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on Demographic Economics |
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Issue of 2012‒10‒06
27 papers chosen by Clarence Nkengne Tsimpo University of Montreal and World Bank Group |
| By: | Newell, Andrew T. (University of Sussex); Gazeley, Ian (University of Sussex) |
| Abstract: | At the beginning of the twentieth century Britain was roughly halfway through a 60-year demographic transition with declining infant mortality and birth rates. Cities exhibited great and strongly correlated diversity in these rates. We demonstrate cross-section correlations with, for instance, women's employment, population density, literacy and improved water supply and sanitation, that have been linked to the transition. When we analyse data from the late 1850s and the early 1900s, the changes in the two rates are not correlated across cities, but we find a robust and large impact from sanitation improvement to long-period infant mortality reduction. We also find the extension of basic literacy is related to increases in female labour market participation, which is in turn related to fertility reduction. Lastly we find that more rapid urban growth accelerates fertility decline, but, in late 19th century Britain it slowed the reduction of infant mortality. |
| Keywords: | fertility, infant mortality, education and sanitary reform, women's participation, education, 19th century and early 20th century Britain |
| JEL: | N33 J13 I15 |
| Date: | 2012–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6855&r=dem |
| By: | Tomas Frejka (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany); Sergei Zakharov |
| Abstract: | The transformation of traditional childbearing patterns of early family formation to later family formation characterized recent fertility trends in Russia. These were intrinsically interwoven with fundamental changes in all aspects of life of young people in the 1990s and the 2000s. The past quarter century was also marked by concern with low fertility and attempts to increase fertility in the early 1980s and the late 2000s. The family policies of the 1980s failed to raise fertility. Preliminary analyses indicate that the fate of the 2007 policies could be similar. In both cases the main emphasis was on material birth and child benefits, parental leaves and child care. Presumably insufficient attention was devoted to improving living conditions of young people and promoting gender equality. Will government efforts to raise fertility during the 2010s be sufficiently effective to offset economic and social forces challenging childbearing? As of 2012 the outlook for a future fertility increase does not appear hopeful. |
| Keywords: | Russian Federation, fertility |
| JEL: | J1 Z0 |
| Date: | 2012–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dem:wpaper:wp-2012-027&r=dem |
| By: | Bijwaard, Govert (NIDI - Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute); van Doeselaar, Stijn (Tilburg University) |
| Abstract: | Many migrants have non-labour motives to migrate and they differ substantially in their migration behaviour. Family migrants main migration motive is to join their future spouse. Thus, when their relation breaks down this influences their return decision. Using administrative panel data on the entire population of recent family immigrants to The Netherlands, we estimate the effect of a divorce on the hazard of leaving The Netherlands using the "timing-of-events" model. The model allows for correlated unobserved heterogeneity across the migration and the divorce processes. The family migrants are divided into three groups based on the Human Development Index (HDI) of their country of birth. We find that divorce has a large impact on the return of family migrants from less developed countries and less on the return of family migrants from developed countries. Young migrants with low income are influenced most by a divorce. We find some evidence of marriage for convenience for migrants from less developed countries. The impacts are quantified by graphing the impact of the timing of divorce on the return probability. |
| Keywords: | temporary migration, timing of events method, marital status dynamics |
| JEL: | J12 F22 C41 |
| Date: | 2012–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6852&r=dem |
| By: | Zimmermann, Laura (University of Michigan) |
| Abstract: | Son preference is widespread in a number of developing countries. Anecdotal evidence suggests that women may contribute to the persistence of this phenomenon because they derive substantial long-run non-monetary benefits from giving birth to a son in the form of an improvement in their intra-household position. This paper tests this hypothesis in the Indian context. The results suggest that for the most part there is little evidence of substantial female benefits, and any positive impacts of having a son disappear after six months. This implies that the female-specific self-interest in a son is probably much lower than commonly assumed. |
| Keywords: | son preference, non-monetary benefits, bargaining power, intra-household allocation, India |
| JEL: | D13 J12 J13 J16 |
| Date: | 2012–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6847&r=dem |
| By: | Del Boca, Daniela (University of Turin); Monfardini, Chiara (University of Bologna); Nicoletti, Cheti (University of York) |
