|
on Demographic Economics |
|
Issue of 2013‒04‒20
thirty-two papers chosen by Clarence Nkengne Tsimpo University of Montreal and World Bank Group |
| By: | Baishali Goswami (Institute for Social and Economic change) |
| Abstract: | Marriage patterns are undergoing discernible change throughout the world, including in several East and South East Asian countries. In India, certain shifts have been observed in the age at marriage. This paper attempts to examine the scenario of delayed marriage in India using data from different rounds of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS). Keeping in view the limitations of census data and age at marriage as an indicator of timing of marriage, the paper also attempts to explore the impact of select predictors on the likelihood of getting married for females in the age groups 20-24 years and 25-29 years. The findings indicate that the reasons underlying delayed marriage with respect to the 20-24 years age group and the 25-29 years age group differ. Multivariate analysis clearly shows that once education is controlled, along with cultural factors, the apparent difference observed in women from Northern India belonging to the age group 20-24 years compared to women from other regions of India in the same age group vanishes. The conventional argument that the cultural milieu of each state decides the timing of marriage may become more prominent, perhaps for women belonging to the age group 25-29 years. |
| Keywords: | Age of Marriage, Delayed marriage, Education, Culture, India |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sch:wpaper:275&r=dem |
| By: | Künn-Nelen, Annemarie (ROA, Maastricht University); de Grip, Andries (ROA, Maastricht University); Fouarge, Didier (ROA, Maastricht University) |
| Abstract: | This paper is the first that analyzes the relation between maternal work hours and the cognitive outcomes of young school-going children. When children attend school, the potential time working mothers miss out with their children, is smaller than when children do not yet attend school. At the same time, working might benefit children through, for example, greater family income. Our study is highly relevant for public policy as in most countries maternal employment rates rise when children enter school. We find no negative relation between maternal working hours and child outcomes as is often found for pre-school aged children. Instead, we find that children's sorting test score is higher when their mothers work part-time (girls) or full-time (boys). Furthermore, we find that planned parent-child activities are positively related to children's language test scores. Nevertheless, we do not find that a richer home environment in terms of the number of parent-child activities provided to the child explain the relation between maternal work hours and children's test scores. |
| Keywords: | intergenerational human capital investments, (non)cognitive skills, maternal labor supply, home environment |
| JEL: | D10 J13 J22 |
| Date: | 2013–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7310&r=dem |
| By: | Bellou, Andriana (University of Montreal) |
| Abstract: | The Internet has the potential to reduce search frictions by allowing individuals to identify faster a larger set of available options that conform to their preferences. One market that stands to benefit from this process is that of marriage. This paper empirically examines the implications of Internet diffusion in the United States since the 1990s on one aspect of this market: marriage rates. Exploring sharp temporal and geographic variation in the pattern of consumer broadband adoption, I find that the latter has significantly contributed to increased marriages rates among 21-30 year olds. A number of tests suggest that this relationship is causal and that it varies across demographic groups potentially facing thinner marriage markets. I also provide some suggestive evidence that Internet has likely crowded out other traditional meeting venues, such as through family and friends. |
| Keywords: | internet, broadband, marriage, search |
| JEL: | J11 J12 D12 R11 O33 |
| Date: | 2013–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7316&r=dem |
| By: | Gustavo Ventura (Arizona State University) |
| Abstract: | Consider the following facts. First, with dramatic changes in the household and family structure in every major industrialized country during the last couple of decades, today's households are very far from traditional breadwinner husband and housekeeper wife paradigm. Second, average households face significant uninsurable idiosyncratic risk and countries differ significantly on their social insurance expenditure. Third, since mid 1980s, household income inequality has been rising, generating a renewed interest in role of social insurance policies -- OECD (2005). Fourth, structure of families (who is married with whom) and female labor supply behavior can play an important role for income inequality. According to Hyslop (2001), changes in marital sorting can account for about 25\% of the rise of income inequality between 1979 and 1985 in the U.S. while changes in female labor supply contribute to another 20\% of the rise. Finally, there are significant differences in the extent of marital status of population, assortative mating, female labor participation, and wage-gender gap across countries. The existing general equilibrium models that economists use to evaluate social insurance policies largely rely on models populated by single-earner households. In such models a single decision maker, given government