: | O12 J13 I12 J16 |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6551&r=dem |
| By: | Anna Baranowska-Rataj; Anna Matysiak; Monika Mynarska (Institute of Statistics and Demography, Warsaw School of Economics; Cardinal Stefan Wyszyñski University in Warsaw, Institute of Psychology) |
| Abstract: | This paper contributes to the discussion on the effects of single motherhood on happiness. We use a mixed-method approach. First, based on in-depth interviews with mothers who gave birth while single, we explore mechanisms through which children may influence mothers’ subjective well-being. In a second step, we analyze panel survey data to quantify this influence. Our results leave no doubt that, while raising a child outside of marriage poses many challenges, parenthood has some positive influence on a lone mother’s life. Our qualitative evidence shows that children are a central point in an unmarried woman’s life, and that many life decisions are taken with consideration of the child’s welfare, including escaping from pathological relationships. Our quantitative evidence shows that, although the general level of happiness among unmarried women is lower than among their married counterparts, raising a child does not have a negative impact on their subjective well-being. |
| Keywords: | nonmarital childbearing, single motherhood, happiness, well-being, methodological triangulation, mixed methods |
| JEL: | J12 J13 J17 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:isd:wpaper:48&r=dem |
| By: | Jellal, Mohamed; Bouzahzah, Mohamed |
| Abstract: | In this paper we analyzed a model of endogenous fertility in presence of f financial market assets and social security pensions. Given the children externality and in the absence of corrective policy, the fertility rate chosen in market economy is too low. Indeed, in his optimal choice of family size, the representative household does not take into account of this children externality which leads to a sub optimal demography. We have shown that an optimal demographic allocation exists and can be implemented through a subvention taxation policy if it is available |
| Keywords: | Fertility; social security; family transfers; financial market; taxation policy |
| JEL: | J13 H55 E2 J1 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:38793&r=dem |
| By: | Kirdar, Murat; Dayioglu, Meltem; Koc, Ismet |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates the impact of the extension of compulsory schooling in Turkey from 5 to 8 years—which increased the 8th grade completion rate for women by 30 percentage points—on marriage and birth outcomes of teenage women in Turkey. We find that increased compulsory schooling years reduce the probability of teenage marriage and births for women substantially, and these effects persist well beyond the new compulsory schooling years: the probability of marriage by age 18 falls by more than 4 percentage points and the probability of giving birth by age 19 falls by more than 4.5 percentage points for the earliest cohorts affected by the policy. In addition, the new policy increases the time to first-birth after marriage. We find conclusive evidence that longer compulsory schooling years have human capital effects on the time to first-birth, as well as incarcertation effects on teenage marriage; there is also suggestive evidence for human capital effects on teenage marriage. |
| Keywords: | Teenage marriage; Teenage births; Education; Compulsory Schooling Policy; Regression-Discontunity |
| JEL: | J13 I21 I28 J12 D10 |
| Date: | 2012–05–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:38735&r=dem |
| By: | Hoon Hian Teck (School of Economics, Singapore Management University) |
| Abstract: | Without net immigration, the population size is projected to decline from 2025 on- ward. Does it matter? To answer this question, the paper proceeds in two main parts. In the first part, taking a citizen's utility as a measure of welfare, we identify the channels through which a larger population size reduces welfare, on the one hand, and increases welfare on the other hand. The optimum population size is achieved when the net resul- tant effect of all these channels leaves citizens' welfare at the maximum. When current and projected total fertility rates without net immigration lead to a projected path of actual population size that glides below the path of optimum population size, the policy question is how best to boost population increase to reach the optimum. The second part of the paper analyzes the costs to Singapore society of reaching the optimum by measures to boost total fertility rate, on the one hand, and allowing net immigration flows on the other hand. A starting point of economic analysis uses neoclassical growth theory to demonstrate how an increase in population size reduces per capita consumption and hence utility via a "capital dilution" channel. With a limited land size, an increase in population size raises population density, which lowers welfare through a "congestion" channel. The