|
on Demographic Economics |
|
Issue of 2012‒06‒05
twenty-six papers chosen by Clarence Nkengne Tsimpo University of Montreal and World Bank Group |
| By: | Karsten Marshall Elseth Rieck and Kjetil Telle (Statistics Norway) |
| Abstract: | Using registry data on every employed Norwegian woman giving birth to her first child during the period 1995–2008, we describe patterns of certified and paid sick leave before, during and after pregnancy. By following the same women over time, we can explore how observed sick leave patterns are – or are not – related to the women’s exiting (or reentering) employment. The results show that sick leave increases abruptly in the month of conception, and continues to grow throughout the term of pregnancy. Sick leave during pregnancy has been rising substantially compared with pre-pregnancy levels over the period 1995–2008, but this increase seems unrelated to women’s growing age at first birth. In line with hypotheses of women’s “double burden”, observed sick leave rates increase in the years after birth. However, when we handle some obvious selection issues – like sick leave during a succeeding pregnancy – the increase in women’s sick leave in the years after birth dissolves. Overall, we find little, if any, sign of the relevance of “double burden” hypotheses in explaining the excessive sick leave of women compared with men. |
| Keywords: | sick leave; pregnancy; female employment; double burden. |
| JEL: | C23 H55 I18 J13 J22 |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ssb:dispap:690&r=dem |
| By: | Holter, Hans A (Uppsala Center for Fiscal Studies); Chakraborty, Indraneel (Southern Methodist University); Stepanchuk, Serhiy (Magyar Nemzeti Bank) |
| Abstract: | Americans work more than Europeans. Using micro data from the U.S. and 17 European countries, we study the contributions from demographic subgroups to these aggregate level dierences. We document that women are typically the largest contributors to the discrepancy in work hours. We also document a negative empirical correlation between hours worked and dierent measures of taxation, driven by men, and a positive correlation between hours worked and divorce rates, driven by women. Motivated by these observations, we develop a life-cycle model with heterogeneous agents, marriage and divorce and use it to study the impact of two mechanisms on labor supply: (i) dierences in marriage stability and (ii) dierences in tax systems. We calibrate the model to U.S. data and study how labor supply in the U.S. changes as we introduce European tax systems, and as we replace the U.S. divorce and marriage rates with their European equivalents. We nd that the divorce and tax mechanisms combined explain 58% of the variation in labor supply between the U.S. and the European countries in our sample. |
| Keywords: | Aggregate Labor Supply; Taxation; Marriage; Divorce; Heterogeneous Households |
| JEL: | E24 E62 H24 H31 J21 J22 |
| Date: | 2012–05–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:uufswp:2012_007&r=dem |
| By: | Brainerd, Elizabeth (Brandeis University); Menon, Nidhiya (Brandeis University) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the impact of fertilizer agrichemicals in water on infant and child health using data on water quality combined with data on the health outcomes of infants and children from the 1992-93, 1998-99, and 2005-06 Demographic and Health Surveys of India. Because fertilizers are applied at specific times in the growing season, the concentrations of agrichemicals in water vary seasonally and by cropped area as some Indian states plant predominantly summer crops while others plant winter crops. Our identification strategy exploits the differing timing of the planting seasons across regions and differing seasonal prenatal exposure to agrichemicals to identify the impact of agrichemical contamination on various measures of child health. The results indicate that children exposed to higher concentrations of agrichemicals during their first month experience worse health outcomes on a variety of measures (infant mortality, neo-natal mortality, height-for-age z scores and weight-for-age z-scores). Disaggregated runs reveal that effects are largest amongst the most vulnerable groups – children of uneducated poor women living in rural India. |
| Keywords: | fertilizer agrichemicals, water pollutants, child health, infant mortality, India, fertilizers |
| JEL: | O12 I15 Q53 Q56 |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6559&r=dem |
| By: | Abel Brodeur (PSE - Paris-Jourdan Sciences Economiques - CNRS : UMR8545 - Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) - Ecole des Ponts ParisTech - Ecole Normale Supérieure de Paris - ENS Paris - INRA, EEP-PSE - Ecole d'Économie de Paris - Paris School of Economics - Ecole d'Économie de Paris); Marie Connolly (CIRPEE - Centre interuniversitaire sur le risque, les politiques économiques et l'emploi - Centre Interuniversitaire sur le Risque, les Politiques Economiques et l'Emploi, Université du Québec - Université du Québec - Université du Québec) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we investigate the effect of a change in childcare subsidies on parental subjective well-being. Starting in 1997, the Canadian province of Québec implemented a generous program providing $5-a-day childcare to children under the age of 5. By 2007, the percentage of children attending subsidized day care had tripled and mothers' labor force participation had increased