policies, decides how much to work and how much to save. Today's household structure, however, should force us to think beyond single-earner household models. The role of social insurance policies for an economy in which every household has only one worker can be very different than for an economy in which both household members work. Similarly, the role of social insurance policies can also be very different for an economy with a low degree of assortative matching in which agents from different educational backgrounds mix with each other by marriage, than for an economy with more segregation in marriages. Social policy can also play a very different role for an economy with low gender wage gap than one with high-gender wage gap. Finally, thinking beyond single-earner households should also force us to consider very diverse social insurance policies, such as income maintenance programs and parental leave policies, under the same light. Despite this background, we are unaware of systematic attempts to study public policies in environments that allow for heterogeneous two-earner households that face uninsurable idiosyncratic risk, an explicit consideration of labor supply responses in extensive and intensive margins, and a rich description of marital status of population (who is married with whom). We fill this void in this paper. We have three main goals. First, we build a model economy populated with heterogeneous two-earner households facing idiosyncratic income risk. Second, we use this framework to evaluate effects of public policies on allocations and welfare. Finally, we investigate how the effects of these policies can depend on the structure of the economy in terms of degree of marital sorting, the extent of female labor force participation, and the wage-gender gap. We build a life-cycle economy populated by married and single households. Individual wages are composed of two parts: their human capital and idiosyncratic shocks. Each male agent starts his life with a given level of education (human capital) and each education level is associated with a given lifecycle human capital profile. Females also start their life with a given education (human capital) level. Their human capital, however, evolves endogenously as enter and exit to the labor market. Idiosyncratic shocks to wages are modeled as in Heathcote, Storesletten and Violante (2010). The key feature of the wage process is that within a married couple household, innovations to shocks are \emph{correlated} between husband and wife. The asic structure of the model follows Guner, Kaygusuz and Ventura (2011). Married couples and single females have children that appear exogenously along their life cycle. Children are costly, if a female with a child decides to work, she has to pay child care expenses. Married couples also face a cost (monetary or utility) of joint work. Each period, agents decide how much to consume, how much to save, and how much to work. Agents' labor supply can vary along extensive as well as the intensive margins. In particular, females might decide not to participate in this economy, since participation for them is costly. However, taking time from the market is also costly due to human capital accumulation. We study the effects of public policy within this environment. We plan to consider two different types of public policies. First are the standard tools of social insurance, like income maintenance programs that provide cash transfers to households whose income falls below a certain threshold or progressive taxation. Second are policies that make labor supply of females less costly for households, like child care subsidies. Although such policies are mainly studies for their effects on female labor supply, the current environment also allows studying their effects on welfare. In this environment, public policy can play an important role and this role will depend critically on the extent of the correlation between husbands' and wives' permanent characteristics and income shocks. First, consider the extreme case that only husband work and wives are not allowed to work. Then, this economy is effectively a single agent economy. Now imagine wives can decide whether to work or not. If the household is hit by a negative income shock, then the wife is more likely to enter the work force. This will be more likely if income shocks to husbands and wives incomes are not very highly correlated. This will also depend on the extent of gender gap as well as the existing government polices. If female labor supply behavior provides a significant level of insurance for the household, then it is less likely that traditional social insurance will be very important. On the other hand, policies that make female labor supply less costly can be as important as the traditional welfare programs. |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:red:sed012:585&r=dem |
| By: | Peter Adamson; UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre |
| Abstract: | Part 1 of the Report Card presents a league table of child well-being in 29 of the world's advanced economies. Part 2 looks at what children say about their own well-being (including a league table of children’s life satisfaction). Part 3 examines changes in child well-being in advanced economies over the first decade of the 2000s, looking at each country’s progress in educational achievement, teenage birth rates, childhood obesity levels, the prevalence of bullying, and the use of tobacco, alcohol and drugs. |
| Keywords: | child well-being; comparative analysis; industrialized countries; |
