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on Demographic Economics |
| By: | Claudia Olivetti; Barbara Petrongolo |
| Abstract: | Women in developed economies have made major inroads in labor markets throughout the past century, but remaining gender differences in pay and employment seem remarkably persistent. This paper documents long-run trends in female employment, working hours and relative wages for a wide cross-section of developed economies. It reviews existing work on the factors driving gender convergence, and novel perspectives on remaining gender gaps. The paper finally emphasizes the interplay between gender trends and the evolution of the industry structure. Based on a shift-share decomposition, it shows that the growth in the service share can explain at least half of the overall variation in female hours, both over time and across countries. |
| Keywords: | Female employment, gender gaps, industry structure |
| JEL: | E24 J16 J31 |
| Date: | 2016–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp1410&r=dem |
| By: | Schaner , Simone (Dartmouth College); Das, Smita (Harvard Kennedy School of Government) |
| Abstract: | This paper uses over 20 years of data from Indonesia’s labor force survey to study trends in female labor force participation (FLFP). We find that younger women in urban areas have increased their labor force participation in recent years, largely through wage employment, while younger women in rural areas have reduced their labor force participation, largely by opting out of informal, unpaid employment. We find evidence that wage jobs are more desirable than other types of work and that many women exit wage work due to family and childcare constraints. We outline a research-policy evaluation of female-centered vocational training and job placement services, which may be effective tools to increase FLFP. |
| Keywords: | gender; Indonesia; labor force participation |
| JEL: | J16 J22 O12 |
| Date: | 2016–02–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:adbewp:0474&r=dem |
| By: | Kim, Jinyoung (Korea University); Lee, Jong-Wha (Asiatic Research Institute, Korea University); Shin, Kwanho (Department of Economics, Korea University) |
| Abstract: | This paper introduces a model of gender inequality and economic growth that focuses on the determination of women’s time allocation among market production, home production, child rearing, and child education. The theoretical model is based on Agénor (2012), but differs in several important dimensions. The model is calibrated using microlevel data of Asian economies, and numerous policy experiments are conducted to investigate how various aspects of gender inequality are related to the growth performance of the economy. The analysis shows that improving gender equality can contribute significantly to economic growth by changing females’ time allocation and promoting accumulation of human capital. We find that if gender inequality is completely removed, aggregate income will be about 6.6% and 14.5% higher than the benchmark economy after one and two generations, respectively, while corresponding per capita income will be higher by 30.6% and 71.1% in the hypothetical gender-equality economy. This is because fertility and population decrease as women participate more in the labor market. |
| Keywords: | economic growth; gender inequality; human capital accumulation; labor market; overlapping generations model |
| JEL: | E24 E60 J13 J71 |
| Date: | 2016–02–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:adbewp:0475&r=dem |
| By: | Maria Kleverbeck; Michael Kind |
| Abstract: | In this paper the relationship between parental unemployment at time of children's labor market entrance on the quality of their children's first job is analyzed. Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) for the years 1991-2012 the quality of the first job in terms of wage, permanent position and full-time employment is examined. The results show a negative correlation between fathers' unemployment at the time of children's labor market entrance and their children's first wage, while no significant relation can be found for unemployment or labor market inactivity of mothers. |
| Keywords: | Parental Unemployment, Quality of First Job |
| JEL: | J31 J62 J64 J65 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp820&r=dem |
| By: | Andrew Shaver (Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University); Jacob N. Shapiro (Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Department of Politics, Princeton University) |
| Abstract: | Scholars of civil war and insurgency have long posited that insurgent organizations and their state enemies incur costs for the collateral damage they cause. We provide the first direct quantitative evidence that wartime informing is affected by civilian casualties. Using newly declassified data on tip flow to Coalition forces in Iraq we find that information flow goes down after government forces inadvertently kill civilians and it goes up when insurgents do so. These results confirm a relationship long posited in the theoretical literature on insurgency but never directly observed, have strong policy implications, and are consistent with a broad range of circumstantial evidence on the topic. |
| Date: | 2016–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hic:wpaper:210&r=dem |
| By: | Fu, Shihe (Southwestern University of Finance and Economics); Liao, Yu (Clark University); Zhang, Junfu (Clark University) |
| