|
on Demographic Economics |
|
Issue of 2012‒12‒06
thirty-two papers chosen by Clarence Nkengne Tsimpo University of Montreal and World Bank Group |
| By: | Sinclair, Sarah; Boymal, Jonathan; de Silva, Ashton J |
| Abstract: | The Australian baby bonus, offering parents $3,000 on the birth of a child, was announced on May 11 2004. The focus of this paper is to analyse the response to the policy across maternal age levels in order to separate policy effects from prevailing demographic trends such as recuperation of previously postponed births. Using multivariate time series analysis, we find that all age groups except teenagers show a positive fertility response to the policy. The results suggest that the policy may have elicited fertility behaviour change, evidenced by a higher cumulative growth in fertility of maternal age groups 20-24 and 24-30 which is sustained past 2008 even as a growth in birth ratios of older age groups was stabilising. A short term birth timing effect was also estimated to further explore the extent to which incentives matter for decisions around family formation. |
| Keywords: | Baby bonus; fertility; family policy; postponement; recuperation; age specific fertility; STAMP |
| JEL: | J13 J18 J11 |
| Date: | 2012–11–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:42725&r=dem |
| By: | Angelov, Nikolay (Uppsala Center for Labor Studies); Karimi, Arizo (Uppsala Center for Labor Studies) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the time profile of the effect of fertility on female labour earnings with respect to time since birth. To address endogeneity of fertility to labour income, we use the same-sex instrument (Angrist and Evans, 1998) in a novel way on a panel data set to uncover the time profile of the fertility effect. Our OLS estimates suggest that the largest impact takes place during the child’s first years of life, and then gradually diminishes over the lifecycle, with full recovery of income 15 years after birth. Our IV estimates support this finding, but suggest a faster recovery of earnings, although the estimates are now less precise. We are also able to reproduce this finding with a one-period cross-section and disaggregating the sample by years since third birth to estimate the time profile. |
| Keywords: | Fertility; female labour supply; same-sex siblings; instrumental variables |
| JEL: | J13 J22 |
| Date: | 2012–11–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:uulswp:2012_019&r=dem |
| By: | Navarro Paniagua, Maria (Lancaster University); Walker, Ian (Lancaster University) |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates the causal effect of being born to a teenage mother on children's outcomes, exploiting compulsory schooling changes as the source of exogenous variation. We impose external estimates of the direct effect of maternal education on child outcomes within a plausible exogeneity framework to isolate the transmission from teen motherhood per se. Our findings suggest that the child's probability of post compulsory education decreases when born to a teenage mother, and that the daughters of teenage mothers are significantly more likely to become teenage mothers themselves. |
| Keywords: | teenage motherhood, education, fertility, children, instrumental variables, compulsory schooling laws |
| JEL: | I2 J13 J62 |
| Date: | 2012–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6995&r=dem |
| By: | Z. Eylem Gevrek (Department of Economics, University of Konstanz, Germany); Deniz Gevrek (Texas A&M University, Corpus Christi, Texas); Sonam Gupta (Food and Resource Economics Department, University of Florida, Gainesville, USA) |
| Abstract: | We examine the impact of culture on the work behavior of second-generation immigrant women in Canada. We contribute to the current literature by analyzing the role of intermarriage in intergenerational transmission of culture and its subsequent effect on labor market outcomes. Using relative female labor force participation and total fertility rates in the country of ancestry as cultural proxies, we find that culture matters for the female labor supply. Cultural proxies are significant in explaining number of hours worked by second-generation women with immigrant parents. Our results provide evidence that the impact of cultural proxies is significantly larger for women with immigrant parents who share same ethnic background than for those with intermarried parents. The fact that the effect of culture is weaker for women who were raised in intermarried families stresses the importance of intermarriage in assimilation process. Our findings imply that government policies targeting labor supply of women may have differential effect on labor market behavior of immigrant women of different ancestries. |
| Keywords: | culture, immigrant women, intermarriage, labor supply, immigrant assimilation |
| JEL: | J12 J15 J22 J61 |
| Date: | 2012–11–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:knz:dpteco:1228&r=dem |