| JEL: | A14 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ucf:inreca:inreca683&r=dem |
| By: | E. Del Bono; C. Pronzato |
| Abstract: | This paper asks whether the availability of breastfeeding facilities at the workplace helps to reconcile breastfeeding and work commitments. Using data from the 2005 UK Infant Feeding Survey, we model the joint probability to return to work and breastfeeding and analyse its association with the availability of breastfeeding facilities. Our findings indicate that the availability of breastfeeding facilities is associated with a higher probability of breastfeeding and a higher probability to return to work by 4 and 6 months after the birth of the child. The latter effects are only found for women with higher levels of education. |
| Keywords: | breastfeeding, cognitive development, child outcomes |
| JEL: | J13 C26 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cca:wchild:1&r=dem |
| By: | G. Bertocchi; M. Brunetti; C. Torricelli |
| Abstract: | We empirically study the determinants of intra-household decision power with respect to economic and financial choices using a suitable direct measure provided in the 1989-2010 Bank of Italy Survey of Household Income and Wealth. Focusing on a sample of couples, we evaluate the effect of each spouse's characteristics, household characteristics, and background variables. We find that the probability that the wife is in charge is affected by household characteristics such as family size and total income and wealth, but more importantly that it increases with the difference between hers and her husband's characteristics in terms of age, education, and income. The main conclusion is that decision-making power over family economics is not only determined by strictly economic differences, as suggested by previous studies, but also by differences in human capital and experience. Finally, exploiting the time dimension of our dataset, we show that this pattern is increasing over time. |
| Keywords: | Family economics, intra-household decision power, gender differences |
| JEL: | J12 D13 E21 G11 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cca:wchild:2&r=dem |
| By: | Luana Junqueira Dias Myrrha (Cedeplar-UFMG); Gabriela Pamila Cristina Lima Siviero (Cedeplar-UFMG); Cassio M. Turra (Cedeplar-UFMG); Simone Wajnman (Cedeplar-UFMG) |
| Abstract: | The analysis of the set of age specific growth rates in a population, proposed by Horiuch and Preston (1988), is an alternative way to examine the process of changing age structure, and to examine potential "marks" left by the demographic history of each cohort. The objective of this study is to apply this methodology to the Brazilian population, discussing some of the main features of the demographic history in Brazil. Based on simulated patterns of age specific growth rates discussed by Horiuch and Preston (1988) we look at pertinent features of the Brazilian population´s demographic history that may be present in the current cohorts. The results presented here show that the information contained in current age specific growth rates are quite instructive about the effects of variations in demographic regimes and are very useful in populations where vital rates are not reliable or unavailable. |
| Keywords: | Age specific growth rates; population aging, Brazil, age structure |
| JEL: | J11 |
| Date: | 2012–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdp:texdis:td460&r=dem |
| By: | Daniela Del Boca (University of Torino and CCA); Christopher Flinn (New York University and CCA); Matthew Wiswall (Arizona State University) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we utilize a model of household investments in the cognitive development of children to explore the impact of various transfer policies on the distribution of child cognitive outcomes in target populations. We develop a cost criterion that can be used to compare the cost effectiveness of unrestricted, restricted, and conditional cash transfer systems, and ï¬nd that conditional cash transfers are the most cost efficient way to attain any given gain in average child quality in a target population. Of course, this is only true if one uses efficiently designed cash transfer systems, and we are able to explore their design using our modeling framework. |
| Keywords: | Time Allocation; Child Development, conditional and unconditional cash transfer |
| JEL: | J13 D1 |
| Date: | 2013–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hka:wpaper:2013-01&r=dem |
| By: | Javier Alonso; David Tuesta; Diego Torres; Begona Villamide |
| Abstract: | The increase in longevity risk is leading to serious challenges for economies. Industries such as insurance and pensions, which are most closely related to the management of the risks of an aging population, have for a number of years experienced direct effects of this kind. To counterbalance this, they have developed techniques for constructing mortality tables in order to project the future trends of life expectancy at birth and thus reduce the level of uncertainty that this market by its nature involves. Developed countries have led technical improvements for constructing these tables, while Latin American countries have lagged behind significantly in this respect. Given that these countries cannot yet develop tables weighted by social and medical aspects, it is highly probable that this situation will continue. That is why this study aims to construct a forecast for mortality rates, based on projection models of the ARMA (p, q) type and non-parametric contrast methodology. The study is based on the case of Chile, which provides most information for constructing a model for a Latin American country. The estimates show that the official mortality tables in Chile could include significant lags by 2050, which will have major negative effects on the pension and insurance industry, in the hypothetical case that they were not updated. In another exercise, using the mortality table estimated in this work, we found that if pensions in Chile are not to lose their purchasing power, the contribution rate would have to be increased by 8 percentage points in the case of men and 4 in the case of women. Given that Chile is the best developed country in the region with respect to mortality tables, the negative effects on the rest of Latin America could be even more worrisome. |