substantially. Objectively, more labor force participation is seen as a positive improvement, bringing with it higher income, independence and bargaining power. Yet a decrease in women's subjective well-being over previous decades has been documented, perhaps due to a Second Shift effect where women work more but still bear the brunt of housework and childrearing (Hochschild and Machung, 1989). Using data from the Canadian General Social Survey, we estimate a triple-differences model using differences pre- and post- reforms between Québec and the rest of Canada and between parents with young children and those with older children. Our estimates suggest that Québec's family policies led to a small decrease in parents' subjective well-being. Of note, though, we find large and positive effects for poor household families and high school graduates and negative effects for middle household income families. We find similar negative effects on life satisfaction for both men and women, but different effects on satisfaction with work-life balance. This suggests that fathers' life satisfaction could be influenced by their wives' labor supply while their work-life balance is not. |
| Keywords: | Childcare ; Labor Supply ; Subjective Well-being ; Life Satisfaction ; Happiness ; Work-life Balance |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:psewpa:halshs-00699671&r=dem |
| By: | Joseph Burke (Department of Economics and Business, Ave Maria University) |
| Abstract: | This paper is an exploration of the theoretical properties of the Becker fertility model. I demonstrate that the comparative statics of the Becker fertility model with a general budget constraint and its corresponding expenditure model can be expressed in terms of the ordinary consumer expenditure function with a change of variable. When there are no fixed-costs of quality per child, the Becker fertility model is equivalent to the ordinary consumer model with restrictions on the form of the utility function. Solutions to the Becker fertility model are provided with the Cobb-Douglas, CES, and AIDS specifications under this assumption, Becker’s hypothesis that demand for quality per child increases with income is not valid under any Cobb-Douglas or CES specification, but can be tested with a valid estimation of the AIDS model. I also evaluate the role of fixed-costs of quality per child in Becker’s model and show that they introduce a third term into the Slutsky matrix, i.e. in addition to ordinary substitution and income effects, but that these effects are small when the average fixed costs of quality per child is small relative to the marginal cost of quality per child. When the Becker model is expressed in terms of children, quality, and other goods, children must be a substitute for either their quality or for other goods and either quality or other goods must be a luxury good. |
| Keywords: | microeconomic theory, Becker, fertility |
| JEL: | D01 J11 J13 Z13 |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:avm:wpaper:1201&r=dem |
| By: | Mine Hancioglu; Bastian Hartmann |
| Abstract: | To explore single mothers' labor market participation we analyze specific circumstances and dynamics in their life courses. We focus on the question which individual and institutional factors determine both professional advancement and professional descent. Due to dynamics in women's life course identifying and analyzing restrictions and interruptions of employment requires a longitudinal research design. The German Socio-Economic Panel (1984-2009) provides all necessary information identifying episodes of single motherhood and employment during life courses. Since family statuses of single mothers are partially endogenous and can end in multiple ways, we use semi-parametric survival models. Competing risks estimations offer a detailed view by analyzing single mothers' transition from not being employed to full-time or part-time work and vice versa simultaneously. Estimates show that occupational careers of single mothers are influenced by both individual factors and institutional circumstances. Whereas specific problems occur shortly after becoming a single mother, these problems seem to be dealt with over time. Enhancing labor market participation or maintaining full-time employment as a single mother can be achieved when certain challenges are met such as appointed and reliable working hours. Single mothers that do not have to rely on public childcare arrangements, but are capable of finding individual solutions are more likely to balance work and family life. Among institutional determinants welfare benefits have a negative effect on the market labor participation of women in low-paid jobs. |
| Keywords: | Single mothers, labor supply, event history analysis, Cox-regression |
| JEL: | C14 C23 J12 J13 J16 J22 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp446&r=dem |
| By: | Justine Burns; Malcolm Keswell (SALDRU, School of Economics, University of Cape Town) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the changes in the educational attainment of three successive generations in South Africa: grandparents, parents and children. Many of the results accord with widely known facts, such as the educational penalty faced by individuals who are African or who live in rural areas or in female-headed households. Similarly, the larger impact of mothers education on child outcomes relative to fathers education accords with previous work, although it is interesting that this gender difference is only sizeable and significant for relationships between the second and third generation. Key findings in this paper include the fact that persistence has increased with subsequent generations. |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ldr:wpaper:71&r=dem |
