|
on Demographic Economics |
|
Issue of 2013‒06‒30
forty-four papers chosen by Clarence Nkengne Tsimpo University of Montreal and World Bank Group |
| By: | Avdic, Daniel (IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy); Johansson, Per (IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy) |
| Abstract: | Women are on average more absent from work for health reasons than men. At the same time, they live longer. This conflicting pattern suggests that part of the gender difference in health-related absenteeism arises from differences between the genders unrelated to actual health. An overlooked explanation could be that men an women's preferences for absenteeism differ, for example because of gender differences in risk preferences. These differences may originate from the utility-maximizing of households in which women's traditional dual roles influence household decisions to invest primarily in women's health. Using detailed administrative data on sick leave, hospital visits and objective health measures we first investigate the existence of gender-specific preferences for abstenteeism and subsequently test for the household investment hypothesis. We find evidence for the existence of gender differences in preferences for absence from work, and that a non-trivial part of these preference differences can be attributed to household investments in women's health. |
| Keywords: | Sickness absence; gender norms; health investments |
| JEL: | D13 J22 |
| Date: | 2013–05–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2013_013&r=dem |
| By: | Juha Tuomala; Tomi Kyyrä |
| Abstract: | This study explores whether the experience rating of employers' disability insurance premiums affects the inflow of older employees to disability benefits in Finland. To identify the causal effect of experience rating, we exploit a pension reform that extended the coverage of the experience-rated premiums. The results show that a new disability benefit claim can cause substantial cost to the former employer through an increased premium. Nonetheless, we find no evidence of the significant effects of experience rating on the disability inflow. The lack of the behavioral effects may be due to the complexity of experience rating calculations and/or limited employer awareness. |
| Keywords: | Experience rating, disability insurance, early retirement |
| JEL: | H32 J16 J14 |
| Date: | 2013–04–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fer:wpaper:46&r=dem |
| By: | Ewa Lechman (Gdansk University of Technology, Gdansk, Poland); Anna Okonowicz (Gdansk University of Technology, Gdansk, Poland) |
| Abstract: | A kind of gender revolution is passing through various countries in various continents. By being offered free access to educational infrastructure, women become better educated, improve their skills and capabilities, gain possibilities to enter the labour market and use financial resources to start up their own businesses. All these bring women to play a role on the labour market and significantly contribute to overall socio-economic development. The women entrepreneurship unfolds various kinds of endowments concerning economic possibilities in wealth creation. The main scope of the paper is to identify and assess the role of gender equity and uniquely women entrepreneurship in the process of socio-economic development. Implying a set of variables, treated as proxies of gender equality and women entrepreneurship, we estimate their coherence with socio-economic development. In the empirical part, we use a cross-country panel data, for 83 economies, which are derived from World Development Indicators 2012 database International Monetary Fund World Economic Outlook Database April 2013. The time coverage is set for 1990-2011. |
| Keywords: | gender equity, women entrepreneurship, gender gap, economic development |
| JEL: | J16 J24 O15 |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gdk:wpaper:13&r=dem |
| By: | Sonia Bhalotra (University of Bristol); Guilhem Cassan (Center for Research in the Economics of Development, University of Namur); Irma Clots-Figueras (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid); Lakshmi Iyer (Harvard Business School) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates whether the religious identity of state legislators in India influences development outcomes, both for citizens of their religious group and for the population as a whole. To control for politician identity to be correlated with constituency level voter preferences or characteristics that make religion salient, we use quasi-random variation in legislator identity generated by close elections between Muslim and non-Muslim candidates. We find that increasing the political representation of Muslims improves health and education outcomes in the district from which the legislator is elected. We find no evidence of religious favoritism: Muslim children do not benefit more from Muslim political representation than children from other religious groups. |
| Keywords: | religion, politician identity, infant mortality, primary education, India, Muslim |
| JEL: | I15 J13 H41 P16 |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nam:wpaper:1306&r=dem |
| By: | Fitzenberger, Bernd (University of Freiburg); Sommerfeld, Katrin (University of Freiburg); Steffes, Susanne (ZEW Mannheim) |
| Abstract: | The effects of childbirth on future labor market outcomes are a key issue for policy discussion. This paper implements a dynamic treatment approach to estimate the effect of having the first child now versus later on future employment for the case of Germany, a country with a long maternity leave coverage. Effect heterogeneity is assessed by estimating ex post outcome regressions. Based on SOEP data, we provide estimates at a monthly frequency. The results show that there are very strong negative employment effects after childbirth. Although the employment loss is reduced over the first five years following childbirth, it does not level off to zero. The employment loss is lower for mothers with a university degree. It is especially high for medium-skilled mothers with long pre-birth employment experience. We find a significant reduction in the employment loss for more recent childbirths. |
| Keywords: | female labor supply, maternity leave, dynamic treatment effect, inverse probability weighting |
| JEL: | C14 J13 J22 |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7438&r=dem |
| By: | Pastore, Francesco (University of Naples II); Sattar, Sarosh (World Bank); Tiongson, Erwin R. (World Bank) |