| Keywords: | Pensions, insurance, longevity risk, mortality tables, Latin America, Chile |
| JEL: | G23 J32 G22 |
| Date: | 2013–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bbv:wpaper:1315&r=dem |
| By: | Grant Miller; A. Mushfiq Mobarak |
| Abstract: | This paper examines whether an intra-household externality prevents adoption of a technology with substantial implications for population health and the environment: improved cookstoves. Motivated by a model of intra-household decision-making, the experiment markets stoves to husbands or wives in turn at randomly varying prices. We find that women – who bear disproportionate cooking costs – have stronger preference for healthier stoves, but lack the authority to make purchases. Our findings suggest that if women cannot make independent choices about household resource use, public policy may not be able to exploit gender differences in preferences to promote technology adoption absent broader social change. |
| JEL: | D13 I12 I15 O12 O33 |
| Date: | 2013–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:18964&r=dem |
| By: | Rowena Crawford (Institute for Fiscal Studies); Richard Disney (Institute for Fiscal Studies) |
| Abstract: | We examine ill-health retirement of police officers in England and Wales between 2002-3 and 2009-10. Differences in ill-health retirement rates across forces are statistically related to area-specific stresses of policing and force-specific differences in human resources policies. Reforms to police pensions plans- in particular a shift in the incidence of financing ill-health retirement from central government to local police authorities- impacted on the level of ill-health retirement, especially among forces with above-average rates of retirement. We find that residual differences in post-2006 ill-health retirement rates across forces are related to their differential capacities to raise revenue from local property taxes. We quantify the impact of these reforms on overal pension plan liabilities. |
| Keywords: | Police pensions, ill-health retirement, state and local finance |
| JEL: | H75 J26 J45 |
| Date: | 2013–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ifs:ifsewp:13/06&r=dem |
| By: | Heutel, Garth (University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Department of Economics); Ruhm, Christopher J. (University of Virginia) |
| Abstract: | Prior research demonstrates that mortality rates increase during economic booms and decrease during economic busts, but little analysis has been conducted investigating the role of environmental risks as potential mechanisms for this relationship. We investigate the contribution of air pollution to the procyclicality of deaths by combining state-level data on overall, cause-specific, and age-specific mortality rates with state-level measures of ambient concentrations of three types of pollutants and the unemployment rate. After controlling for demographic variables and state and year fixed-effects, we find a significant positive correlation between carbon monoxide (CO) concentrations and mortality rates. Controlling for CO, particulate matter (PM10), and ozone (O3) attenuates the relationship between overall mortality and the unemployment rate by 30 percent. The attenuation is particularly large, although imprecisely measured, for fatalities from respiratory diseases and is frequently substantial for age groups unlikely to be involved in the labor market. Our results are consistent with those of other studies in the economics and public health literatures measuring the mortality effects of air pollution. |
| Keywords: | Pollution; Health; Mortality; Business Cycles |
| JEL: | E32 I10 Q53 |
| Date: | 2013–04–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:uncgec:2013_007&r=dem |
| By: | Lena Thu Phuong Nguyen; UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre |
| Abstract: | This paper links the concept and practice of accountability with child rights, by asking: (1) What accountability means when children are the rights holders, and whose role is it to exact that accountability? (2) What are the assumptions underpinning social accountability, and how can they be revised from the child-rights perspective? (3) How do social and political dynamics at community and national levels, often not linked to child rights issues, shape accountability outcomes? The paper is addressed to child rights practitioners, while drawing from political economy and political science as well as the women’s rights movement. In doing so, it seeks to link the various lessons learnt in order to lay the ground for thinking about child-responsive accountability. |
| Keywords: | governance; rights of the child; |
| JEL: | A1 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ucf:inwopa:inwopa690&r=dem |
| By: | Pamila Siviero (UNIFAL-MG); Carla Jorge Machado (UFMG); Roberto Nascimento Rodrigues (Cedeplar-UFMG) |