| By: | Jeremy Greenwood (Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania, USA); Nezih Guner (Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona and Barcelona GSE, Spain); Georgi Kocharkov (Department of Economics, University of Konstanz, Germany); Cezar Santos (Department of Economics, University of Mannheim, Germany) |
| Abstract: | Marriage has declined since 1960, with the drop being bigger for non-college educated individuals versus college educated ones. Divorce has increased, more so for the non-college educated vis-à-vis the college educated. Additionally, assortative mating has risen; i.e., people are more likely to marry someone of the same educational level today than in the past. A unified model of marriage, divorce, educational attainment and married female labor force participation is developed and estimated to fit the postwar U.S. data. The role of technological progress in the household sector and shifts in the wage structure for explaining these facts is gauged. |
| Keywords: | Assortative mating, education, married female labor supply, household production, marriage and divorce, minimum distance estimation |
| JEL: | E24 D31 J13 J17 J62 |
| Date: | 2012–06–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:knz:dpteco:1221&r=dem |
| By: | Georgi Kocharkov (Department of Economics, University of Konstanz, Germany) |
| Abstract: | In the last three decades over a million abortions were performed annually in the United States. Recent empirical studies assess the impact of legalization of abortions on living conditions of children and argue that legalization of abortions provides better living conditions and human capital endowments to surviving children. This paper takes seriously the hypothesis that legalized abortion can improve the living conditions of children and hence alter their future labor market outcomes. The main question of the paper is what are the implications of abortions for long-term income inequality. A model of marriage, fertility, human capital transmission, contraception and abortion decisions is built to answer this question quantitatively. Inequality will be higher in a world without abortions. The main reason for this is the higher and more unequally distributed number of children across households. Children also receive less human capital. |
| Keywords: | Fertility, Abortions, Contraception, Income Inequality, Family Formation, Intergenerational Mobility |
| JEL: | E24 D31 J13 J17 J62 |
| Date: | 2012–10–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:knz:dpteco:1222&r=dem |
| By: | Apps, Patricia (University of Sydney); Kabatek, Jan (Tilburg University); Rees, Ray (University of Munich); van Soest, Arthur (Tilburg University) |
| Abstract: | This paper introduces a static structural model of hours of market labor supply, time spent on child care and other domestic work, and bought in child care for married or cohabiting mothers with pre-school age children. The father's behavior is taken as given. The main goal is to analyze the sensitivity of hours of market work, parental child care, other household production and formal child care to the wage rate, the price of child care, taxes, benefits and child care subsidies. To account for the non-convex nature of the budget sets and, possibly, the household technology, a discrete choice model is used. The model is estimated using the HILDA dataset, a rich household survey of the Australian population, which contains detailed information on time use, child care demands and the corresponding prices. Simulations based on the estimates show that the time allocations of women with pre-school children are highly sensitive to changes in wages and the costs of child care. A policy simulation suggests that labor force participation and hours of market work would increase substantially in a fiscal system based solely on individual rather than joint taxation. |
| Keywords: | time use, income tax, child care subsidies |
| JEL: | J22 J13 H24 |
| Date: | 2012–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7007&r=dem |
| By: | Beath, Andrew; Christia, Fotini; Enikolopov, Ruben |
| Abstract: | In societies with widespread gender discrimination, development programs that encourage female participation in local governance can potentially redress gender imbalances in economic, political, and social outcomes. Using a randomized field experiment encompassing 500 Afghan villages, this study finds that a development program which incorporates mandated female participation increases female mobility and involvement in income generation, but does not change female roles in family decision-making or attitudes toward the general role of women in society. |
| Keywords: | Gender and Law,Gender and Health,Housing&Human Habitats,Anthropology,Gender and Development |
| Date: | 2012–11–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6269&r=dem |
| By: | Luca Paolo Merlino; Pierpaolo Parrotta; Dario Pozzoli |
| Keywords: | assortative matching; gender gap; glass ceiling; sticky floor |