| Abstract: | Very little is known about gender wage disparities in Kosovo and, to date, nothing is known about how such wage disparities evolve over time, particularly during the first few years spent by young workers in the labor market. More generally, not much is known about gender wage gaps in early career worldwide, a period which is perceived to be an important determinant of the overall gender wage disparity. This paper analyzes data from the School-to-Work Transition (SWT) survey, an unusual survey conducted by the ILO between 2004 and 2006 in eight countries, including Kosovo, that documents the labor market experiences of the youngest age segment in the labor force (age 15–25 years). The results of the analysis suggest that, on average, women have lower education attainment than men but this educational disparity is masked among the sample of employed men and women who tend to be well-educated. The consequences of this dramatic segmentation of labor market participation are striking. On average, there is little or no gender wage gap. The results of the Juhn et al. (1993) decomposition analysis reveals that gender wage differences are almost entirely driven by differences in characteristics (rather than either the returns to those characteristics or the residual). The greater average educational attainment of employed women, among other characteristics, tends to fully offset the gender wage gap. Not surprisingly, the returns to women's education among employed women are low because there is little variation in educational attainment among the sample of well-educated employed women. When the analysis controls for sample selection bias and heterogeneity, the returns to women's education rise, confirming the lower productivity-related characteristics of non-employed women compared to employed women. The relatively small sample constrains a fuller analysis of the emergence of the gender wage gap, which, according to a small but growing international literature, typically materializes during childbearing years. |
| Keywords: | gender wage gap and dynamics, early labor market outcomes, school-to-work transitions, earnings equations, decomposition analysis, Balkans area, Kosovo |
| JEL: | I21 J13 J15 J16 J24 J31 J7 P30 |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7461&r=dem |
| By: | Vanessa Mertins (Institute for Labour Law and Industrial Relations in the EU, University of Trier); Susanne Warning (University of Augsburg) |
| Abstract: | It has recently been claimed that women’s social preferences are easier to manipulate than men’s. We tested for gender differences in responsiveness to a homo economicus prime in a gift-exchange experiment with 113 participants. We observed gender differences in the direction of prime-to-behavior effects. For men, we found that primed participants behaved more selfishly than non-primed men as expected. However and surprisingly, for women we observed that participants primed toward selfishness behaved less selfishly than non-primed women. To explain this counterintuitive result, we suggest that prime-to-behavior effects are sensitive to individuals’ associations with the prime. We surveyed 452 students to test whether the homo economicus prime activated systematically different associations among men and women. We found strong evidence that women have significantly less positive associations with the homo economicus concept than men, pointing to a likely reason for the observed contrast effect among women. |
| Keywords: | priming, gender difference, gift exchange, experiment |
| JEL: | C91 D03 D63 M52 |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iaa:dpaper:201309&r=dem |
| By: | Kravdal, Øystein (Dept. of Economics, University of Oslo) |
| Abstract: | There have been many studies of how the number of children in a family affects the parents’ or the children’s lives. One strand of this research focuses on the implications of fertility for the parents’ level of self-reported well-being or happiness. It is argued in this paper that an overall “happiness effect” is not very informative because of the presumably large variation in individuals’ perceived gains from having children. Furthermore, it is explained that such an effect would be difficult to estimate. Most importantly, the highly varying ideas about how a child will affect life quality are important for the decision about whether to have a child. Many of those who have few or no children have chosen this because they think their life will be best this way, and their happiness therefore tells us little about how happy their more fertile counterparts - who to a large extent have other preferences – would have been if they had few or no children. This estimation problem that arises because expectations about the effects of a certain behaviour (here childbearing) are heterogenous, and also affect that very behaviour, is acknowledged in the economics literature, but there is little consciousness about it in the fertility-happiness research. In addition, there is a more “standard” selection problem: factors with implications for childbearing desires, or for the chance of fulfilling these, may also affect or be linked to happiness for other reasons. Unfortunately, even the most advanced statistical approaches that have been used in this research area fail to handle all these problems, so reported results should be interpreted very cautiously. |
| Keywords: | fertility; happiness; effect heterogeneity; mehod; selection; subjective well-being |
| JEL: | J13 |
| Date: | 2013–05–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:osloec:2013_010&r=dem |
| By: | OECD |
| Abstract: | <UL> <LI>In many OECD countries, ECEC services have increased in response to a growing demand for better learning outcomes as well as growing female labour force participation. In recent years, however, the goals of ECEC policy have become more child-centred. </LI> <LI>Fifteen-year-old students who attended early childhood education (ECE) tend to perform better on PISA than those who did not, even after accounting for their socio-economic backgrounds. </LI> <LI>Improving access without giving due attention to the quality of ECEC services is not sufficient to secure good individual and social outcomes. </LI></UL> |
| Date: | 2013–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:eduaaf:11-en&r=dem |
| By: | Bagger, Jesper (Royal Holloway, University of London); Birchenall, Javier A. (University of California, Santa Barbara); Mansour, Hani (University of Colorado Denver); Urzua, Sergio (University of Maryland) |