| Abstract: | Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) is a serious public health problem, and can be considered an "epidemic" in growth. Obesity, hyperlipidemia and smoking accelerate the progression culminating in need of treatment. Life expectancy at every age is reduced, the risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke are increased, and the onus is on the individual and society. Thus, this review discusses the main aspects of epidemiology and mortality for chronic kidney disease in developed and developing countries as well as substitution treatment approaches needed when the disease reaches the terminal stage, as an attempt to increase the understanding of the theme among researchers |
| Keywords: | Population health, chronic disease, Chronic Kidney Disease, Epidemiology |
| JEL: | I10 I18 |
| Date: | 2013–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdp:texdis:td467&r=dem |
| By: | M. Bratti; M. Mendola |
| Abstract: | This paper provides new evidence on the impact of parental health shocks on investment in child education using detailed longitudinal data from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Our study controls for individual unobserved heterogeneity by using child fixed effects, and it accounts for potential health misreporting by employing several, more objective, health indicators. Our results show that children of ill mothers, but not of ill fathers, are significantly less likely to be enrolled in education at ages 15-24. Moreover, there is some evidence that mothers’ health shocks have more negative consequences on younger children and sons. |
| Keywords: | Human Capital, Intrahousehold allocation, Health shocks, Education, Bosnia and Herzegovina |
| JEL: | I21 O15 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cca:wchild:4&r=dem |
| By: | Sloczynski, Tymon (Warsaw School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | In this paper I develop a consistent estimator of the population average treatment effect (PATE) which is based on a nonstandard version of the Oaxaca–Blinder decomposition. As a result, I extend the recent literature which has utilized the treatment effects framework to reinterpret this technique, and propose an alternative solution to its fundamental problem of comparison group choice. I also use the Oaxaca–Blinder decomposition and its semiparametric extension to decompose gender wage differentials with the UK Labour Force Survey (LFS) data, while providing separate estimates of the average gender effect on men, women, and the whole population. |
| Keywords: | gender wage gaps, decomposition methods, treatment effects |
| JEL: | C21 J31 J71 |
| Date: | 2013–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7315&r=dem |
| By: | J. -F. Mercure |
| Abstract: | At the heart of technology transitions lie complex processes of technology choices. Understanding and planning sustainability transitions requires modelling work, which necessitates a theory of technology substitution. A theoretical model of technological change and turnover is presented, intended as a methodological paradigm shift from widely used conventional modelling approaches such as cost optimisation. It follows the tradition of evolutionary economics and evolutionary game theory, using ecological population growth dynamics to represent the evolution of technology populations in the marketplace, with substitutions taking place at the level of the decision-maker. Extended to use principles of human demography or the age structured evolution of species in interacting ecosystems, this theory is built from first principles, and through an appropriate approximation, reduces to a form identical to empirical models of technology diffusion common in the technology transitions literature. Using an age structure, it provides the appropriate groundwork and theoretical framework to understand interacting technologies, their birth, ageing and mutual substitution. This analysis provides insight in explaining the nature and origin of observed timescales of technology transitions, in terms of technology life expectancies, the dynamic process of production capacity expansion or collapse and its timescales, in what is termed a `demographic phase'. While this model contributes to the general understanding of technological change, the information in this work is intended to be used practically for the parameterisation of technology diffusion in large scale models of technology systems when measured data is unknown or uncertain, as is the case for new technologies, notably for modelling future energy systems and greenhouse gas emissions. |
| Date: | 2013–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:1304.3602&r=dem |
| By: | Grech, Aaron George |