| JEL: | J16 J24 J62 |
| Date: | 2012–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eca:wpaper:2013/132162&r=dem |
| By: | Booth, Alison L. (Australian National University); Katic, Pamela (Australian National University) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we utilise data from a unique new birth‐cohort study to see how the risk preferences of young people are affected by cognitive skills and gender. We find that cognitive ability (measured by the percentile ranking for university entrance at age 18) has no effect on risk preferences measured at age 20. This is in contrast to experimental studies that use IQ measures to proxy cognitive skills. However we do find that gender matters. While young women are significantly more likely than young men to assess themselves as being prepared to take risks, women choose to invest significantly less when they are confronted with a clearly specified investment decision based on hypothetical lottery winnings. This difference between the impact of gender on risk attitudes and the hypothetical lottery investment suggests that impatience and framing affect young women and men differently. |
| Keywords: | cognitive ability, risk preferences, risk attitudes, gender |
| JEL: | D01 D80 J16 J24 |
| Date: | 2012–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6997&r=dem |
| By: | Frieder R. Lang; David Weiss; Denis Gerstorf; Gert G. Wagner |
| Abstract: | Anticipating one’s future self is a unique human capacity that contributes importantly to adaptation and health throughout adulthood and old age. Using the adult lifespan sample of the national German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP; N > 10,000, age range 18-96 years), we investigated age-differential stability, correlates, and outcomes of accuracy in anticipation of future life satisfaction across six subsequent 5-year time intervals. As expected, we observed few age differences in current life satisfaction, but stronger age differences in future expectations: Younger adults anticipated improved future life satisfaction, overestimating their actual life satisfaction 5 years later. By contrast, older adults were more pessimistic about the future, generally underestimating their actual life satisfaction after 5 years. Such age differences persisted above and beyond the effects of self-rated health and income. Survival analyses revealed that in later adulthood, underestimating one’s life satisfaction 5 years later was related to lower hazard ratios for disability (n = 735 became disabled) and mortality (n = 879 died) across 10 or more years, even after controlling for age, sex, education, income, and self-rated health. Findings suggest that older adults are more likely to underestimate their life satisfaction in the future, and that such underestimation was associated with positive health outcomes. |
| Keywords: | Subjective well-being, future anticipation, optimism, aging, health, mortality, disability, SOEP |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp502&r=dem |
| By: | Bhalotra, Sonia; Umana-Aponte, Marcela |
| Keywords: | insurance, women.s labour supply, added worker effect, business cycles, Africa |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp2012-66&r=dem |
| By: | Kudamatsu, Masayuki; Persson, Torsten; Strömberg, David |
| Abstract: | We estimate how random weather fluctuations affected infant mortality across 28 African countries in the past, combining high-resolution data from retrospective fertility surveys (DHS) and climate-model reanalysis (ERA-40). We find that infants were much more likely to die when exposed in utero to much longer malaria spells than normal in epidemic malaria regions, and to droughts in arid areas, especially when born in the hungry season. Based on these estimates, we predict aggregate infant deaths in Africa, due to extreme weather events and to maternal malaria in epidemic areas for 1981-2000 and 2081-2100. |
| Keywords: | climate change; maternal malaria; maternal malnutrition; natural experiments |
| JEL: | I15 O13 O15 O55 Q54 |
| Date: | 2012–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:9222&r=dem |
| By: | Machado, Cecilia (Fundação Getúlio Vargas) |
| Abstract: | Selection correction methods usually make assumptions about selection itself. In the case of gender wage gap estimation, those assumptions are specially tenuous because of high female non-participation and because selection could be different in different parts of the labor market. This paper proposes an estimator for the wage gap that allows for arbitrary heterogeneity in selection. It applies to the subpopulation of "always employed" women, which is similar to men in labor force attachment. Using CPS data from 1976 to 2005, I show that the gap has narrowed substantially from a -.521 to a -.263 log wage points differential for this population. |
| Keywords: | selection, gender wage gap |
| JEL: | J31 J16 J24 |