| Abstract: | We introduce a general framework to analyze the trade-off between education and family size. Our framework incorporates parental preferences for birth order and delivers theoretically consistent birth order and family size effects on children's educational attainment. We develop an empirical strategy to identify these effects. We show that the coefficient on family size in a regression of educational attainment on birth order and family size does not identify the family size effect as defined within our framework, even when the endogeneity of both birth order and family size are properly accounted for. Using Danish administrative data we test the theoretical implications of the model. The data does not reject our theory. We find significant birth order and family size effects in individuals' years of education thereby confirming the presence of a quantity-quality trade off. |
| Keywords: | quantity-quality trade off, fertility models, fixed-effects, instrumental variables |
| JEL: | E20 E24 D52 |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7454&r=dem |
| By: | John T. Addison (Department of Economics, Moore School of Business, University of South Carolina, and GEMF / University of Coimbra, Portugal); Orgul D.Ozturk (Department of Economics, Moore School of Business, University of South Carolina); Si Wang (Department of Economics, Moore School of Business, University of South Carolina) |
| Abstract: | Data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 indicate that between 1996 and 2010 females on average lost some of the promotion momentum they had achieved at the beginning of mid-career, although they outperformed males in this regard. For both genders economic downturn has contributed to reduced promotion probabilities. In the case of women, however, cohort effects rather than the cycle seem to explain the promotion experience during the Great Recession. Promotions translate into higher real wage increases, and typically more so where job responsibilities increase. Crowding effects, if not necessarily a thing of the past, are no longer manifested in reduced female promotion rates or earnings. |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gmf:wpaper:2013-16.&r=dem |
| By: | Mary C. Daly; Daniel J. Wilson |
| Abstract: | A large body of past research, looking across countries, states, and metropolitan areas, has found positive and statistically significant associations between income inequality and mortality. By contrast, in recent years more robust statistical methods using larger and richer data sources have generally pointed to little or no relationship between inequality and mortality. This paper aims both to document how methodological shortcomings tend to positively bias this statistical association and to advance this literature by estimating the inequality-mortality relationship. We use a comprehensive and rich new data set that combines U.S. county-level data for 1990 and 2000 on age-race-gender-specific mortality rates, a rich set of observable covariates, and previously unused Census data on local income inequality (Gini index and three income percentile ratios). Using panel data estimation techniques, we find evidence of a statistically significant negative relationship between mortality and inequality. This finding that increased inequality is associated with declines in mortality at the county level suggests a change in course for the literature. In particular, the emphasis to date on the potential psychosocial and resource allocation costs associated with higher inequality is likely missing important offsetting positives that may dominate. |
| Keywords: | Mortality - United States ; Health |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedfwp:2013-13&r=dem |
| By: | Gilles Pison (Ined); Laetitia Douillot (Ined); Géraldine Duthé (Ined); Malick Kante (Ined); Cheikh Sokhna (Ined); Jean-François Trape (Ined) |
| Abstract: | Child mortality has declined in Sub-Saharan Africa over the last 60 years but the decrease has not been regular: it has accelerated over some periods, as during the last decade, and slowed down in others. This is not solely attributable to HIV/AIDS. This paper examines in detail the trends observed in Senegal, an example of a country with low HIV prevalence but where trends in mortality have resembled those of the whole region. Both national and local level data are used, in particular the data on mortality and causes of deaths produced by the demographic surveillance systems (DSS) in the three rural areas of Bandafassi, Mlomp and Niakhar. Although Senegal experienced an appreciable fall in under-five mortality from the end of World War II, the country experienced a fifteen year stagnation in child mortality in the late 1980s and 1990s. This halt was due to a slowdown in vaccination efforts and a resurgence of malaria mortality linked to the spread of chloroquine resistance. The decrease in malaria and other infectious diseases thanks to renewed vaccination efforts and investment in anti-malaria programmes appears to be the main factor responsible for the return to a very rapid decline in under-five mortality observed during the 2000s. |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idg:wpaper:195&r=dem |
| By: | Weiler, Anni |
| Keywords: | social dialogue, gender equality, women workers, workers participation, EU countries, dialogue social, égalité des genres, travailleuses, participation des travailleurs, pays de l'UE, diálogo social, igualdad de géneros, trabajadoras, participación de los trabajadores, países de la UE |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ilo:ilowps:471565&r=dem |
| By: | Doepke, Matthias (Northwestern University) |
| Abstract: | Child labor is often condemned as a form of exploitation. I explore how the notion of exploitation, as used in everyday language, can be made precise in economic models of child labor. Exploitation is defined relative to a specific social welfare function. I first show that under the standard dynastic social welfare function, which is commonly applied to intergenerational models, child labor is never exploitative. In contrast, under an inclusive welfare function, which places additional weight on the welfare of children, child labor is always exploitative. Neither welfare function captures the more gradual distinctions that common usage of the term exploitation allows. I resolve this conflict by introducing a welfare function with minimum altruism, in which child labor in a given family is judged relative to a specific social standard. Under this criterion, child labor is exploitative only in families where the parent (or guardian) displays insufficient altruism towards the child. I argue that this welfare function best captures the conventional concept of exploitation and has useful properties for informing political choices regarding child labor. |