| Abstract: | Though the main benchmark used to assess pension reforms continues to be the expected resulting fall in future government spending, the impact of policy changes on pension adequacy is increasingly coming to the fore. As yet, there does not seem to be a broad consensus in policymaking circles and academic literature on what constitutes the best measure of pension adequacy. While various indicators have been developed and utilised, no single measure appears to offer a clear indication of the extent to which reforms will impact on the achievement of pension system goals. Many indicators appear ill-suited to study the effective impact of reforms, particularly those that change the nature of the pension system from defined benefit to defined contribution. Existing measures are frequently hard to interpret as they do not have an underlying benchmark which allows their current or projected value to be assessed as adequate or inadequate. Currently used pension adequacy indicators tend to be point-in-time measures which ignore the impact of benefit indexation rules. They also are unaffected by very important factors, such as changes in the pension age and in life expectancy. This tends to make existing indicators minimise the impact of systemic reforms on the poverty alleviation and income replacement functions of pension systems. The emphasis on assumptions which are very unrepresentative of real-life labour market conditions also makes current indicators deceptive, particularly in relation to outcomes for women and those on low incomes. This paper posits that these defects can be remedied by using adequacy indicators based on estimates of pension wealth (i.e. the total projected flow of pension benefits through retirement) calculated using more realistic labour market assumptions. These measures are used to give a better indication of the effective impact of pension reforms enacted since the 1990s in ten major European countries. They suggest that these reforms have decreased generosity significantly, but that the poverty alleviation function remains strong in those countries where minimum pensions were improved. However, moves to link benefits to contributions have raised clear adequacy concerns for women and for those on low incomes which policymakers should consider and tackle. |
| Keywords: | Social Security and Public Pensions; Retirement; Poverty; Retirement Policies |
| JEL: | H55 I38 J26 |
| Date: | 2013–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:46126&r=dem |
| By: | Sam Hak Kan Tang (Business School, University of Western Australia); Linda Chor Wing Yung (Department of Economics, Chinese University of Hong Kong) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the effects of live-in foreign domestic workers (FDWs) on children’s educational achievement using samples from two population censuses and a survey dataset. The census data shows that the incidence of express schooling is significantly higher for children who are under the care of an FDW when their mothers are at work. In the survey data, children scored higher for English if they had a Filipino FDW. The age of FDWs had a positive and significant relationship with children’s average scores for Chinese, English and Mathematics. These findings suggest that FDWs provide an important childrearing service, which is often unrecognised and undervalued. |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uwa:wpaper:12-27&r=dem |
| By: | Jonathan Bradshaw; Bruno Martorano; Chris De Neubourg; Luisa Natali; UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre |
| Abstract: | The analysis shows that the rankings are relatively stable: indeed, the Netherlands and the Scandinavian countries are still in the best performing group while the United States is still in the bottom of the ranking. Data analysis also highlights a common pattern for East European countries as material conditions improved and the behaviour of young people became more similar to their peers living in Western economies even though children’s living conditions have not improved overall. On the whole, Norway, Portugal and the United Kingdom recorded the most positive changes, while Poland, Spain and Sweden recorded the most negative changes. |
| Keywords: | child related policies; child well-being; comparative analysis; industrialized countries; |
| JEL: | A1 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ucf:inwopa:inwopa685&r=dem |
| By: | Bertoni, Marco (University of Padova); Brunello, Giorgio (University of Padova); Rocco, Lorenzo (University of Padova) |
| Abstract: | We use data on international chess tournaments to study the relationship between age and mental productivity in a brain-intensive profession. We show that less talented players tend to leave the game in the earliest phases of their career. When the effects of age on productivity vary with unobserved ability, commonly used fixed effects estimators applied to raw data do not guarantee consistent estimates of age-productivity profiles. In our data, this method strongly over-estimates the productivity of older players. We apply fixed effects to first-differenced data and show that productivity peaks in the early forties and smoothly declines thereafter. Because of this, players aged 60 are 11 percent less productive than players in their early forties. |
| Keywords: | aging, productivity, mental ability |
| JEL: | D83 J14 J24 |
| Date: | 2013–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7311&r=dem |
| By: | Jonathan Bradshaw; Bruno Martorano; Chris De Neubourg; Luisa Natali; UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre |
| Abstract: | This paper compares the well-being of children across the most economically advanced countries of the world. It discusses the methodological issues involved in comparing children’s well-being across countries and explains how a Child Well-being Index is constructed to rank countries according to their performance in advancing child well-being. The Index uses 30 indicators combined into 13 components, again summarised in 5 dimensions for 35 rich countries. Data from various sources are combined to capture aspects of child well-being: material well-being, health, education, behaviour and risks, housing and environment. The scores for the countries on all variables and combinations of variables are discussed in detail. The Child Well-being Index reveals that serious differences exist across countries suggesting that in many, improvement could be made in the quality of children’s lives. |