| Date: | 2012–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7005&r=dem |
| By: | Aoki, Reiko |
| Date: | 2012–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hit:cisdps:576&r=dem |
| By: | Giovanna d’Adda (University of Birmingham, Department of Economics); Ian Levely (Institute of Economic Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we examine the effects that variations in the quality of the environment at birth have on children’s other-regarding preferences, as measured through four binary-choice dictator games run with school-age children in rural Sierra Leone. We examine the effect of exogenous variations in rainfall level by location and year on children’s social preferences. We also study how age at which children had access to improved water sources, such as protected wells, correlates with preferences. Children born within a healthier environment are more generous, when generosity comes at no personal cost, more likely to choose socially efficient allocations and less averse to advantageous inequality. The correlation between rainfall shocks at birth and children’s height-for-age suggest that environmental quality affects preferences through its impact on health. We find that proxies for early childhood health affect experimental outcomes in a similar way as age, which helps to explain the process by which individuals develop social preferences. No significant relationship is found in our data between environmental quality and educational outcomes, such as school attendance and grades. |
| Keywords: | Field experiments, Health and Economic Development, Altruism, Inequality Aversion |
| JEL: | C93 I15 D64 |
| Date: | 2012–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fau:wpaper:wp2012_26&r=dem |
| By: | Noémi Berlin (Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne); Marie-Pierre Dargnies (Université Paris Dauphine - DRM Finance) |
| Abstract: | Men are known to have a higher taste for competition than women. This paper presents an experiment that analyses the different determinants of the choice to enter a competition : beliefs and the competition level. As far as entry in the competition is concerned, low-performing subjects adapt their decision entry to the level of the competition, whereas high-performers do no. However, the behaviors leading to these results are quite different for men and women : women mainly react to the information on their own performance while men seem to respond more to their beliefs concerning the level of the competition they will be evolving in. Finally, both men and women deviate from their bayesian beliefs and become too pessimistic (optimistic) after a negative (positive) feedback. |
| Keywords: | Experimental economics, beliefs, performance feedback, gender, competition. |
| JEL: | C91 D83 J16 |
| Date: | 2012–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mse:cesdoc:12075&r=dem |
| By: | Elena Stancanelli (Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne, OFCE SciencesPo and IZA) |
| Abstract: | Earlier studies conclude that spouses time their retirement closely together. Here, we exploit early retirement age legislation to identify the effect of own and spousal retirement on spouses' hours of work. The sample for the analysis includes over 85000 French couples. We conclude that hours of work fall significantly upon own and partner's retirement, for both spouses. The own effect is dramatically large and equal to a drop in hours worked of 65 to 77 per cent while the cross effects are small, suggesting an average reduction of one or two hours per week upon spousal retirement. |
| Keywords: | Ageing, retirement, regression discontinuity, policy evaluation. |
| JEL: | J14 C1 C36 D04 |
| Date: | 2012–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mse:cesdoc:12074&r=dem |
| By: | Noémi Berlin (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Paris I - Panthéon Sorbonne); Marie-Pierre Dargnies (DRM - Dauphine Recherches en Management - CNRS : UMR7088 - Université Paris IX - Paris Dauphine) |
| Abstract: | Men are known to have a higher taste for competition than women. This paper presents an experiment that analyses the different determinants of the choice to enter a competition : beliefs and the competition level. As far as entry in the competition is concerned, low-performing subjects adapt their decision entry to the level of the competition, whereas high-performers do no. However, the behaviors leading to these results are quite different for men and women : women mainly react to the information on their own performance while men seem to respond more to their beliefs concerning the level of the competition they will be evolving in. Finally, both men and women deviate from their bayesian beliefs and become too pessimistic (optimistic) after a negative (positive) feedback. |
| Keywords: | Experimental economics, beliefs, performance feedback, gender, competition. |
| Date: | 2012–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:cesptp:halshs-00755660&r=dem |