| By: | Belke, Ansgar (University of Duisburg-Essen); Dreger, Christian (DIW Berlin); Ochmann, Richard (DIW Berlin) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the relationship between wealth, ageing and saving behaviour of private households by using pooled cross sections of German consumption survey data. Different components of wealth are distinguished, as their impact on the savings rate is not homogeneous. On average, the effect attributed to real estate dominates the other components of wealth. In addition, the savings rate strongly responds to demographic trends. Besides the direct impact of the age structure, an indirect effect arises through the accumulation of wealth. The savings rate does not decrease with age in a monotonic way, as the permanent income hypothesis suggests. Most prominently, older households tend to increase their savings in the second half of their retirement period, probably due to bequest motives and increasing immobility. Given the ongoing demographic trend, an increase of 1.4 percentage points in the aggregated savings rate should be expected over the next two decades. |
| Keywords: | demographic change, wealth, savings |
| JEL: | G10 G11 |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6567&r=dem |
| By: | Kadir Atalay and Garry F. Barrett |
| Abstract: | Identifying the effect of the financial incentives created by social security systems on the retirement behaviour of individuals requires exogenous variation in program parameters. In this paper we study the 1993 Australian Age Pension reform which increased the eligibility age for women to access the social security benefit. We find economically significant responses to the increase in the Age Pension eligibility age. An increase in the eligibility age of 1 year induced a decline in retirement probability by approximately 10 percent. In addition, we find that the social security reform induced significant "program substitution." The rise in the Age Pension eligibility age had an unintended consequence of increasing enrolment in other social insurance programs, particularly the Disability Support Pension, which functioned as an alternative source for funding retirement. |
| Keywords: | Retirement, age pension, program substitution |
| JEL: | D91 I38 J26 |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mcm:sedapp:295&r=dem |
| By: | Lisenkova, Katerina |
| Abstract: | Ukraine has a rapidly ageing and declining population. A dynamic forward-Âlooking Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model with an explicitly modelled Payâ€Asâ€You-ÂGo pension scheme is constructed to perform simulations of different pension reform scenarios and investigate the impact of population ageing on a wide range of macroeconomic variables. It is shown that, changes in age structure will result in a significant negative impact on the economy and stability of the pension system. Analysis of the potential changes to the pension system is limited to modelling an increase of the pension age, keeping either the workers’ contribution rate or replacement rate constant. |
| Keywords: | Ukraine, CGE modelling, pension reform, ageing, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:edn:sirdps:278&r=dem |
| By: | Fofana, Ismaël |
| Abstract: | The recent surge in oil prices has created concern about its impacts on poor people in South Africa. The strong economic performance recorded over the period 1995-05 has not contributed to a substantial reduction in poverty in this country, particularly among women that tend to be overrepresented among poor households. Government management of an oil shock is important in reducing its adverse impacts in oil-importing countries. Thus, this study examines alternative policy responses to the recent high oil prices through a gender lens in South Africa. A multisector general equilibrium framework is developed to account for the energy specificities of the economy and its relationship with nonenergy sectors. In addition, male and female supplies of labor and the households' demand for energy and nonenergy commodities are explored through a careful modeling of the household economy along with the market economy. The simulation scenarios combine increases in world prices of crude oil, petroleum products, and coal with various fiscal policy responses. Under the floating prices scenario, gross domestic product (GDP) falls compared to the baseline value driven by the inflationary effect of high energy prices and the exchange rate depreciation. Labor earnings also fall, while the gap between male and female earnings widens. The low participation of women compared to men in nonoil energy and export-oriented industries increases their vulnerability to the oil price shock. The gender employment gap also increases under the fixed petroleum price scenarios regardless of the tax-financing option. Further, fiscal policy responses are explored through the broadening of price supports to all commodities and all industries financed by an additional tax on household revenue. A government subsidy to businesses under the oil price shock shows the highest multiplier effect—higher GDP and labor earning effects—but the gap in male and female employment does not change significantly