paper, however, identifies four other channels through which a larger population size increases welfare. These are a "tax base" channel, a "Mozart effect" channel, a "human capital externalities" channel, and an "Okun's Law" channel. To analyze the costs to Singapore's national budget of boosting the total fertility rate, we start off with the classic Becker model of fertility decisions and quantity-quality trade- off. When parents value both the quantity as well as human capital level ("quality") of children, the Becker model predicts that when parents' incomes rise, they choose quality over quantity. (This can be called a level effect.) When education boosts a child's human capital, and higher growth rates raise the marginal productivity of parental investment in a child's human capital, the expected decline in GDP growth rates as the Singapore economy matures would boost total fertility. (This can be called a growth effect.) The impact of policy measures such as parental leave, childcare subsidy and the Baby Bonus on total fertility rate can be analyzed in terms of substitution and income effects. The costs to Singapore society of net immigration, apart from scal subsidies to attract potential immigrants, would appear to come from its impact on social capital. In particular, a recent concept of "identity economics" - that an individual's payoff or utility is affected by identification with particular social categories - can help us understand the nature of the cost of achieving a given increase in population via net immigration. The optimal mix of measures to boost total fertility rate and allowing net immigration flows to achieve a given increase in the size of population equates the marginal cost of the two approaches. Forging a national identity is an investment that can lower the cost of achieving a given increase in population size. |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:siu:wpaper:20-2012&r=dem |
| By: | Ervin Prifti (Faculty of Economics, University of Rome "Tor Vergata"); Daniela Vuri (Faculty of Economics, University of Rome "Tor Vergata") |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to investigate the effect of Employment Protection Legislation (EPL) on fertility decisions of Italian working women using administrative data. We exploit a reform that introduced in 1990 costs for dismissals unmotivated by a 'fair cause' or 'justified motive' in firms below 15 employees and left firing costs unchanged for bigger firms. We use this quasi-experimental setup to study the hypothesis that increased EPL reduces future job insecurity and positively affects a female worker's proneness to take childbearing decisions. We use a difference in difference (OLS-DID) model to control for possible period-invariant sorting bias and an instrumental variable (IV-DID) model to account for time-varying endogeneity of the treatment status. We find that reduced economic insecurity following a strengthening of the EPL regime has a positive and sizable effect on fertility decisions of Italian working women. This result is robust to a number of checks regarding possible interactions with other policy reforms occurring around 1990, changes in the sample of workers and firms, and use of an alternative set of exclusion restrictions. |
| Keywords: | Fertility; Employment protection; Difference-in-difference; Instrumental variables; Policy evaluations. |
| JEL: | J2 J13 J65 |
| Date: | 2012–05–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rtv:ceisrp:236&r=dem |
| By: | Trude Lappegård, Randi Kjeldstad and Torbjørn Skarðhamar (Statistics Norway) |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the relationship between the division of housework in couples and the local gender equality context. We use data from the Norwegian Generations and Gender survey 2007 combined with a range of macrolevel measures on gender equality in the municipality where the respondents live. Results show that in married and cohabiting couples, the division of housework is associated with local gender equality context. Irrespective of their individual characteristics, couples living in municipalities with high gender equality have more equal division of housework. The within country regional variation in women’s status and participation on various arenas as compared to men’s, seems to influence housework arrangements in the family. This corresponds to findings from previous studies comparing countries, hence indicating that several of the operating mechanisms are also present at a lower aggregate level. However, in contrast to cross-national comparisons, we find that individual characteristics are not associated differently with the division of housework according to regional gender context. This might be due to the fact that Norway is a relatively homogeneous and egalitarian country at both the regional and individual level. |
| Keywords: | division of housework; regional gender equality index; multilevel analysis; Norway |
| JEL: | J22 |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ssb:dispap:689&r=dem |