| Keywords: | child related policies; child well-being; comparative analysis; industrialized countries; |
| JEL: | A1 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ucf:inwopa:inwopa684&r=dem |
| By: | Erkan Gören (University of Oldenburg, Department of Economics) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the empirical relationship between the two concepts of ethnicity and economic growth. Ethnicity is assumed to affect economic growth through a number of possible transmission channels that are generally included in cross-country growth regressions by proposing an extended econometric system of equations to describe growth incorporates new channel variables for the potential indirect effects of ethnicity that are important in the process of economic development. The results, based on a sample of 95 countries for the period 1960-1999, suggest that the concept of ethnic fractionalization is a strong predictive measure for the direct effect of ethnicity on growth, whereas the concept of ethnic polarization has non-negligible indirect economic effects through the specified channel variables. |
| Keywords: | ethnic diversity; fractionalization; polarization; transmission channels; economic growth |
| JEL: | O11 O5 |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:old:wpaper:353&r=dem |
| By: | Dev, Pritha; Mberu, Blessing; Pongou, Roland |
| Abstract: | We analyze the implications of communitarianism-the tendency of people to organize into separate culturally homogeneous groups-for individual and group inequality in human capital accumulation. We propose a non-cooperative social interactions model where each individual decides how much time to invest in human capital versus ethnic capital, and his utility from investment in either form of capital is increasing in the investment of his ethnic group in that form of capital. We find that, in equilibrium, the demand for human capital is affected positively by individual and group ability, and negatively by group size. Moreover, two groups that are ex ante identical in ability distribution may diverge in human capital accumulation, with divergence only occurring among their low-ability members. The latter always coordinate on the same type of investment, showing a contagion or herding effect. Furthermore, we find that ethnic and group fragmentation increases the demand for human capital. We validate these predictions of the model using household data from a setting where ethnicity and religion are the primary identity cleavages. We document persistent ethnic and religious inequality in educational attainment. Members of ethnic groups that historically converted to Christianity fare better than those whose ancestors converted to Islam. Consistent with theory, there is little difference between the high-ability members of these groups, but low-ability members of historically Muslim groups choose Koranic education as an alternative to formal education. Also, the descendants of ethnic groups that were evenly exposed to both religions outperform those whose ancestors had contact with only one religion, and local ethnic fragmentation increases the demand for formal education. |
| Keywords: | Communitarianism, group inequality, human capital, Koranic education, contagion |
| JEL: | A1 A13 C7 C72 I21 J1 N3 N37 |
| Date: | 2013–04–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:46234&r=dem |
| By: | Delprat, Gaëtan (University of Québec at Montréal); Leroux, Marie-Louise (University of Québec at Montréal); Michaud, Pierre-Carl (University of Québec at Montréal) |
| Abstract: | The standard model of intertemporal choice assumes risk neutrality toward the length of life: due to additivity, agents are not sensitive to a mean preserving spread in the length of life. Using a survey fielded in the RAND American Life Panel (ALP), this paper provides empirical evidence on possible deviation from risk neutrality with respect to longevity in the U.S. population. The questions we ask allow to find the distribution as well as to quantify the degree of risk aversion with respect to the length of life in the population. We find evidence that roughly 75% of respondents were not neutral with respect to longevity risk. Higher income households are more likely to be risk averse. We do not find evidence that the degree of risk aversion varies with age or education. |
| Keywords: | risk aversion toward the length of life, intertemporal choice, stated-preference |
| JEL: | D12 D91 I10 J26 |
| Date: | 2013–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7317&r=dem |
| By: | Pamila Siviero (UNIFAL-MG); Roberto Nascimento Rodrigues (Cedeplar-UFMG); Carla Jorge Machado (UFMG) |
| Abstract: | The present study discusses some aspects related to the the anlyzes of mortality causes. The folowing issues are addressed: (1) the underlying causes-of-death mortality, presenting their uses and limitations, (2) the issue of mortality based on multiple causes, indicating presentation forms and methods of analysis, (3) a summary of the studies that used multiple-causes of death in Brazil. |
| Keywords: | multiple causes of death, mortality, underlying cause of death, epidemiology, health |
| JEL: | I10 I18 |
| Date: | 2013–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdp:texdis:td468&r=dem |