compared with that in the floating and set price scenarios. The government subsidy to businesses is decomposed by type of industry to further explore its gender employment impact. Simulation results indicate that the gender employment gap improves when the subsidy is allocated to high female-employing industries. On the other hand, providing a subsidy to industries that easily substitute capital–energy technology with low-skilled work gives the best GDP outcome. Therefore, this study shows that fiscal policy can help ensure equitable growth when an economy faces a serious challenge, such as a surge in world oil prices. This indicates that supporting industries that easily substitute the capital–energy factor and female-dominated, low-skilled work is the most efficient and gender-equitable fiscal response to high oil prices in South Africa. Given the small differences in GDP and employment results between the fiscal response scenarios with and without a focus on gender equity, the cost of investing in gender equality appears to be small. |
| Keywords: | petroleum, price shock, Gender, Fiscal policies, General equilibrium model, household economy, domestic work, time allocation, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1169&r=dem |
| By: | Stephan Humpert; Christian Pfeifer |
| Abstract: | This paper takes a labor supply perspective (neoclassical labor supply, job search) to explain the lower employment rates of older workers and women. The basic rationale is that workers choose non-employed if their reservation wages are larger than the offered wages. Whereas the offered wages depend on workers' productivity and firms' decisions, reservation wages are largely determined by workers' endowments and preferences for leisure. To shed some empirical light on this issue, we use German survey data to analyze age and gender differences in reservation and entry wages, preferred and actual working hours, and satisfaction with leisure and work. |
| Keywords: | Age, family gap, gender, job search, labor supply, reservation wages |
| JEL: | J14 J22 J64 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp449&r=dem |
| By: | van Ham, Maarten (Delft University of Technology); Hedman, Lina (Uppsala University); Manley, David (University of Bristol); Coulter, Rory (University of St. Andrews) |
| Abstract: | The extent to which socioeconomic (dis)advantage is transmitted between generations is receiving increasing attention from academics and policymakers. However, few studies have investigated whether there is a spatial dimension to this intergenerational transmission of (dis)advantage. Drawing upon the concept of a neighbourhood biography, this study contends that there are links between the places individuals live in with their parents and their subsequent neighbourhood experiences as independent adults. Using individual level register data tracking the whole Swedish population from 1990 to 2008, and bespoke neighbourhoods, this study is the first to use innovative sequencing techniques to construct individual neighbourhood histories. Through visualisation methods and ordered logit models, we demonstrate that the socioeconomic composition of the neighbourhood children lived in before they left the parental home is strongly related to the status of the neighbourhood they live in 5, 12 and 18 years later. Children living with their parents in high poverty concentration neighbourhoods are very likely to end up in similar neighbourhoods much later in life. The parental neighbourhood is also important in predicting the cumulative exposure to poverty concentration neighbourhoods over a long period of early adulthood. Ethnic minorities were found to have the longest cumulative exposure to poverty concentration neighbourhoods. These findings imply that for some groups, disadvantage is both inherited and highly persistent. |
| Keywords: | intergenerational transmission, neighbourhood poverty, neighbourhood histories, sequence analysis, Sweden |
| JEL: | I30 J60 R23 |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6572&r=dem |
| By: | Stefania Marcassa (THEMA, Universite de Cergy-Pontoise) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the conditional probability of leaving unemployment of French married individuals from 1991 to 2002. We nd that the eect of spousal labor income on unemployment duration is asymmetric for men and women. In particular, the probability of men to nd a job is increasing in wife labor income, while it is decreasing in husband's earnings for women. To adjust for endogenous selection into marriage, we use the occupation of the fathers in-law as an instrumental variable for the spousal wage. Finally, we show that introducing a breadwinner stigma in a joint job search model generates the positive correlation observed for men in the data. |
| Keywords: | unemployment duration, hazard models, labor income, marriage, joint search theory |
| JEL: | J12 J64 J65 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ema:worpap:2012-31&r=dem |
| By: | Lindquist, Matthew J. (Swedish Institute for Social Research, Stockholm University); Santavirta, Torsten (Swedish Institute for Social Research, Stockholm University) |
| Abstract: | - |
| Keywords: | - |
| Date: | 2012–05–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:sofiwp:2012_008&r=dem |
| By: | Silva, Andres; Garcia, Marian; Bailey, Alastair |