| By: | Massimiliano Rigon (Bank of Italy); Giulia Martina Tanzi (Bank of Italy) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies whether the allocation of municipal expenditure in Italy is influenced by female representation in Municipal Councils. Despite the existence of gender-specific preferences in society, we find no clear evidence that the amount of resources distributed among different spending categories is significantly affected by politicians’ gender. The results are robust to a large variety of specifications and estimation techniques, where we also take into account the existence of an endogeneity problem. This is addressed using an instrumental variable approach, based on a temporary change in Italian law that reserved a gender quota in party lists for municipal elections, thus causing an exogenous increase in the number of women elected in Municipal Councils. The substantial absence of a gender bias is consistent with the median voter theorem, suggesting that politicians’ preferences and personal characteristics do not matter in public choices. Alternatively, it may be that gender is not one of the determinants of politicians’ voting behaviour, implying that the preferences of the women involved in political activities are close to those of their male colleagues. |
| Keywords: | gender, political representation, municipal expenditure, instrumental variable |
| JEL: | C23 C36 D78 H72 J16 |
| Date: | 2012–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdi:wptemi:td_862_12&r=dem |
| By: | Larsen, Mona (SFI - Danish National Centre for Social Research); Pedersen, Peder J. (University of Aarhus) |
| Abstract: | The labor market in Denmark seems to follow the trend in a number of other countries of increasing labor force participation in the 60+ group. We analyze trends for the early retirement age interval 60-64 and for the age group 65-74 where people are eligible to a national social security program from age 65. Until now, the increase in labor force participation has been most pronounced among 60-64-year-olds and among women. We find significant impact on work after retirement from education, gender, home ownership, aggregate unemployment at the time of retirement, age and education. Being married has a positive impact for men and a negative impact for women. We relate labor force participation after retirement to the cyclical situation and to the several policy reforms introduced since 1980. |
| Keywords: | labor force participation, retirement |
| JEL: | H55 J14 J26 |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6537&r=dem |
| By: | Meliyanni Johar (University of Technology, Sydney (UTS)); Shiko Maruyama (School of Economics, The University of New South Wales) |
| Abstract: | It is generally believed that intergenerational coresidence by elderly parents and adult children provides security for parents in their old age. In many countries, such intergenerational coresidence is the most common living arrangement. Using a nationally-representative dataset and a program evaluation technique that accounts for endogenous and heterogeneous treatment effects, we find robust evidence of a negative coresidence effect, contrary to the popular belief. The unintended adverse effect on parental health has significant implications for future informal care policies, given that coresidence is expected to remain the primary form of old age security in the foreseeable future. |
| Keywords: | intergenerational coresidence; elderly; heath; treatment effects |
| JEL: | I12 J1 C31 |
| Date: | 2011–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:swe:wpaper:2011-08&r=dem |
| By: | Haile, Getinet Astatike (University of Nottingham) |
| Abstract: | The paper examines if workplace gender diversity offers some explanation for the decline of unions in Britain. Using the WERS2004 linked employer-employee data and alternative econometric estimators it reports an inverse relationship between workplace union density and gender diversity. Gender and ownership status based sub-group analyses suggest the inverse relationship to be stronger for male union members and those in the private sector. Gender group size based analysis reveals a positive link between workplace union density and gender diversity in workplaces with a female majority. The findings in this paper may mean that unions (and their main constituents, men) may need to embrace the changing workplace demography genuinely to improve their fate. |
| Keywords: | trade union decline, gender diversity, linked employer-employee data, Britain |
| JEL: | J51 J16 J82 |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6536&r=dem |
| By: | Carol Graham (The Brookings Institution); Soumya Chattopadhyay (The Brookings Institution) |