| By: | Erkan Gören (University of Oldenburg, Department of Economics) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the economic growth impact of cultural diversity, both domestically and in neighbouring countries, in a balanced panel of 94 countries covering the period 1970 to 2004. The measures of cultural diversity used in this article were derived from a recently developed computer algorithm intended primarily to measure linguistic distances in an automated fashion. The empirical analysis suggests that the degree of cultural diversity in contiguous neighbouring countries has substantial positive effects on domestic per capita income growth, even controlling for a broad set of regional, institutional, religious and other proximate factors of economic growth. The conclusion is that culturally homogeneous countries gain a strategic advantage over their culturally diverse neighbours. |
| Keywords: | cultural diversity; ethnic diversity; economic growth |
| JEL: | O11 O5 |
| Date: | 2013–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:old:wpaper:352&r=dem |
| By: | Dominic Rohner; Mathias Thoenig; Fabrizio Zilibotti |
| Abstract: | We study the effect of civil conflict on social capital, focusing on the experience of Uganda during the last decade. Using individual and county-level data, we document large causal effects on trust and ethnic identity of an exogenous outburst of ethnic conflicts in 2002-05. We exploit two waves of survey data from Afrobarometer 2000 and 2008, including information on socioeconomic characteristics at the individual level, and geo-referenced measures of fighting events from ACLED. Our identification strategy exploits variations in the intensity of fighting both in the spatial and cross-ethnic dimensions. We find that more intense fighting decreases generalized trust and increases ethnic identity. The effects are quantitatively large and robust to a number of control variables, alternative measures of violence, and different statistical techniques involving ethnic and spatial fixed effects and instrumental variables. We also document that the post-war effects of ethnic violence depend on the ethnic fractionalization. Fighting has a negative e¤ect on the economic situation in highly fractionalized counties, but has no effect in less fractionalized counties. Our findings are consistent with the existence of a self-reinforcing process between conflicts and ethnic cleavages. |
| Keywords: | conflict, Uganda, seeds of distrust, ethnic conflicts, ACLED, cross-ethnic |
| JEL: | D74 Q34 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oxf:oxcrwp:078&r=dem |
| By: | Peter Adamson; UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre |
| Abstract: | La première partie du Bilan présente un classement du bien-être des enfants dans 29 des économies avancées du monde. La deuxième partie s’intéresse à ce que les enfants disent à propos de leur bien-être personnel (et présente un classement du niveau de satisfaction des enfants à l’égard de la vie). La troisième partie se penche sur les changements survenus dans le bien-être des enfants au sein des économies avancées au cours des années 2000 à 2010, passant en revue les progrès accomplis par chacun des pays en termes de réussite scolaire, de taux de natalité chez les adolescentes, de niveaux de l’obésité infantile, de prévalence des brimades et de consommation de tabac, d’alcool et de drogues. |
| Keywords: | child well-being; comparative analysis; industrialized countries; |
| JEL: | H0 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ucf:inreca:inreca687&r=dem |
| By: | Daylin Cecilia Rodriguez Javique (Centro de Estudios Demográficos da Universidad de Havana); Gabriela Marise de Oliveira Bonifácio (Cedeplar-UFMG); Natália Sales Dias Alves (Cedeplar-UFMG); Cassio M. Turra (Cedeplar-UFMG); Simone Wajnman (Cedeplar-UFMG) |
| Abstract: | Over the last decades, Cuba has shown very low fertility levels in addition to significant negative migration flows. Moreover, within the country, there is intensive population mobility, characterized by different migration patterns across Cuba´s provinces. In this article, we look at the effect of both internal and international migration flows on long term population growth in Cuba and in its provinces. For that, we estimate reproduction and population growth measures using conventional demographic methods and the methodology proposed by Preston and Wang (2007), which is based on variable-r methods. Given the current demographic patterns, our analysis reveals important negative consequences for the size of the Cuban population in the future when migration effects are accounted for. |
| Keywords: | Cuba, international migration, internal migration, variable-r methods, stable population models, population growth. |
| JEL: | J11 |
| Date: | 2012–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdp:texdis:td459&r=dem |
| By: | Peter Adamson; UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre |
| Abstract: | La primera parte del Report Card presenta una tabla clasificatoria del bienestar infantil en 29 de las economías más avanzadas del mundo. La segunda parte se centra en lo que los niños dicen sobre su propio bienestar (e incluye una tabla clasificatoria de la satisfacción de los niños con su vida). La tercera parte examina los cambios en el bienestar infantil en las economías avanzadas durante la primera década del siglo XXI y analiza el progreso de cada país en logros educativos, tasas de embarazos en adolescentes, niveles de obesidad infantil, prevalencia de casos de acoso escolar y consumo de tabaco, alcohol y drogas. |
| Keywords: | child well-being; children's rights; industrialized countries; |
| JEL: | A10 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ucf:inreca:inreca689&r=dem |