| Keywords: | child labor, exploitation, social welfare function, altruism |
| JEL: | D63 D64 J10 J47 J80 |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7449&r=dem |
| By: | Tominey, Emma (University of York) |
| Abstract: | Female labor supply can insure households against shocks to paternal employment. The paper estimates whether the female labor supply response to a paternal employment shock differs by eligibility to maternity employment protection. We exploit time-state variation in the implementation of unpaid maternity leave through the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) in the US which increased employment protection from 0 to 12 weeks. We find that mothers eligible for FMLA speed up their return to work in response to a paternal shock, with a conditional probability of being in work 53% higher than in households with no paternal shock. In contrast, there was a negligible insurance response for mothers with no employment protection. |
| Keywords: | female labor supply, insurance, maternity leave |
| JEL: | I30 J13 J20 J64 |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7462&r=dem |
| By: | Millimet, Daniel L. (Southern Methodist University); Roy, Manan (IMPAQ International, LLC) |
| Abstract: | Food security and obesity represent two of the most significant public health issues. However, little is known about how these issues are intertwined. Here, we assess the causal relationship between food security during early childhood and relatively long-run measures of child health. Identifying this causal relationship is complicated due to endogenous selection and misclassification errors. To overcome these difficulties, we utilize a nonparametric bounds approach along with data from the ECLS-K and ECLS-B. The analysis reveals a positive association between food insecurity and future child obesity in the absence of misclassification. However, under relatively innocuous assumptions concerning the selection process, we often obtain bounds that indicate a negative causal effect of food insecurity on future child obesity. All results are extremely sensitive to misclassification. |
| Keywords: | food insecurity, health outcomes, nonclassical measurement error, nonparametric bounds |
| JEL: | C14 C21 I12 I32 |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7457&r=dem |
| By: | Doepke, Matthias (Northwestern University); Zilibotti, Fabrizio (University of Zurich) |
| Abstract: | We discuss the two-way link between culture and economic growth. We present a model of endogenous technical change where growth is driven by the innovative activity of entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurship is risky and requires investments that affect the steepness of the lifetime consumption profile. As a consequence, the occupational choice of entrepreneurship hinges on risk tolerance and patience. Parents expecting their children to become entrepreneurs have an incentive to instill these two values in their children. Cultural transmission is Beckerian, i.e., parents are driven by the desire to maximize their children's happiness. We also consider, in an extension, a paternalistic motive for preference transmission. The growth rate of the economy depends on the fraction of the population choosing an entrepreneurial career. How many entrepreneurs there are in a society hinges, in turn, on parental investments in children's patience and risk tolerance. There can be multiple balanced-growth paths, where in faster-growing countries more people exhibit an "entrepreneurial spirit." We discuss applications of models of endogenous preferences to the analysis of socio-economic transformations, such as the British Industrial Revolution. We also discuss empirical studies documenting the importance of culture and preference heterogeneity for economic growth. |
| Keywords: | culture, entrepreneurship, innovation, economic growth, endogenous preferences, intergenerational preference transmission |
| JEL: | J20 O10 O40 |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7459&r=dem |
| By: | FitzRoy, Felix (University of St. Andrews); Nolan, Michael A. (University of Hull); Steinhardt, Max (Hamburg Institute of International Economics (HWWI)); Ulph, David (University of St. Andrews) |
| Abstract: | In contrast to previous results combining all ages we find positive effects of comparison income on happiness for the under 45s, and negative effects for those over 45. In the BHPS these coefficients are several times the magnitude of own income effects. In GSOEP they cancel to give no effect of effect of comparison income on life satisfaction in the whole sample, when controlling for fixed effects, and time-in-panel, and with flexible, age-group dummies. The residual age-happiness relationship is hump-shaped in all three countries. Results are consistent with a simple life cycle model of relative income under uncertainty. |
| Keywords: | subjective life-satisfaction, comparison income, reference groups, age, welfare |
| JEL: | D10 I31 J10 |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7452&r=dem |
| By: | Millimet, Daniel L. (Southern Methodist University); Tchernis, Rusty (Georgia State University) |
| Abstract: | While childhood obesity has become a significant public health concern over the last few decades, knowledge concerning the origins of or persistence in childhood anthropometric measures is incomplete. Here, we utilize several nonparametric measures of mobility to assess the evolution of weight, height, and body mass index during early childhood. We find that mobility is quite high prior to primary school and then declines noticeably. However, there are important sources of heterogeneity, including race, gender, and age, that should prove insightful to researchers and policymakers. |
| Keywords: | childhood obesity, persistence, mobility |
| JEL: | C23 I12 I18 |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7453&r=dem |
| By: | OECD |
| Abstract: | <UL> <LI>In some countries, an increasing number of young people are neither in employment, nor in education or training (NEET). A high proportion of NEETs is an indicator of a difficult transition between school and work. </LI> <LI>Higher educational attainment eases the transition into employment. </LI> <LI>Demographic changes, economic conditions and cultural gender role expectations affect the transition process. But flexible school-work arrangements can have a positive impact on the transition to employment. </LI></UL> |
| Date: | 2013–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:eduaaf:13-en&r=dem |