| Abstract: | A wide body of research explores gender differences in welfare outcomes, and their implications for economic development. We aim to contribute to this work by looking at differences in reported well-being (happiness) across genders around the world. We examine differences across genders within countries, comparing age, income, education, and urban versus rural cohorts, and explore how those same within country differences vary in countries of different development levels. Our findings, based also on previous research on well-being more generally, highlight some consistent patterns across genders, with women typically happier than men in the world as a whole, with the exception of the poorest sample of countries. We also find substantial differences in the standard relationships between key variables - such as marriage - and happiness when we take differences in gender rights into account. Our research also suggests that cross-gender differences in well-being are affected by the same empirical and methodological factors that drive the paradoxes underlying the income and happiness debates more generally, with norms and expectations playing an important mediating role. Women's happiness seems to fall - at least in the short-term - when there are changes/improvements in gender rights, in keeping with our more general findings on the drops in reported well-being that are often associated with the process of acquiring agency. |
| Keywords: | happiness, gender, agency, expectations |
| JEL: | I3 J1 J7 |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hka:wpaper:2012-010&r=dem |
| By: | Mapila, Mariam A.T.J.; Anesu, Makina |
| Abstract: | The study evaluates the gendered impacts of Agricultural Innovation Systems driven research on livelihood improvements in Africa. Using a case study from Malawi, the study employs a quasi-experimental research design with propensity score matching to establish a counterfactual and single differencing to measure impact. Results demonstrate that innovation systems driven agricultural research programs impact positively and significantly upon the livelihood outcomes of rural women. However there are differences in benefits accruing to women in rural communities depending on headship of the household with female-headed households benefiting more as compared to women in male-headed households. Policy implications are that; although innovation systems thinking has the potential to improve the livelihood outcomes of the poor in Africa; there is need for deliberate gender facilitation in program implementation to ensure equitable and sustainable livelihood improvements. This requires budgetary support to and capacity building of grassroots agricultural advisory service providers and researchers. |
| Keywords: | Gender equity, Quasi-experimentation, Enabling Rural Innovation, Africa, Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:123359&r=dem |
| By: | Liu, Hong (Central University of Finance and Economics); Fang, Hai (University of Colorado Denver); Zhao, Zhong (Renmin University of China) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes urban–rural disparities of China's child health and nutritional status using the China Health and Nutrition Survey data from 1989 to 2006. We investigate degrees of health and nutritional disparities between urban and rural children in China as well as how such disparities have changed during the period 1989–2006. The results show that on average urban children have 0.29 higher height-for-age z-scores and 0.19 greater weight-for-age z-scores than rural children. Urban children are approximately 40% less likely to be stunted (OR = 0.62; P < 0.01) or underweight (OR = 0.62; P < 0.05) during the period 1989-2006. We also find that the urban–rural health and nutritional disparities have been declining significantly from 1989 to 2006. Both urban and rural children have increased consumption of high protein and fat foods from 1989 to 2006, but the urban-rural difference decreased over time. Moreover, the urban-rural gap in child preventive health care access was also reduced during this period. |
| Keywords: | urban-rural disparities, health and nutritional status, child, China |
| JEL: | I14 I15 |
| Date: | 2012–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6528&r=dem |
| By: | William B. Peterman |
| Abstract: | This paper considers the impact on optimal tax policy of including endogenously determined retirement in a life cycle model. Allowing individuals to determine when they retire causes the optimal tax on capital to increase by 75% because of two implicit changes in the aggregate labor supply elasticity. First, including endogenous retirement causes an increase in the overall aggregate labor supply elasticity since agents can change their labor supply on both the intensive and extensive margins. In response, the government limits the distortions from the tax policy by lowering the tax on labor and increases the tax on capital. Second, given that the choice to retire is more relevant for older individuals, endogenous retirement disproportionately increases older agent's elasticity compared to younger individuals. Ideally, the government would decrease the relative labor income tax on individuals when they are older and supply labor more elastically. However, in the absence of age-dependent taxes, the government mimics such a tax policy by further increasing the tax on capital. I find that the welfare lost from not accounting for endogenous retirement when solving for the optimal tax policy is equivalent to approximately one percent of lifetime consumption. |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedgfe:2012-28&r=dem |