| By: | Binagwaho, Agnes; Hartwig, Renate; Ingeri, Denyse; Makaka, Andrew |
| Abstract: | Rwanda is among the few countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and the developing approaching universal health insurance coverage. To date, over 90 per cent of the population are enrolled in the Mutuelles de Santé - a system that started off from a number of stand-alone community based health insurance schemes and gradually evolved into a unified social health insurance plan. The country has also made remarkable progress in ameliorating child health, particularly since 2005, which coincides with the year when the Mutuelles de Santé was standardised and raises the question to what extent the insurance scheme did contribute to the observed improvements. In order to address this issue we conduct a quantitative impact evaluation using nationally representative micro-data from the 2005 and 2010 Rwandan Demographic and Health Surveys (RDHSs) and also consider potential channels from which improvements could originate. Our results suggest the following: The Mutuelles de Santé improves access to preventative and curative health services. Insured households are more sensitive to health issues, in the sense that they are more inclined to use bed nets and ensure safe drinking water. Despite a weak effect on health outcomes overall, the insurance scheme seems to have contributed to improvements in stunting and mortality, at the critical ages (before the age of two). -- |
| Keywords: | Health Insurance,Child Health,Mutuelles de Santé,Rwanda |
| JEL: | I11 I38 J13 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:upadvr:v6612&r=dem |
| By: | Elena Stancanelli (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Paris I - Panthéon Sorbonne, OFCE - Centre de recherche en économie de Sciences Po - Sciences Po, IZA - Institute for the Study of Labor) |
| Abstract: | Earlier studies conclude that spouses time their retirement closely together. Here, we exploit early retirement age legislation to identify the effect of own and spousal retirement on spouses' hours of work. The sample for the analysis includes over 85000 French couples. We conclude that hours of work fall significantly upon own and partner's retirement, for both spouses. The own effect is dramatically large and equal to a drop in hours worked of 65 to 77 per cent while the cross effects are small, suggesting an average reduction of one or two hours per week upon spousal retirement. |
| Keywords: | Ageing; retirement; regression discontinuity; policy evaluation |
| Date: | 2012–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:cesptp:halshs-00755648&r=dem |
| By: | Kahlenberg, Christoph (Randstad); Spermann, Alexander (University of Freiburg) |
| Abstract: | Demographic change is perceived as a threat for wealth rather than a challenge in Germany. The debate on skilled labor shortage is a proof for this view. The paper surveys the most important German studies on skilled labor shortage. Meanwhile, a consensus on solutions has emerged in academia. Increasing the participation rates of elderly, women and facilitating qualified immigration as well as improving productivity are the mainstream recommendations. The paper provides descriptive statistical evidence that temporary agency work could contribute to solve the skilled labor shortage problem via these four channels. However, it is far from clear that productivity increases are the most important and most sustainable way out of the demographic trap. Against this background the government's demographic strategy is assessed. It turns out that the government has not a coherent strategy yet to solve the demographic issues ahead. |
| Keywords: | demography in Germany, qualification, training, temporary agency work |
| JEL: | I2 J2 J4 |
| Date: | 2012–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izapps:pp48&r=dem |
| By: | Konietzko, Thorsten |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the time allocation of self-employed men and women compared to men and women in paid employment and the impact of house-work on earnings of self-employed individuals using data from two German datasets. Self-employed women spend more time on housework activities and self-employed men spend more time on market work than their paid counterparts. While descriptive statistics and pooled OLS earnings regressions show a negative impact of time spent on housework on earnings, fixed-effects earnings regressions show only a negative impact on monthly earnings of self-employed men. This impact disappears after controlling for potential endogeneity via instrumental variable estimators. -- Auf Grundlage zweier deutscher Datensätze untersucht diese Studie die Zeitallokation von selbständigen Frauen und Männern im Vergleich zu abhängig beschäftigten Frauen und Männern sowie den Einfluss der Hausarbeits-zeit auf die Verdienste der Selbständigen. Im Gegensatz zu abhängig Beschäftigten verwenden selbständige Frauen mehr Zeit für Hausarbeit, während selbständige Männer mehr Zeit für Marktarbeit aufwenden. Sowohl die deskriptiven Analysen als auch gepoolte OLS Einkommensregressionen zeigen einen negativen Einfluss der Hausarbeitszeit auf die Einkommen der Selbständigen auf. Im Gegensatz dazu wird in den Fixed-Effekts-Einkommensschätzungen nur beim Monatslohn selbständiger Männer ein negativer Zusammenhang gefunden. Dieser Effekt verschwindet nach einer Kontrolle auf potentielle Endogenität mittels Instrumentenvariablen. |