| By: | Dammert, Ana C. (Carleton University); Galdo, Jose C. (Carleton University) |
| Abstract: | This study uses a nationally representative survey to analyze a key survey design decision in child labor measurement: self-reporting versus proxy interviewing. The child/proxy disagreement affects 20 percent of the sample, which translates into a 17.1 percentage point difference in the national rate of child labor by type of respondent. As a result, marginal effects from standard child labor supply functions show important child/proxy differences, particularly when the household experienced some adverse weather and income shocks. Moreover, we find that attitudes and social perceptions toward child labor are not related to the likelihood of disagreement, while proxy respondent's past experience as child laborers emerges as an important predictor of the disagreement. A modified bivariate choice model reports statistically significant probabilities of misclassification that ranges between 9 and 30 percent according to alternative definitions of child labor. |
| Keywords: | Peru, survey design, maximum likelihood, self/proxy designs, child labor |
| JEL: | C81 J13 J22 O15 |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7446&r=dem |
| By: | Justin van de Ven (National Institute of Economic and Social Research, London; Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne); Paolo Lucchino (National Institute of Economic and Social Research, London) |
| Abstract: | This paper describes a structural dynamic microsimulation model that generates individual-specific data over a range of demographic and economic characteristics at annual intervals over the life-course. The model is specifically designed to analyse the distributional implications of policy alternatives in terms of their bearing on income and consumption measured over alternative time periods, from one year up to the entire life-course. This focus on economic characteristics measured over appreciable periods of life motivates endogenous simulation of savings and labour supply decisions, taking explicit account of uncertainty regarding the evolving decision environment. Reflecting the demands of policy makers, and in contrast to the majority of the associated literature, the model described here is designed to project from data observed for a population cross-section. |
| Keywords: | Dynamic programming, savings, labor supply |
| JEL: | C51 C61 C63 H31 |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iae:iaewps:wp2013n20&r=dem |
| By: | Simone Gobien; Björn Vollan |
| Abstract: | Mutual aid among villagers in developing countries is often the only means of insuring against economic shocks. We use “lab-in-the-field experiments” in Cambodian villages to study social cohesion in established and newly resettled communities. Both communities are part of a land distribution project. The project participants all signed up voluntarily, and their socio-demographic attributes and pre-existing network ties are similar. We use a version of the “solidarity game” to identify the effect of voluntary resettlement on willingness to help fellow villagers after an income shock. We find a sizeable reduction in willingness to help others. Resettled players transfer on average between 47% and 74% less money than non-resettled players. The effect remains large and significant after controlling for personal network and when controlling for differences in transfer expectations. The costs of voluntary resettlement, not only monetary but also social, seem significantly higher than is commonly assumed by development planners. |
| Keywords: | Voluntary resettlement, Social cohesion, Risk-sharing networks, Monetary transfers, “Lab-in-the-field” experiment, Cambodia |
| JEL: | C93 O15 O22 R23 |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:inn:wpaper:2013-16&r=dem |
| By: | Barbara A. Wasik; Shira Kolnik Mattera; Chrishana M. Lloyd; Kimberly Boller |
| Keywords: | Intervention Dosage, Early Childhood Care, Education |
| JEL: | I |
| Date: | 2013–04–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:7804&r=dem |
| By: | DE GRIP Andries; DUPUY Arnaud; JOLLES Jelle; VAN BOXTEL Martin |
| Abstract: | This paper uses longitudinal test data to analyze the relation between retirement and cognitive development. Controlling for individual fixed effects and lagged cognition, we find that retirees face greater declines in information processing speed than those who remain employed. However, remarkably, their cognitive flexibility declines less, an effect that appears to be persistent 6 years after retirement. Both effects of retirement on cognitive development are comparable to the effect of a five to six-year age difference. Controlling for changes in blood pressure, which are negatively related to cognitive flexibility, we still find lower declines in cognitive flexibility for retirees. Since the decline in information processing speed after retirement holds particularly for the low educated, activating these persons after retirement could lower the social costs of an aging society. |
| Keywords: | Cognitive decline; Labor market activity; Retirement |
| JEL: | J24 J26 |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:irs:cepswp:2013-11&r=dem |
| By: | Gobillon, Laurent (INED, France); Rupert, Peter (University of California, Santa Barbara); Wasmer, Etienne (Sciences Po, Paris) |
| Abstract: | The unemployment rate in France is roughly 6 percentage points higher for African immigrants than for natives. In the US the unemployment rate is approximately 9 percentage points higher for blacks than for whites. Commute time data indicates that minorities face longer commute times to work, potentially reflecting more difficult access to jobs. In this paper we investigate the impact of spatial mismatch on the unemployment rate of ethnic groups using the matching model proposed by Rupert and Wasmer (2012). We find that spatial factors explain between 1 to 1.5 percentage points of the unemployment rate gap in both France and the US, amounting to 17% to 25% of the relative gap in France and about 10% in the US. Among these factors, differences in commuting distance plays the most important role. In France, though, longer commuting distances may be mitigated by higher mobility in the housing market for African workers. Overall, we still conclude that labor market factors remain the main explanation for the higher unemployment rate of Africans. |
| Keywords: | spatial mismatch hypotheses, commuting, job acceptance, ethnic unemployment rates |
| JEL: | J15 J61 R23 |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7448&r=dem |