| Abstract: | The United Kingdom (UK) has one of the highest obesity levels in the world (Mazzocchi et al., 2009). As indicated by the National Health Service (2010), 25% of adults and 17% of children are obese in the UK. This last statistic represents an increase of four points in comparison to 1995. The Government Office for Science (2010) estimated that by 2050, half of the UK population would be obese, with a consequent direct annual cost of £10 billion and an indirect annual cost of £50 billion at today’s prices. This research aims to contribute to the debate on how health-related information impacts household food expenditure and whether this impact varies across income groups and household composition. This study specifically measures the impact of child obesity news on household food expenditure in the UK. To this end, the study calculated a set of elasticities for different income groups (high vs. low) and family composition (families with and without children). This set of elasticities gives us a measure of responsiveness, to change in terms of price, income and news. The results indicate that child obesity news causes different impacts on households according to their income level and household composition. Low-income households without children are not significantly impacted by child obesity news. Low-income households with children change their food expenditure composition to a healthier diet without changing the overall food expenditure. High-income households without children decrease their overall food expenditure, mainly changing red meat for dairy products. Finally, high-income households with children increase their overall food expenditure and move on to a healthier diet. Therefore, in three out of four household cases, child obesity news causes a different and positive impact on diet. Low-income households with children in default-mode spend the smallest proportion of their income on fruit and vegetables; which is even less than low-income households without children. More importantly, low-income households with children influence the nutritional habits of their children. This research shows that low-income households with children respond to child obesity news and move on to a healthier diet without causing undesirable income redistribution. |
| Keywords: | Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaeafe:123526&r=dem |
| By: | Brännström, Lars (Swedish Institute for Social Research, Stockholm University); Vinnerljung , Bo; Hjern, Anders |
| Abstract: | - |
| Keywords: | - |
| Date: | 2012–05–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:sofiwp:2012_007&r=dem |
| By: | Kang, Lili; Peng, Fei |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the intrahousehold resource allocation on children’s education and its earnings consequence in Chinese labour market. In order to overcome the endogeneity problem of schooling, we consider the siblings structure and the available public facilities as instrumental variables. Females’ education is negatively affected by siblings (brothers or sisters) number, while males’ education is also negatively affected by their brothers but much less by their sisters. For the youngest cohort born after 1980, the education of a girl would be heavily impeded by her sisters, reflecting strong distortion of “One-Child Policy” on intrahousehold resource allocation. Comparing the OLS and GIV estimations for returns to schooling, we find that there are downwards biases of OLS estimations for males in all cohorts and in all years. However, for females, downwards biases of OLS estimation are only for data before 2004, as females in the old cohorts actually have upwards biases after 2004. Education returns of the youngest cohort are much higher than old cohorts supporting the argument of heterogeneous human capital accumulation during transition. |
| Keywords: | Siblings; education returns; China |
| JEL: | J13 J31 J16 |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:38922&r=dem |
| By: | Huffman, Sonya Kostova; Rizov, Marian |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates the impacts of weight, measured by body mass index (BMI), on employment, wages, and missed work due to illness for Russian adults by gender using recent panel data (1994-2005) from the nationally representative Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (RLMS). We employ econometric techniques to control for unobserved heterogeneity and potential biases due to endogeneity in BMI. The results show an inverted U-shaped effect of BMI on probability of employment for men and women. We did not find evidence of wage penalty for higher BMI. In fact, the wages for overweigh men are higher. However, having a BMI above 28.3 increases the number of days missing work due to health problems for men. Overall, we find negative effects of obesity on employment only for women but not on wages. During the transition in Russia, the increasingly competitive pressure in the labour market combined with economic insecurity faced by the population has lead to a muted impact of an individual’s weight on labour market outcomes. |
| Keywords: | BMI, obesity, labour market outcomes, Russia, Health Economics and Policy, Labor and Human Capital, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:123539&r=dem |
| By: | Hasan, Dr. Syed Akif; Subhani, Dr. Muhammad Imtiaz; Osman, Ms. Amber |