| Keywords: | self-employment,time use,earnings,gender pay gap,Germany |
| JEL: | J16 J31 J22 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:faulre:78&r=dem |
| By: | Frank R. Lichtenberg |
| Abstract: | We investigate the effect of the vintage (year of FDA approval) of the prescription drugs used by an individual on his or her survival and medical expenditure. When we only control for age, sex, and interview year, we estimate that a one-year increase in drug vintage increases life expectancy by 0.52%. Controlling for other variables including activity limitations, race, education, family income as a percent of the poverty line, insurance coverage, Census region, BMI, smoking and over 100 medical conditions has virtually no effect on the estimate of the effect of drug vintage on life expectancy. Between 1996 and 2003, the mean vintage of prescription drugs increased by 6.6 years. This is estimated to have increased life expectancy of elderly Americans by 0.41-0.47 years. This suggests that not less than two-thirds of the 0.6-year increase in the life expectancy of elderly Americans during 1996-2003 was due to the increase in drug vintage. The 1996-2003 increase in drug vintage is also estimated to have increased annual drug expenditure per elderly American by $207, and annual total medical expenditure per elderly American by $218. This implies that the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (cost per life-year gained) of pharmaceutical innovation was about $12,900. |
| JEL: | I12 J11 O33 |
| Date: | 2012–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:18552&r=dem |
| By: | Matthew S. Rutledge |
| Abstract: | Workers over age 55 with chronic health conditions must choose between applying for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits or continuing to work until their Social Security retirement benefits become available. Previous research has investigated the influence of macroeconomic conditions on disability application and, separately, on retirement claiming. This project uses data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation Gold Standard File to determine whether there is a relationship between national and state unemployment rates and disability applications, taking into account the current or future receipt of Social Security retirement benefits. First, reduced-form estimates indicate that retirement beneficiaries are more likely to apply for SSDI as unemployment increases – and, conversely, eligible individuals who have not yet claimed benefits are less likely to apply when unemployment rises. But after accounting for unobserved characteristics associated with both the decision to apply for disability insurance and Social Security benefits, individuals are no more likely to apply for disability benefits when unemployment is high. Second, we find that the probability of SSDI application among individuals age 55-61 is unrelated to macroeconomic conditions and unrelated to proximity to one’s 62nd birthday. These results suggest that, unlike prime-age adults, the decision among older individuals to apply for disability is based primarily on health, and not financial incentives. |
| Date: | 2012–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crr:crrwps:wp2012-26&r=dem |
| By: | Hippolyte D'Albis (EEP-PSE - Ecole d'Économie de Paris - Paris School of Economics - Ecole d'Économie de Paris, CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Paris I - Panthéon Sorbonne); Loesse Jacques Esso (ENSEA - Ecole nationale supérieure de statistique et d'économie appliquée - Ministère de l'Enseignement Supérieur et de la Recherche Scientifique); Héctor Pifarré I Arolas (TSE - Toulouse School of Economics - Toulouse School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | This work is devoted to the study of the variations of mortality patterns across a sample of high-income countries since 1960. We study changes in age-at-death distributions through two indicators, life expectancy and Gini coefficient, by applying econometric tools commonly used in the economic growth literature to assess the existence of convergence across the countries in our sample. We contribute to the ongoing debate over the existence of convergence amongst high-income countries in adult mortality by offering two main empirical regularities. First, our results show that the convergence hypothesis is rejected when we consider the entire sample of industrialized countries. Second, we provide evidence of convergence in both the life expectancy and Gini coefficient among a subset of countries and for some subperiods. This constitutes preliminary evidence against the convergence to a common age-at-death stationary distribution but of the existence of convergence clubs. |