| By: | Cansu Akpinar-Sposito (Centre de Recherche Magellan - Université Jean Moulin - Lyon III : EA3713) |
| Abstract: | Abstract: This study is particularly focused on the glass ceiling issues and the main career obstacles for female executives based on the findings of a cross-country comparative study between Turkey and France. Prior to collecting the required data, a review was carried out in both countries, the current available and attitudinal studies related to the concept of the 'glass ceiling'. A comparative descriptive analysis was conducted to show differences in career barriers for women between countries. The field study of this project generated 20 semi-structured interviews with 12 main questions concerning their career background and the glass ceiling syndrome with staff from 12 international companies in both France and Turkey. Interviews lasted approximately for one hour and were conducted in French, Turkish and English. After successively analyzing all the transcripts of the interviews, three ideological approaches have been identified from the field study. The three main topics that were mentioned by the women interviewed in both countries were personal Compromises, Career Encouragers, and Corporate Culture. These findings indicated that there were several similar approaches to helping the career advancement of women in both countries and also different approaches which are unique to each country involved in the study. |
| Keywords: | Career barriers, glass ceiling, women in management, Turkey, France. |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-00834098&r=dem |
| By: | Alicia H. Munnell; Anthony Webb; Rebecca Cannon Fraenkel |
| Abstract: | The National Retirement Risk Index (NRRI) measures the share of working-age households who are “at risk” of being unable to maintain their pre-retirement standard of living in retirement. The Index is calculated by comparing households’ projected replacement rates – retirement income as a percent of pre-retirement income – with target rates that would allow them to maintain their living standard. The Index is the percent of households for which the projection falls short of the target. The NRRI is based on the Federal Reserve’s Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF). The SCF is a triennial survey of a nationally representative sample of U.S. households, which collects detailed information on households’ assets, liabilities, and demographic characteristics. The NRRI results show that, even if households work to age 65 and annuitize all their financial assets, including the receipts from reverse mortgages on their homes, more than half of households are at risk. Real – inflation-adjusted – interest rates enter into the NRRI calculation primarily through the assumption that households purchase an inflation-indexed annuity with their assets at retirement. These assets include 401(k)/IRA holdings, financial assets outside of tax-preferred plans, and the proceeds from accessing home equity through a reverse mortgage. The higher the interest rate, the more income these financial assets produce. This effect is partially reduced by the fact that the portion of the house that can be accessed through a reverse mortgage varies inversely with the nominal interest rate. Interest rates do not play a role during the asset accumulation period, because, as described below, assets at 65 are based on the steady relationship by age between wealth and income reported in the SCF. This brief explores the percent of households at risk under two alternative interest rate scenarios: 1) real rates remain at zero as currently suggested by the yield on 10-year Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS); or 2) real rates revert to the 4-percent level experienced when the indexed securities were first introduced in the 1990s. The discussion proceeds as follows. The first section describes the nuts and bolts of constructing the NRRI. The second section discusses the role of interest rates in the NRRI and reports the results. The final section concludes that changing interest rates has only a modest effect on the NRRI, and that, regardless of the interest rate, today’s workers face a major retirement income challenge. |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crr:issbrf:ib2013-9&r=dem |
| By: | Makoto Nakajima; Irina A. Telyukova |
| Abstract: | Reverse mortgage loans (RMLs) allow older homeowners to borrow against housing wealth without moving. In spite of growth in this market, only 2.1% of eligible homeowners had RMLs in 2011. In this paper, we analyze reverse mortgages in a life-cycle model of retirement, calibrated to age-asset profiles. The ex-ante welfare gain from RMLs is sizable at $1,000 per household; ex-post, low-income, low-wealth and poor-health households use them. Bequest motives, nursing-home moving risk, house price risk, and interest and insurance costs all contribute to the low take-up rate. The model predicts market potential for RMLs to be 5.5% of households. |
| Keywords: | Mortgages ; Mortgage loans, Reverse ; Housing ; Retirement ; Home equity loans |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedpwp:13-27&r=dem |
| By: | MORIKAWA Masayuki |
| Abstract: | Human capital is a fundamental determinant of long-run economic growth. This paper, using micro data from the Employment Status Survey in 2007, analyzes the effects of postgraduate education on labor participation and wages. According to the analysis, 1) the employment-population rates of females and elderly people with a postgraduate education is higher than those with an undergraduate education. The negative effect of marriage and spouse's income on labor participation is small for postgraduate females. 2) The relative poverty rate is lower for people with a postgraduate education. 3) The wage premium for postgraduates relative to undergraduates is about 30%, but is small for public sector workers and large for the self-employed. 4) The postgraduate wage premium is similar in magnitude for male and female workers. 5) The wage reduction after age 60 is smaller for workers with a postgraduate education. 6) The private rate of return to postgraduate education exceeds 10%. Under the trend toward advanced technology and the growing demand for human capital, postgraduate education is becoming important to vitalize the Japanese economy. At the same time, expansion of postgraduate education may contribute to increasing the labor participation of females and elderly people. |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:rdpsjp:13046&r=dem |