| Abstract: | Recall and Recognition, two important aspects when one talks about advertising and consumers awareness towards the brands. This study has mainly been focused on the brand symbols and its importance in the mind of the consumers. Does a brand symbol really play a role of differentiating a brand from another and how well it gets associated with the consumer? Questions like these are well-answered in this research. 250 respondents from the largest city of Pakistan i.e. Karachi were handed over a questionnaire on 18 brand symbols on an un-restricted non-probability sampling criteria. Education, age and gender are the focus of this study predicting the recall and recognition of the brand symbols. Consumer behavior entails variations towards selection of brand and the change in behavior is mostly due to brand recall and not recognition, which was found by testing the variables through multiple linear regressions (OLS-Model). It was of interest to find that except of gender, there is no association found between recognition of brand symbols and the said variables. Age has positive impact on recall of brand symbols and education has negative impact on recall of brand symbols. Furthermore, gender plays no role in predicting the recall and but somehow associated with recognition of brand symbols. |
| Keywords: | brand recall; brand recognition; brand symbols; age; gender; education; consumer behavior |
| JEL: | A1 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:39098&r=dem |
| By: | Malcolm Keswell; Sarah Girdwood; Murray Leibbrandt |
| Abstract: | We analyse the role of educational opportunity in shaping inequality in the distribution of occupations in the long-run. We start by modelling the probability that a child occupies the same or a different rung on the occupational ladder as her parents controlling for both the educational attainment of the child, as well as the level of educational opportunity of the child. These conditional probabilities are then used to construct separate transition matrices by level of educational opportunity, race and gender, which in turn are used to the compute the steady-state distribution of occupations. Finally, we use the timing of political events in the history of the struggle to end Apartheid to devise an identification strategy that permits a causal interpretation of the role of educational opportunity. We find evidence that educational opportunity has a strong conditioning effect on the distribution of occupations in steady state. In particular, African female children who inherit the same level of educational opportunity as their parents are 9% more likely to be in the bottom of the occupation distribution in steady-state, than the observed rate for the population at large, whereas they would face a 4% lower probability if they were exposed to better educational opportunities. |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ldr:wpaper:73&r=dem |
| By: | Ehmke, Mariah D.; Schroeter, Christiane; Morgan, Kari; Larson-Meyer, Enette; Ballenger, Nicole |
| Abstract: | Researchers working in the fields of family studies and psychology show motherchild relationship dynamics affect the occurrence of childhood overweight and obesity. Many of the significant behaviors they identify relate to negotiation and generosity norms in the household. The primary objective of this study is to test the value of altruistic and collective models of household behavior using the dictator and ‘carrotstick’ laboratory experiments. We also test exploratory hypotheses relating mother’s generosity and child’s punitive behavior and mother-child weight and fitness outcomes using dictator and ‘carrot-stick’ games. The data were collected from 50 mother-child pairs in Laramie, Wyoming. The children were all eight to 10 years old. The mother’s completed a survey to measure family attitudes and beliefs around food and fitness. All of the mothers and children completed a fitness assessment and blood draw to measure their cholesterol, triglyceride, and hemoglobin levels in addition to the economic experiments. The data do not support altruistic models of familial utility maximization as suggested by Becker’s Rotten Kid Theorem. We do find children overwhelmingly influence mothers’ allocations to maximize child, not household, welfare or utility. Results also indicate there is a positive relationship between mother generosity for child junk food the child’s waist circumference. Children who demand punitive behavior in the ‘carrot-stick’ game were less fit and more likely to be overweight and obese. The results of this study offer insights into household allocation processes which effect both mother and child weight and health outcomes. |
| Keywords: | Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, |
| Date: | 2012–03–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaeafe:123516&r=dem |
| By: | Fan, Maoyong; Jin, Yanhong H. |
| Abstract: | Promoting physical activity in children is an important front battling Childhood obesity. This paper investigates if and by how much neighborhood parks and playgrounds, one of the most important activity-enhancing neighborhood facilities, affect childhood obesity. We employ a covariate matching technique to analyze the 2007 National Survey of Children Health data. We find that neighborhood parks and playgrounds make children more fit. The reduction in body mass index (BMI) as well as the overweight or obesity risk is both statistically and economically significant. We also find that the park impact depends on gender, age, race, income, neighborhood safety, and other neighborhood amenities. The results suggest that a provision of neighborhood parks and playgrounds is likely to make children more fit, but relevant interventions need to take socioeconomic status of the targeted children population as well as other neighborhood amenities into consideration. |