| Keywords: | Age-at-death distributions; convergence |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:cesptp:halshs-00755682&r=dem |
| By: | Hippolyte d'Albis (Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne - Paris School of Economics); Loesse Jacques Esso (ENSEA - Abidjan); Héctor Pifarré i Arolas (Toulouse School of Economics - LERNA) |
| Abstract: | This work is devoted to the study of the variations of mortality patterns across a sample of high-income countries since 1960. We study changes in age-at-death distributions through two indicators, life expectancy and Gini coefficient, by applying econometric tools commonly used in the economic growth literature to assess the existence of convergence across the countries in our sample. We contribute to the ongoing debate over the existence of convergence amongst high-income countries in adult mortality by offering two main empirical regularities. First, our results show that the convergence hypothesis is rejected when we consider the entire sample of industrialized countries. Second, we provide evidence of convergence in both the life expectancy and Gini coefficient among a subset of countries and for some subperiods. This constitutes preliminary evidence against the convergence to a common age-at-death stationary distribution but of the existence of convergence clubs. |
| Keywords: | Age-at-death distributions, convergence. |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mse:cesdoc:12076&r=dem |
| By: | Alesina, Alberto F; Michalopoulos, Stelios; Papaioannou, Elias |
| Abstract: | This study explores the consequences and origins of contemporary differences in well-being across ethnic groups within countries. We construct measures of ethnic inequality combining ethnolinguistic maps on the spatial distribution of groups with satellite images of light density at night. Ethnic inequality is strongly inversely related to per capita income; this pattern holds when we condition on the overall degree of spatial inequality -that is also associated with underdevelopment. We further show that differences in geographic endowments across ethnic homelands explain a sizable portion of contemporary ethnic inequality. This deeply rooted inequality in geographic attributes across ethnic regions is also negatively related to comparative development. We also show that ethnic inequality goes in tandem with lower levels development within countries. Using micro-level data from the Afrobarometer surveys we show that individuals from the same ethnic group are worse off when they reside in districts with a high degree of ethnic inequality. |
| Keywords: | development; diversity; ethnicity; geography; inequality |
| JEL: | O10 O40 O43 |
| Date: | 2012–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:9225&r=dem |
| By: | Tindara Addabbo; Marco Fuscaldo; Anna Maccagnan |
| Abstract: | This paper deals with the definition of the capability of living a healthy life with special reference to the Italian context. The increasing ageing of Italian population and the higher likelihood for elderly to experience poorer health conditions (Addabbo, Picchio; 2010; Addabbo, Chiarolanza, Fuscaldo, Pirotti, 2010) lead us to focus especially on elderly population and gender differences in the measurement of the development of this capability. Institutional as well family and individual conversion factors are analysed in their interaction with the observed development of the capability of living a healthy life taking a gender perspective. To measure the latter we use both self assessed health status and objective gerontological measures of health conditions available in the Italian sample of the Survey of Health, Ageing, Retirement in Europe (SHARE). The self-completion questionaire, that is submitted only to a part of the whole SHARE sample, allows to gain important information on the household characteristics and in particular on the sharing of different responsibilities within the household (doing the cleaning, caring for children and elderlies, earning money etc.). Part of this information is also retrospective. This allows us to extend our analysis on the measurement of individual current achievement in the capability taking into account how conversion factors can interact with the development of the capability since it allows a long term analysis of their effect. |
| Keywords: | health |
| JEL: | I14 J14 |
| Date: | 2012–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mod:cappmo:0099&r=dem |
| By: | Hilary W. Hoynes; Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach; Douglas Almond |