| By: | Sarah Avellar; rew Clarkwest; M. Robin Dion; Subuhi Asheer; Kelley Borradaile; Megan Hague Angus; Timothy Novak; Julie Redline; Heather Zaveri; Marykate Zukiewicz |
| Keywords: | Catalog, Research, Low-Income Couples, Family Support |
| JEL: | I |
| Date: | 2012–05–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:7796&r=dem |
| By: | Diane Paulsell; Ann M. Berghout; Maegan Lokteff |
| Keywords: | Implementation Measurement, Early Childhood Interventions, Multiple System Levels, Early Childhood |
| JEL: | I |
| Date: | 2013–04–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:7805&r=dem |
| By: | Athena R. Kolbe (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and the Enstiti pou Travay Sosyal ak Syans Sosyal) |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hic:wpaper:147&r=dem |
| By: | Meena, M.S.; Singh, K.M. |
| Abstract: | Inclusion of women in scientific and technological endeavors and realizing women’s intellectual potential is a big challenge as they play a decisive role in many facets of agricultural sector in India. Self-help groups (SHGs) have emerged as an effective mechanism for empowerment through group action. Capacity building through training programmes has a positive impact for motivating the rural women to adopt the food preservation technologies which improved the knowledge level significantly. In pluralistic extension system in India public extension plays an important role. Central Institute of Post-Harvest Engineering & Technology (CIPHET-a unit of Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Ministry of Agriculture, New Delhi), made efforts to support the public extension system through commercialization of processing technologies through social capital, capacity building and transfer of processing technologies among peer members and other rural women. The present case study documents the methods adopted by the Women Advisory Services Providers in providing advisory services to Women Self Help Groups in Punjab state of India in food processing sector and thereby making them socially and economically empowered. |
| Keywords: | Self Help Groups, Market Oriented Advisory Service, Gender empowerment |
| JEL: | O14 O15 O17 Q12 Q13 Q16 |
| Date: | 2013–06–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:47829&r=dem |
| By: | Berge, Erling (Centre for Land Tenure Studies, Norwegian University of Life Sciences); Kambewa, Daimon (University of Malawi); Munthali, Alister (Research Fellow at CSR); Wiig, Henrik (NIBR) |
| Abstract: | This paper is about land tenure relations among the matrilineal and patrilineal cultures in Malawi. Data from the National Agricultural and Livestock Census are used to characterize marriage systems and settlement and landholding patterns for local communities. Marriage systems correspond to customary land tenure patterns of matrilineal or patrilineal land holding. The differences between the two major ways of land holding represent a particular challenge for land reforms intending to unify rules for land tenure and land devolution. <p> The paper discusses the problems of formalisation and the idea of maintaining the diversity. If diversity is not respected there is a chance that some sections of society, especially communities with matrilineal land holding, might be victims of formalization. Based on analogy of the resilience of the patrilineal land holding system in Norway it is argued that a democratic system will have difficulty removing the preferential rights of linage members and it is recommended that the existing land rights are formally recognized and circumscribed by fair procedures. In a situation of diversity one goal of a well-designed land holding system should be to ease the transitions of the diverse customary tenure systems towards systems adapted to the requirements of a modern <p> large scale society rather than to a unified national system. |
| Keywords: | matrilinea; uxorilocal; patrilinea; virilocal; land tenur; inheritance; access rights; use rights; ownership rights; Malawi |
| JEL: | P48 Q15 Z13 |
| Date: | 2013–06–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:nlsclt:2013_009&r=dem |
| By: | Pascal MOSSAY; Pierre PICARD |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we study the social interactions between two populations of individuals living in a city. Agents consume land and benefit from intra and intergroup social interactions. We show that segregation arises in equilibrium: populations become separated in distinct spatial neighborhoods. Two- and three-district urban structures are characterized. For high population ratios or strong intergroup interactions, only three-district cities exist. In other cases, multiplicity of equilibria arises. Moreover, for sufficiently low population ratios or very weak intergroup interactions, all individuals agree on the optimal spatial equilibrium. |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:dpaper:13056&r=dem |
| By: | Eckel, Catherine; Johnson, Cathleen; Montmarquette, Claude |
| Abstract: | The purpose of the study is to better understand human capital investment decisions of the working poor, and to collect information that can be used to design a policy to induce the poor to invest in human capital. We use laboratory experimental methodology to elicit the preferences and observe the choices of the target population of a proposed government policy. We recruited 256 subjects in Montreal, Canada; 72 percent had income below 120 percent of the Canadian poverty level. The combination of survey measures and actual decisions allows us to better understand individual heterogeneity in responses to different subsidy levels. In particular, participants chose between various cash alternatives and educational subsidies, for themselves and for a family member, allowing for the construction of two measures of willingness to invest in education. Two behavioral characteristics, patience and attitude towards risk, are key to understanding the determinants of educational investment for the low-income individuals in this experiment. The decision to save for a family member’s education is somewhat different from that of investing in one’s own education. Patient participants were more likely to save for a family member’s education, but in contrast to investing in one’s own education, a subject’s attitude towards risk played no role. |
| Keywords: | Intertemporal choice, field experiments, risk attitudes, working poor. |
| JEL: | C93 D81 D91 |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:47782&r=dem |