| Abstract: | While a large literature has focused on the impact of parental investments on child cognitive development, very little is known about the role of child's own investments. Information on how children invest their time separately from parents is probably little informative for babies and toddlers, but it becomes more and more important in later stages of life, such as adolescence, when children start to take decisions independently. By using the Child Development Supplement of the PSID (Panel Study of Income Dynamics), we model the production of cognitive ability of adolescents and extend the set of inputs to include the child's own time investments. Looking at investments during adolescence, we find that child's investments matter more than mother's investments. On the contrary, looking at investments during childhood, it is the mother's investments that are more important. Our results are obtained accounting for potential unobserved child's and family's endowments and are robust across several specifications and samples, e.g. considering and not considering father's investments and non-intact families. |
| Keywords: | time-use, cognitive ability, child development, adolescence |
| JEL: | J13 D1 |
| Date: | 2012–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6868&r=dem |
| By: | Miron Tequame (Center for Research in the Economics of Development, University of Namur) |
| Abstract: | The HIV/AIDS epidemic has dramatically altered patterns of morbidity and mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa with potential consequences on fertility and population dynamics. We take advantage of a unique data-set collected in Cameroon among HIV positive patients and estimate the relationship between HAART treatment and (intended) pregnancy. HAART raises life expectancy, improves health outcomes and lowers the risk of transmission. These direct health benefits imply rational and behavioral responses in pregnancy as it allows individuals to accomplish their desired number of children. I con- duct a multivariate regression based on Before-After analysis to evaluate the effect of the 2007 policy of scaling-up HAART treatment in Cameroon on intended pregnancy. With respect to women not yet on treatment, HAART increased the propensity to pregnancy after one year with the coefficient increasing over time after 2007, when treatment was rendered free of charge. The results also show that pregnancy response is highest among people who have lower number of children pre-treatment and with CD4 counts above the average at treatment initiation. This means early treatment initiation, which results in better health outcomes, enhances pregnancy with respect to women who were too sick at treatment initiation. I discuss and test the different mechanisms that driving the behavioral response in YaoundŽ-Cameroon and exclude those that are less evident from the data. |
| Keywords: | HIV/AIDS, fertility, risky behavior |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nam:wpaper:1205&r=dem |
| By: | Bharadwaj, Prashant (University of California, San Diego); Loken, Katrine Vellesen (University of Bergen); Neilson, Christopher (Yale University) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the effect of improved neonatal health care on mortality and long run academic achievement in school. We use the idea that medical treatments often follow rules of thumb for assigning care to patients, such as the classification of Very Low Birth Weight (VLBW), which assigns infants special care at a specific birth weight cutoff. Using detailed administrative data on schooling and birth records from Chile and Norway, we establish that children who receive extra medical care at birth have lower mortality rates and higher test scores and grades in school. These gains are in the order of 0.15-0.22 standard deviations. |
| Keywords: | child development, neonatal care, regression discontinuity |
| JEL: | I38 J13 J24 |
| Date: | 2012–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6864&r=dem |
| By: | Bharadwaj, Prashant (Economics, UC San Diego); Løken, Katrine V. (Department of Economics, University of Bergen); Neilson, Christopher (Department of Economics, Yale University) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the effect of improved neonatal health care on mortality and long run academic achievement in school. We use the idea that medical treatments often follow rules of thumb for assigning care to patients, such as the classification of Very Low Birth Weight (VLBW), which assigns infants special care at a specific birth weight cutoff. Using detailed administrative data on schooling and birth records from Chile and Norway, we establish that children who receive extra medical care at birth have lower mortality rates and higher test scores and grades in school. These gains are in the order of 0.15-0.22 standard deviations. |
| Keywords: | Very low birth weight; academic achievement; regression discontinuity |
| JEL: | I11 I38 J13 |
| Date: | 2012–07–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:bergec:2012_013&r=dem |
| By: | Anna Aizer; Flávio Cunha |