| By: | David Bravo; Esteban Puentes |
| Abstract: | The provision of elderly care is an issue of increasing importance in Latin American countries because of a aging population, decrease in household size, and increased complexity of care. Thus, it is important to analyze how the provision of informal care of other adults affects the welfare of women since they are usually responsible for this type of care. We analyze in this paper the relationship between providing informal care to adults and labor outcomes for a middle-income country with a rapidly aging population. This is one of the first studies to focus on middle-income countries and in Latin America. The results of this research show the importance of considering the endogeneity that exists between informal care and female labor participation. A partial correlation analysis shows a strong negative relationship between providing care and labor participation, however, when we use methods for endogeneity correction, the correlation does not hold. Additionally, we found that poor households are more likely to be involved in care giving activities, and that the presence of a spouse reduces the likelihood of provision of care. |
| Date: | 2012–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:udc:wpaper:wp353&r=dem |
| By: | Bacci, Silvia; Bartolucci, Francesco; Pieroni, Luca |
| Abstract: | We propose a causal analysis of the mother’s educational level on the health status of the newborn, in terms of gestational weeks and weight. The analysis is based on a finite mixture structural equation model, the parameters of which have a causal interpretation. The model is applied to a dataset of almost ten thausand deliveries collected in an Italian region. The analysis confirms that standard regression overestimates the impact of education on the child health. With respect to the current economic literature, our findings indicate that only high education has positive consequences on child health, implying that policy efforts in education should have benefits for welfare. |
| Keywords: | birthweight; finite mixtures; intergenerational health trasmission; latent class model; structural equation models |
| JEL: | J13 I12 I21 C30 |
| Date: | 2012–04–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:38754&r=dem |
| By: | Manuela Arcanjo; Amélia Bastos; Francisco Nunes; José Passos |
| Abstract: | Child poverty is a problem firmly recognized in the industrialized world. In the EU nearly one in every five children was poor in 2008 (for the population as a whole the risk of poverty was around 17 per cent). The dimension of the problem and its consequences point out for the importance of knowing the processes behind it. This paper aims to investigate how labour market issues and public policies have been impact on child poverty, over recent years. Based on microdata gathered by the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU_SILC) for the period 2004-08 we give a portrait of child income poverty in European Southern countries such as: Italy, Portugal and Spain and also in Poland. Moreover, we investigate the major changes in social policies that could impact on child poverty such benefits target on family and child allowances. The international comparison will allow the identification of children’s poverty profile and pattern across the countries analysed and also design the different compositions between labour market elements / public policies in such countries. This exercise of comparison also enables a first test of the efficiency of these policies. The methodological framework used varies from descriptive methods to econometric models in order to sustain the discussion of the subject under study. |
| Keywords: | child poverty, income, cross-section, dynamics, social policies, labour market. JEL Classification: H53, I32, I38 |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ise:isegwp:wp142012&r=dem |
| By: | Huaxiong Huang; Moshe A. Milevsky; Thomas S. Salisbury |