| By: | Luc Arrondel (PSE - Paris-Jourdan Sciences Economiques - CNRS : UMR8545 - École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales [EHESS] - Ecole des Ponts ParisTech - Ecole normale supérieure de Paris - ENS Paris - Institut national de la recherche agronomique (INRA), EEP-PSE - Ecole d'Économie de Paris - Paris School of Economics - Ecole d'Économie de Paris); André Masson (PSE - Paris-Jourdan Sciences Economiques - CNRS : UMR8545 - École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales [EHESS] - Ecole des Ponts ParisTech - Ecole normale supérieure de Paris - ENS Paris - Institut national de la recherche agronomique (INRA), EEP-PSE - Ecole d'Économie de Paris - Paris School of Economics - Ecole d'Économie de Paris) |
| Abstract: | There is a capital taxation puzzle in most developed countries. Since the 1960s, revenues from wealth transfer taxation have been especially low and decreasing as a percentage of GDP, even to the extent of disappearing in quite a number of cases; by contrast, lifetime wealth or capital taxation generates much higher revenues and shows no decreasing trend. The full tax puzzle is certainly not easy to explain. Many usual explanations of the aversion to wealth transfer taxation also imply limited lifetime capital taxation: they cannot justify the very strong collective preference for lifetime capital taxation observed in most countries. On the other hand, capital market imperfections may explain higher levels of lifetime capital taxation, but not the diverging trends of the two components of capital taxation. We think that a key explanatory factor of the tax puzzle in general and of the growing unpopularity of wealth transfer taxation in particular stems from the rising role of family values and links: the family appears to be the only safe investment nowadays in the face of risky globalized markets and the feared retrenchment of the welfare state. Any realistic reform must take this social and political constraint into account. Most reformist economists think that lifetime wealth or capital taxation could act as quite an efficient substitute for too unpopular taxes on wealth transfers. We offer an alternative solution which recommends heavier and more progressive taxation on family inheritances (only) while allowing for various legal loopholes to avoid the tax. It could hence prompt parents driven by family altruism to increase (early) inter vivos transfers to their progeny and people driven by social altruism to make more charitable gifts and bequests, and would bring in additional and welcome revenues. |
| Keywords: | Optimal taxation; Wealth; Inheritance |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:psewpa:halshs-00834189&r=dem |
| By: | Burger, Rulof (Stellenbosch University); van der Berg, Servaas (Stellenbosch University); Von Fintel, Dieter (Stellenbosch University) |
| Abstract: | In the late 1990s the South African Department of Education implemented two policies that were meant to reduce the large number of over-age learners in the school system: schools were no longer allowed to accept students who were more than two years older than the correct grade-age and students could not be held back more than once in each of four schooling phases. Our analysis uses school administrative data and household survey data to show that these policies coincided with a decrease in school enrolment of at least 400,000 and possibly more than 900,000 learners. These policies appear to have pushed many students into the labour market at earlier ages than was observed for previous generations, which explains much of the sudden increase in labour force participation and unemployment during this period. However, since these individuals would probably have entered the labour market sooner if not for their poor employment prospects, we argue that the resulting increase in unemployment signifies a more accurate reflection of disguised unemployment that already existed in the mid-1990s rather than a deterioration of labour market conditions. |
| Keywords: | South Africa, education, unemployment, participation |
| JEL: | J21 I25 J64 |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7450&r=dem |
| By: | Holden, Stein (Centre for Land Tenure Studies, Norwegian University of Life Sciences) |
| Abstract: | This study revisits the issue whether poverty and shocks are associated with high discount rates by using an incentive compatible Multiple Price List approach in a poor rural population in Africa where a substantial share of the population had been affected by drought in the recent rainy season. Randomized treatments included tests for present bias, magnitude effects and time horizon effects. While the study revealed significant present bias, magnitude and time horizon effects, average rates of time preference remained high after correcting for risk aversion. Exposure to drought increased the average rates of time preference by 42-47%. |
| Keywords: | Time preferences; poverty; climatic shocks; risk aversion; artifactual field experiment; Multiple Price List approach; Malawi |
| JEL: | C93 D91 Q54 |
| Date: | 2013–06–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:nlsclt:2013_008&r=dem |
| By: | Liliana Bernal Franco (CERAC); Claudia Navas Caputo (CERAC) |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hic:wpaper:148&r=dem |
| By: | John Jerrim (University of London); Álvaro Choi (Universitat de Barcelona & IEB) |
| Abstract: | English policymakers have been disappointed with children’s performance on TIMSS and PISA, particularly in comparison to the results of young people from East Asia. In this paper we provide new insight into the England – East Asia gap by considering how cross-national differences in math test scores change between ages 10 and 16. Our results suggest that, although average math test scores are higher in East Asian countries, this gap does not increase between ages 10 and 16. Thus, reforming the secondary school system may not be the most effective way for England to ‘catch up’. Rather earlier intervention, during pre-school and primary school, may be needed instead. |
| Keywords: | PISA, TIMSS, educational policy, primary education, secondary education |
| JEL: | I20 I21 I28 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ieb:wpaper:2013/6/doc2013-12&r=dem |
| By: | Groce, Nora; Murray, Barbara; Loeb, Marie; Tramontano, Carlo; Trani, Jean Francois; Mekonen, Asfaw |
| Keywords: | begging, disabled person, disability, rights of disabled people, poverty, urban area, Ethiopia, mendicité, handicapé, incapacité, droits des personnes handicapées, pauvreté, zone urbaine, Ethiopie, mendicidad, persona con discapacidad, discapacidad, derechos de las personas con discapacidad, pobreza, zona urbana, Etiopia |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ilo:ilowps:480691&r=dem |