| Abstract: | We study how endowments, investments and fertility interact to produce human capital in childhood. We begin by providing empirical support for two key features of existing models of human capital: that investments and existing human capital are complements in the production of later human capital (dynamic complementarity) and that parents invest more in children with higher endowments due to the complementarity between endowments and investments (static complementarity). For the former, we exploit an exogenous source of investment, the launch of Head Start in 1966, and estimate greater gains from preschool in the IQ of those with the highest stocks of early human capital, consistent with dynamic complementarity. For the latter, we are able to overcome the potential endogeneity and measurement error associated with traditional measures of endowment based on health at birth. When we do, we find that parents invest more in highly endowed children. Moreover, we find that the degree of reinforcement increases with family size. Thus, an increase in quantity leads not only to a decline in average quality (the quantity-quality tradeoff) but to an increase in the variation in quality, due to both greater variation in endowments (from more children) and greater reinforcing investments. These findings can be explained by extending the quantity-quality trade-off model to include heterogeneous child endowments and parental preferences that feature complementarity between quality and quantity and moderate aversion to inequality in child human capital within the household. |
| JEL: | I24 J13 J24 |
| Date: | 2012–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:18429&r=dem |
| By: | Ellen R. McGrattan; Edward C. Prescott |
| Keywords: | Debt - United States ; Taxation |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedmsr:473&r=dem |
| By: | Ghazala Azmat; Rosa Ferrer |
| Abstract: | Ghazala Azmat and Rosa Ferrer analyse data on young lawyers to understand what drives differences in earnings between highly skilled men and women. |
| Keywords: | performance measures, gender gaps, lawyers |
| JEL: | M52 J16 K40 J44 |
| Date: | 2012–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepcnp:379&r=dem |
| By: | Rieck, Karsten Marshall Elseth (Department of Economics, University of Bergen) |
| Abstract: | In several European countries, a paternity quota has been introduced as part of paid parental leave to provide incentives for fathers to increase their child care responsibilities and household involvement.In this paper, we explore the introduction of the first paternity quota in Norway in 1993. Through a regression discontinuity (RD) framework, we examine the sickness absence of parents who had children just before and after the reform—due to the parents’ own illness and to care for close family members. Our findings suggest that the amount of sick leave taken by fathers has increased in the short and long term and that the amount of sick leave taken by mothers has decreased, although the estimates are not statistically significant. The results are supported by standard RD and robustness tests. We also address the relevance of a composition bias resulting from the unobservable latent sick leave of non-employed individuals. This sensitivity check shows that their latent absence may affect the estimated treatment effect. |
| Keywords: | sickness absence; paternity leave; child care |
| JEL: | I38 J13 J22 |
| Date: | 2012–06–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:bergec:2012_014&r=dem |
| By: | Emran, M. Shahe (George Washington University); Maret-Rakotondrazaka, Fenohasina (George Washington University); Smith, Stephen C. (George Washington University) |
| Abstract: | Using household data from Vietnam, we provide evidence on the effects of education on freedom of spouse choice. We use war disruptions and spatial indicators of schooling supply as instruments. The point estimates indicate that a year of additional schooling reduces the probability of an arranged marriage by about 14 percentage points for an individual with eight years of schooling. We also estimate bounds on the effect of education on arranged marriage when exclusion restrictions are violated locally (the lower bound is six to seven percentage points). The impact of education is strong for women, but significantly weaker for men. |
| Keywords: | arranged marriage, education, schooling, freedom of choice, development, Vietnam, Red River delta, labour markets, social interactions |
| JEL: | I2 O12 D1 J12 |
| Date: | 2012–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6862&r=dem |
| By: | Daniel Neff (GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies); Kunal Sen (GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies); Veronika Kling (GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies) |
| Abstract: | Between 2004/2005 and 2009/2010 there was a sharp fall in female labor force participation (LFP) in rural India. Why did this occur? We look at the four standard explanations: that more women in rural areas are now pursuing higher education and are therefore not available for work (education effect), that household incomes are rising quickly enough that there is a tendency for women to withdraw from the labor force to attend to domestic duties (income effect), that employment opportunities for women are decreasing, and that social and cultural factors may be interacting with these three factors and amplifying their effects. Our findings suggest that the decline in rural women’s LFP could potentially be due to an income effect and partly due to an education effect. We find no evidence of changes in employment opportunities or of social and cultural interaction effects that could explain the decline in rural female LFP. |
| Keywords: | labor force, women, rural, India |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gig:wpaper:196&r=dem |
| By: | Epstein, Gil S. (Bar-Ilan University) |