| Abstract: | We extend the lifecycle model (LCM) of consumption over a random horizon (a.k.a. the Yaari model) to a world in which (i.) the force of mortality obeys a diffusion process as opposed to being deterministic, and (ii.) a consumer can adapt their consumption strategy to new information about their mortality rate (a.k.a. health status) as it becomes available. In particular, we derive the optimal consumption rate and focus on the impact of mortality rate uncertainty vs. simple lifetime uncertainty -- assuming the actuarial survival curves are initially identical -- in the retirement phase where this risk plays a greater role. In addition to deriving and numerically solving the PDE for the optimal consumption rate, our main general result is that when utility preferences are logarithmic the initial consumption rates are identical. But, in a CRRA framework in which the coefficient of relative risk aversion is greater (smaller) than one, the consumption rate is higher (lower) and a stochastic force of mortality does make a difference. That said, numerical experiments indicate that even for non-logarithmic preferences, the stochastic mortality effect is relatively minor from the individual's perspective. Our results should be relevant to researchers interested in calibrating the lifecycle model as well as those who provide normative guidance (a.k.a. financial advice) to retirees. |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:1205.2295&r=dem |
| By: | Franz, Nele |
| Abstract: | Mithilfe linearer Regressionen und einer anschließenden Blinder-Oaxaca-Dekomposition werden Erwerbseinkommensunterschiede zwischen Frauen und Männern im Jahr 2009 untersucht. Dabei werden neben den klassischen Humankapitalindikatoren Ausbildung und Berufserfahrung auch Variablen zum sozialen Hintergrund sowie zur Risikobereitschaft herangezogen. Ziel ist die Zerlegung der Einkommensunterschiede zwischen Männern und Frauen in erklärte und unerklärte Unterschiede und damit eine Annäherung an die Frage, wie viel Verdienstunterschied durch Diskriminierung zustande kommt. Durch die Berücksichtigung von Voll- und Teilzeitarbeit wird der Großteil aller Erwerbstätigen abgedeckt. Es zeigt sich aber auch, dass klassische Humankapitalvariablen und insbesondere die Gründung einer Familie Hauptursache für die Verdienst- und Karriereunterschiede zwischen den Geschlechtern sind. -- Using linear regressions and an Oaxaca/Blinder-decomposition, wage inequalities between men and women in 2009 are analyzed. Along with classic human-capital variables especially individual characteristics and social background information are used as explanatory variables. Since 35% of all employed women and only 4% of all employed men are part-time employed, part-time employment as well as full-time employment is taken into account. The paper argues that the difference can be mainly explained through family building and a gender-specific, traditional allocation of responsibilities within a household. In contrast, direct discrimination seems to be less important for the gender-specific earnings-differences. |
| Keywords: | Oaxaca/Blinder Dekomposition,Diskriminierung,Gender Wage Gap,Oaxaca/Blinder Decomposition,Discrimination |
| JEL: | J16 J31 J71 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ciwdps:112011&r=dem |
| By: | P. EVERAERT; N. ARTHUR |
| Abstract: | This paper addresses the question of whether the increasing use of multiple-choice questions will favour particular student groups, i.e. male or female students. This paper empirically examines the existence of a gender effect by comparing the relative performance of male and female students in both multiple-choice and constructed-response questions in financial accounting examinations. The study is motivated by the increasing number of students in accounting classes; changes in the gender mix in accounting classes and debates over appropriate means of assessment. We find that female students outperform male students in answering questions of both formats, but their superiority in multiple-choice questions is diminished in comparison with constructed-response questions. This might suggest that multiple choice questions favour male students more than female students. The results hold even if we restrict the comparison to multiple-choice and constructed-response questions having the same general content (e.g. exercise type). Furthermore, the diminishing result was found both for undergraduate and postgraduate students. These results should prompt those involved in assessment to be cautious in planning the type of assessment used in evaluating students. |
| Keywords: | Gender, accounting, assessment, multiple-choice questions |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rug:rugwps:12/777&r=dem |
| By: | Calabria, Alejandro A.; Rottenschweiler, Sergio |
| Abstract: | Since 2003, it has been observed in Argentina a paradigm shift with regard to social security, in general, and pension system, in particular, based mainly on the inclusion and solidarity. The implementation of the Pension Inclusion Plan, more than ten increases in pension benefits before the Mobility Act´s implementation, the creation of the Sustainability Guarantee Fund (FGS) and the Argentinean Integrated Retirement System (SIPA) have undeniably impacted on the economic situation of older adults through improvements in pension benefits and the highest rate of coverage. In this paper, through the estimation of a Welfare Index for the Elderly (IBPM), we conclude that the effects of these measures were not limited to mere monetary issues but hauled as a result, significant improvements in quality of life, education, health and longevity, among others, for a vulnerable age group as that of older adults. |