| Keywords: | CHILDHOOD OBESITY, NEIGHBORHOOD AMENITY, PARK/PLAYGROUND, MATCHING, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Health Economics and Policy, I18 I38 R53, |
| Date: | 2012–05–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea12:123421&r=dem |
| By: | Lundborg, Petter (Lund University); Nilsson, Anton (Lund University); Rooth, Dan-Olof (Linnaeus University) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we exploit the Swedish compulsory schooling reform in order to estimate the causal effect of parental education on son's outcomes. We use data from the Swedish enlistment register on the entire population of males and focus on outcomes such as cognitive skills, non-cognitive skills, and various dimensions of health at the age of 18. We find significant and positive effects of maternal education on sons' skills and health status. Although the reform had equally strong effects on father's education as on mother's education, we find little evidence that paternal education improves son's outcomes. |
| Keywords: | education, cognitive skills, non-cognitive skills, health, causality, schooling reforms |
| JEL: | I12 I28 J13 |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6570&r=dem |
| By: | Salamon, Petra; Weible, Daniela; Buergelt, Doreen; Christoph, Inken B.; Peter, Guenter |
| Abstract: | A German federal research was established to analyse determinants on school milk demand. Among those, individual factors, like children’s eating habits, attitudes, preferences and socio-economic variables were considered but also contextual factors like attitudes and habits of class teachers and school variables were regarded; and more, price effects on demand were derived via a price experiment. As girls order significantly less school milk than boys this paper aims to analysis gender-specific decisions. In the analysis, a database is used in which individual order information are merged with survey results concerning pupils, parents, class teachers, school principals and school milk managers of the sampled schools. A multilevel analysis is applied, because included explanatory variables of gender-specific school milk orders can be assigned to different groups (individual, class, school, price phase) in which the independence of variable distributions may be hampered; whereas equations are established as ordinary logistic function. Estimates for both genders comprise individual factors affecting positively the school milk orders like e.g., the provision of school milk free of charge, or when pupils think that `milk tastes good´ and contextual factors such as their class teachers’ involvement. Gender-specific distinctions cover e.g., the fact that male pupils have a higher probability to order school milk and react to price incentives. Concerning the context variables, boys react to teachers and principal attitudes. In contrast, with girls prices have a very limited impact, but their parents and teachers are regarded as role models. Girls prefer more choices in product differentiation. These results indicate gender-specific programs integrating their family and teachers, and a wider range of product choices. |
| Keywords: | gender differences, multilevel analysis, school milk, Demand and Price Analysis, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaeafe:123532&r=dem |
| By: | Fischer, A.M. |
| Abstract: | In anticipation of the forthcoming release of the 2010 national population census of China, this paper compares the limited population data that have been released so far with annual data on natural population increase since the 2000 census in order to construct a rough but robust measure of net migration for each province in China between these two censuses. The results emphasize the extent of net out-migration from much of interior and western China as well as the degree to which rapid population growth in five coastal growth poles has been due to net in-migration. In total, 15 out of 31 provinces experienced net population outflows between the two censuses according to this measure, versus only six that experienced negative population growth, leaving nine provinces that registered positive population growth at the same time as net out-migration. Three exceptions to the western pattern of net outflows were the Tibet Autonomous Region, Xinjiang and Ningxia, which had the highest average natural population increase rates in China and also continued to experience moderate net in-migration. Overall, the sheer extent and speed of these flows, which have been mostly contained within national borders, sheds light on the enormity of the developmental challenges facing the government in this context, as well as the demographic pressures placed on the coastal growth poles absorbing most of the net flows. Moreover, there appears to be little association between rates of net migration and provincial rates of economic growth or even provincial levels of per capita GDP during this period, except in the broadest interregional sense that the three coastal province-level entities exhibiting the strongest rates of net in-migration – Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin – were by far the most affluent in China. |
| Keywords: | China;population;census;natural population increase;provincial migration |
| Date: | 2012–05–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:euriss:541&r=dem |