| Abstract: | A model is set up where migrants must choose a level of social traits and consumption of ethnic goods. As the consumption level of ethnic goods increases, the migrants become ever more different to the local population and are less assimilated. Less assimilation affects the reaction of the local population to the migrants and their willingness to accept the newcomers. This social phenomenon and affects wages and unemployment. We show that the growth in the unemployment and social benefits of legal migrants increases the consumption of ethnic goods, thus creating a trap wherein the willingness of the local population to accept the migrants into the economy decreases. This process also increases the probability of the migrants' dependence on the welfare state. On the other hand, illegal migrants could play an important role in the assimilation of the legal migrants. |
| Keywords: | welfare state, social benefits, ethnic goods, social trait, assimilation, unemployment |
| JEL: | F22 O15 D6 |
| Date: | 2012–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6850&r=dem |
| By: | C. MARBOT (Insee); D. ROY (Insee) |
| Abstract: | Confronted with an ageing population, developed countries are facing the challenge of providing care to a growing number of disabled elderly people. Knowing how many they will be and, given the current pensions and welfare systems, how much it will cost to care for them is crucial to policymakers. The INSEE pensions microsimulation tool (called Destinie) was extended in 2011 to elderly disability, in preparation for a reform of the funding of elderly disability in France. Microsimulation at the individual level allows to take into account expected changes in the distribution of variables that influence the process under study. It also allows to simulate allowances based on complex, non-linear scales that require calculation at the individual level. This document describes the implementation method and the results of the forecasts. First, on the characteristics of the disabled elderly and presence of caregivers. Then, several alternative scenarios are studied and yield a range of estimates of the future cost of the allowance for elderly disability, ranging from 0.54% of GDP in the most optimistic scenario to 0.71% of GDP in the most pessimistic one. |
| Keywords: | Microsimulation, forecasts, elderly disability, APA |
| JEL: | I18 H51 J14 C53 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crs:wpdeee:g2012-10&r=dem |
| By: | Andreas Knabe (Faculty of Economics and Management, Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg); Ronnie Schöb (School of Business and Economics, Freie Universität Berlin); Joachim Weimann (Faculty of Management, Economics and Social Sciences, University of Cologne) |
| Abstract: | We use the differences between life satisfaction and emotional well-being of employed and unemployed persons to analyze how a person's employment status affects cognitive well-being. Our results show that unemployment has a negative impact on cognitive, but not on affective well-being, which we interpret as a loss in identity utility. Living in a partnership strengthens the loss in identity utility of men, but weakens that of women. Unemployment of a person's partner reduces the identity loss of unemployed men, but raises it for women. These results suggest that the unemployed's feeling of identity is affected by traditional gender roles, while this does not seem to be the case for the affective part of their subjective well-being. |
| Keywords: | unemployment, happiness, life satisfaction, Day Reconstruction Method, identity, partnership, gender roles |
| JEL: | I31 J60 J22 |
| Date: | 2012–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mag:wpaper:120019&r=dem |
| By: | Anna Aizer; Laura Stroud; Stephen Buka |
| Abstract: | We study how maternal stress affects offspring outcomes. We find that in-utero exposure to elevated levels of the stress hormone cortisol negatively affects offspring cognition, health and educational attainment. These findings are based on comparisons between siblings which limits variation to short-lived shocks and controls for unobserved differences between mothers that could bias estimates. Our results are consistent with recent experimental results in the neurobiological literature linking exogenous exposure to stress hormones in-utero with declines in offspring cognitive, behavioral and motor development. Moreover, we find that not only are mothers with low levels of human capital characterized by higher and more variable cortisol levels, but that the negative impact of elevated cortisol is greater for them. These results suggest that prenatal stress may play a role in the intergenerational persistence of poverty. |
| JEL: | I12 I14 I24 J24 |
| Date: | 2012–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:18422&r=dem |
| By: | Erdogan, Zeynep (Tilburg University); Jacobsen, Joyce P. (Wesleyan University); Kooreman, Peter (Tilburg University) |