| Keywords: | adultos mayores; índice de bienestar; cobertura previsional; sistema previsional argentino |
| JEL: | H55 I31 I38 |
| Date: | 2011–12–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:38817&r=dem |
| By: | Rodríguez-Planas, Núria (IZA) |
| Abstract: | Much of the literature on immigrants' cash-welfare benefits use has focused on countries with a large tradition of receiving immigrants and with well established Welfare states. This paper contributes to this literature by analyzing differences in cash-welfare benefits receipt between immigrants and natives and their determinants in Spain, a country with: (1) a small level of social assistance and a Welfare state heavily reliable on conditioned access to pensions; and (2) an unprecedented immigration boom. Different probit models of social program intake are estimated for immigrants and native-born individuals using pooled cross-sectional data from the 1999 to 2009 Spanish Labor Force Survey. Results show that a negative residual welfare gap exists and that it is mainly driven by recently arrived immigrants, whose legal status or insufficient contribution is likely to hamper participation in social programs. In addition, I find that immigrants with more than 5 years in the host country are more likely to receive unemployment benefits than natives, consistent with findings in other countries. These findings hold regardless of immigrants' continent of origin. |
| Keywords: | Southern European welfare state, immigrants' residual welfare use |
| JEL: | J15 J61 J68 I38 |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6547&r=dem |
| By: | Azam, Mehtabul (World Bank); Bhatt, Vipul (James Madison University) |
| Abstract: | An important constraint in studying intergenerational education mobility for India is the lack of data that contain information about parents' education for the entire adult population. This paper employs a novel strategy to create a unique father-son matched data that is representative of the entire adult male population in India. Using this father-son matched data, we study the extent of intergenerational mobility in educational attainment in India since 1940s and provide an estimate of how India ranks among other nations. We also document this mobility across social groups, and states in India. Finally, we investigate the evolution of mobility in educational attainment across the two generations and whether this trend differs across social groups and state boundaries. We find that there have been significant improvements in educational mobility across generations in India, at the aggregate level, across social groups, and across states. Although most of the Indian states have made significant progress over time, in terms of improved mobility, there remains significant variation across states with some states faring worse than the others. |
| Keywords: | intergenerational mobility, educational persistence, India |
| JEL: | J6 I28 |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6549&r=dem |
| By: | Brown, W. Mark<br/> Newbold, Bruce |
| Abstract: | La présente étude porte sur le processus amenant les migrants à réaliser des gains salariaux à la suite de leur migration; l'examen porte plus particulièrement sur l'avantage associé à la migration vers des marchés du travail métropolitains dynamiques et de grande taille, Toronto servant à cet égard de point de référence. On peut observer deux profils de gains distincts associés à la migration. Le premier correspond à une augmentation immédiate du revenu du travailleur à la suite de la migration. Le second consiste en une progression accélérée du revenu après la migration. Le gain immédiat est associé à l'obtention d'un poste au sein d'une entreprise plus productive, ou encore à un meilleur appariement entre les compétences et habiletés du travailleur et les tâches associées à son poste. L'accélération du gain de revenu est pour sa part rattachée à des processus qui exigent un certain temps, par exemple l'apprentissage ou le changement d'emploi au fil de la recherche d'une plus grande compatibilité entre travailleurs et entreprises. Notre évaluation porte ici sur l'hypothèse que les économies reliées aux grandes régions métropolitaines permettent aux travailleurs de profiter au départ d'un avantage découlant d'une hausse ponctuelle de productivité et/ou d'un processus dynamique permettant d'accélérer la progression de leur revenu grâce à l'apprentissage et à un meilleur appariement. Divers ensembles de données et méthodologies, y compris la méthode de l'appariement par scores de propension, servent à évaluer les profils de progression du revenu associés à la migration & |
| Keywords: | Population et démographie, Travail, Mobilité et migration, Salaires, traitements et autres gains |
| Date: | 2012–05–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:stc:stcp1f:2012023f&r=dem |
| By: | Aleksandra Vuletic |
| Abstract: | - |
| Keywords: | Yugoslavia, census data |
| JEL: | J1 Z0 |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dem:wpaper:wp-2012-018&r=dem |