| Abstract: | A growing economics literature establishes a causal link between in utero shocks and health and human capital in adulthood. Most studies rely on extreme negative shocks such as famine and pandemics. We are the first to examine the impact of a positive and policy-driven change in economic resources available in utero and during childhood. In particular, we focus on the introduction of a key element of the U.S. safety net, the Food Stamp Program, which was rolled out across counties in the U.S. between 1961 and 1975. We use the Panel Study of Income Dynamics to assemble unique data linking family background and county of residence in early childhood to adult health and economic outcomes. The identification comes from variation across counties and over birth cohorts in exposure to the food stamp program. Our findings indicate that the food stamp program has effects decades after initial exposure. Specifically, access to food stamps in childhood leads to a significant reduction in the incidence of “metabolic syndrome” (obesity, high blood pressure, and diabetes) and, for women, an increase in economic self-sufficiency. Overall, our results suggest substantial internal and external benefits of the safety net that have not previously been quantified. |
| JEL: | H53 I14 |
| Date: | 2012–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:18535&r=dem |
| By: | Spagnolo, Giancarlo (Stockholm Institute of Transition Economics); Bergman, Mats A. (Södertörn University); Lundberg, Sofia (Umeå University) |
| Abstract: | Many quality dimensions are hard to contract upon and are at risk of degradation when services are procured rather than produced in-house. However, procurement may foster performance-improving innovation. We assemble a large data set on elderly care services in Sweden between 1990 and 2009, including survival rates - our measure of non-contractible quality - and subjectively perceived quality of service. We estimate how procurement from private providers affects these measures using a difference-in-difference approach. The results indicate that procurement significantly increases non-contractible quality as measured by survival rate, reduces the cost per resident but does not affect subjectively perceived quality. |
| Keywords: | elderly care; incomplete contracts; limited enforcement; mortality; non-contractible quality; outsourcing; nursing homes; performance measurement; perceived quality; privatization; procurement. |
| JEL: | H57 I18 L33 |
| Date: | 2012–11–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:hasite:0019&r=dem |
| By: | Alan L. Gustman; Thomas L. Steinmeier; Nahid Tabatabai |
| Abstract: | A review of the literature suggests that when pension values are measured by the wealth equivalent of promised DB pension benefits and DC balances for those approaching retirement, pensions account for more support in retirement than is suggested when their contribution is measured by incomes received directly from pension plans by those who have already retired. Estimates from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) for respondents in their early fifties suggest that pension wealth is about 86 percent as valuable as Social Security wealth. In data from the Current Population Survey (CPS), for members of the same cohort, measured when they are 65 to 69, pension incomes are about 56 percent as valuable as incomes from Social Security. Our empirical analysis uses data from the Health and Retirement Study to examine the reasons for these differences in the contributions of pensions as measured in income and wealth data. A number of factors cause the contribution of pensions to be understated in retirement income data, especially data from the CPS. One factor is a difference in methodology between surveys affecting what is included in pension income, especially in the CPS, which ignores irregular payments from pensions. In CPS data on incomes of those ages 64 to 69 in 2006, pension values are 59 percent of the value of Social Security. For the same cohort, in HRS data, the pension value is 67 percent of the value of Social Security benefits. Some pension wealth “disappears” at retirement because respondents change their pension into other forms that are not counted as pension income in surveys of income. Altogether, 16 percent of pension wealth is transformed into some other form at the time of disposition. For those who had a defined benefit pension just before termination, the dominant plan type for current retirees, at termination 12 percent of the benefit was transformed into a state that would not count as pension income after retirement. For those who receive benefits soon after termination, there is a 3.5 percent reduction in DB pension value at termination compared to the year before termination. One reason may be the form of annuitization that is chosen. A series of caveats notwithstanding, the bottom line is that CPS data on pension incomes received in retirement understates the full contribution pensions make to supporting retirees. |
| JEL: | D31 E21 H55 I3 J14 J26 J32 |
| Date: | 2012–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:18542&r=dem |