| Abstract: | We examine the work experiences during middle school and high school of U.S. females and males and find that most of the child-oriented work such as babysitting and camp counseling is done by females. If the type of work undertaken while young affects either development of specific human capital or preferences, then these early work experiences may have measurable effects on later life outcomes. This paper examines whether or not having a job as a teenager, and whether or not it is a child-oriented job, causes differences in labor market behavior among young adults. In addition to a set of standard controls, in order to account for the endogeneity of students’ work decisions, we utilize a set of state-level instruments, including state-level child-labor laws and indicators of relative demand for, and supply of, child-oriented workers. While the effects we find are complex and sometimes hard to interpret, they suggest that work in 10th grade has a positive causal effect on later labor market outcomes and delays family formation, but to a lesser extent when jobs were child-oriented. |
| Keywords: | human capital, gender, jobs while in school, labor market, family formation |
| JEL: | J13 J24 |
| Date: | 2012–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6856&r=dem |
| By: | Donald Freeman (Department of Economics and International Business, Sam Houston State University) |
| Abstract: | The income-health gradient is a well-established finding in public health. This paper explores the gradient between income and different types of mortality: mortality that can be ameliorated via specific public policy measures, namely traffic fatalities, and mortality that is due to more “natural” causes, such as infectious disease. Using U.S. state-level data, growth in traffic mortality for 15-19 year-olds is shown to be more sensitive to initial levels of median income than growth in non-injury mortality. In addition, some but not all traffic safety legislation aimed at this age group is shown to be associated with lower mortality. Results are established via cross-section estimates, panel-data type models, and tests of one-step-ahead prediction |
| Date: | 2012–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:shs:wpaper:1201&r=dem |
| By: | Fenske, James |
| Abstract: | Motivated by a simple model, I use DHS data to test nine hypotheses about the prevalence and decline of African polygamy. First, greater female involvement in agriculture does not increase polygamy. Second, past inequality better predicts polygamy today than does current inequality. Third, the slave trade only predicts polygamy across broad regions. Fourth, modern female education does not reduce polygamy. Colonial schooling does. Fifth, economic growth has eroded polygamy. Sixth and seventh, rainfall shocks and war increase polygamy, though their effects are small. Eighth, polygamy varies smoothly over borders, national bans notwithstanding. Finally, falling child mortality has reduced polygamy. |
| Keywords: | Africa; polygamy; ethnic institutions |
| JEL: | N57 O10 |
| Date: | 2012–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:41618&r=dem |
| By: | Philippe Belley (Department of Economics, Kansas State University); Nathalie Havet (Université de Lyon, Lyon, F-69007, France ; CNRS, GATE Lyon St Etienne,F-69130 Ecully, France); Guy Lacroix (Department of Economics, Kansas State University) |
| Abstract: | The paper focuses on the early career patterns of young male and female workers. It investigates potential dynamic links between statistical discrimination, mobility, tenure and wage profiles. The model assumes that it is more costly for an employer to assess female workers’ productivity and that the noise/signal ratio tapers off more rapidly for male workers. These two assumptions yield numerous theoretical predictions pertaining to gender wage gaps. These predictions are tested using data from the 1979 cohort of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. As predicted by our statistical discrimination model, we find that men and women have the same wage at the start of their career, but that female wages grow at a slower rate, creating a gender wage gap. Also consistent with our model, we find that mean wages are higher for workers who keep their job, while wage growth is stronger for workers who change job. |
| Keywords: | Gender wage gap, job transitions, tenure, returns to mobility, experience |
| JEL: | J16 J71 J41 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gat:wpaper:1229&r=dem |
| By: | Conley, John P. (Vanderbilt University); Önder, Ali Sina (Department of Economics); Torgler, Benno (Queensland University of Technology and EBS Business School) |
| Abstract: | Using life cycle publication data of 9,368 economics PhD graduates from 127 U.S. institutions, we investigate how unemployment in the U.S. economy prior to starting graduate studies and at the time of entry into the academic job market affect economics PhD graduates’ research productivity. We analyze the period between 1987 and 1996 and find that favorable conditions at the time of academic job search have a positive effect on research productivity (measured in numbers of publications) for both male and female graduates. On the other hand, unfavorable employment conditions at the time of entry into graduate school affects female research productivity negatively, but male productivity positively. These findings are consistent with the notion that men and women differ in their perception of risk in high skill occupations. In the specific context of research-active occupations that require high skill and costly investment in human capital, an ex post poor return on undergraduate educational investment may cause women to opt for less risky and secure occupations while men seem more likely to “double down” on their investment in human capital. Further investigation, however, shows that additional factors may also be at work. |
| Keywords: | Research Productivity; Human Capital; Graduate Education; Gender Differences |
| JEL: | J16 J24 |
| Date: | 2012–09–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:uunewp:2012_013&r=dem |
| By: | Sato, Hiroshi; Ding, Sai |
| Abstract: | Using a 2006 household survey from the Ningxia Hui autonomous region in China, this paper examines two aspects of the correlation between ethnicity and income: namely, differences in the returns to human capital and the effects of ethnicity- and religion-related social capital. The findings indicate ethnic disparity in the returns to human capital across rural and urban areas. In rural areas, the returns to human capital for the Hui workforce differ according to the place of economic activity (i.e. local employment or migration), whereas no ethnic disparity is found for the urban workforce. We also find that ethnicity- and religion-related social capital plays a significant role among the Hui in rural areas where the level of interethnic social interactions is lower. We use this to suggest that Muslim-oriented attitudes toward trust in social networks of rural Hui households positively and interactively affect income through ethnically open trust attitudes. |
| Keywords: | ethnic minorities, Hui, household and personal income, China |
| JEL: | J15 D31 |
| Date: | 2012–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hit:ccesdp:46&r=dem |
| By: | Haroon Bhorat; Sumayya Goga (Development Policy Research Unit; Director and Professor) |
| Abstract: | We estimate the gender wage gap for Africans in post-apartheid South Africa over the 2001 to 2007 period. Separate male and female earnings equations yields no significant decline in the conditional wage gap, regardless of whether we correct for selection into the labour force and employment or not. Notwithstanding this, the data appear to reveal a decline in the “explained” proportion of the gap with no significant change in the “unexplained” proportion of the gap. Nevertheless, the “unexplained” proportion or discrimination accounted for 71 percent of the gap in 2007 when using the uncorrected estimates (and the male wage structure as the non-discriminatory norm) thus highlighting the presence, arguably, of substantial discrimination against African women in the post-apartheid South African labour market. We note though that the assumption that the “unexplained” component accounts for discrimination has been criticized for a number of reasons, including the fact that women may self-select into certain types of jobs, the impact of gender-based pre-labour market factors as well as omitted variable bias. Finally, we find that using the either the male or pooled wage structure as the non-discriminatory wage structure provides similar results when undertaking the decomposition. In turn, using the female wage structure results in the harshest results as far as gender discrimination is concerned. Acknowledgements: The authors would like to thank Dorrit Posel for comments on earlier versions of this study. |
| Keywords: | Gender; Wage Gap; Discrimination; South Africa; Earnings |
| JEL: | J16 J31 |
| Date: | 2012–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ctw:wpaper:12148&r=dem |
| By: | Addison, John T. (University of South Carolina); Ozturk, Orgul Demet (University of South Carolina); Wang, Si (University of South Carolina) |
| Abstract: | This paper considers the role of gender in the promotion process and the impact of promotion on wages and wage growth, using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY79). Its focus is upon mid-career promotion and wages, thereby complementing extant studies of the NLSY that relate to differences between men and women at an earlier stage in their careers. The paper is further differentiated from these studies and the wider promotions literature in paying especial attention to the role of unionism and the public sector. It is reported that mid-career females are more likely than males to be promoted in the private sector (and no less likely in the public sector); that wages are increasing in promotion, and the effect is generally higher for females; and that female wage growth from contemporaneous promotion is almost as high as that for males the private sector and much higher in the public sector. These rather positive results for females represent in most cases an improvement over the early-career findings but in mid-career the mediating influence of unionism is more negative, and not just for females. |
| Keywords: | mid-career, early career, promotion, wages, wage growth, gender, unionism, public sector |
| JEL: | J16 J31 J51 J62 |
| Date: | 2012–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6873&r=dem |
| By: | Monica Bozzano |
| Abstract: | This paper aims at exploring and evaluating the geographic distribution of gender inequality across Italian regions. The aim of the analysis is two-fold. First we build a composite indicator of gender inequality at the regional level for Italy by applying the methodology developed by the World Economic Forum for the Global Gender Gap Index. Second, we compute the Italian Gender Gap Index for each region in order to measure the within-country heterogeneity that characterizes Italy. We complete the analysis by presenting the correlation between the Italian Gender Gap Index and relevant socio-economic variables. |
| Keywords: | Italian Gender Gap Index, Italian regions, socio-economic gender inequality |
| JEL: | J16 J21 O15 R1 |
| Date: | 2012–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mod:recent:085&r=dem |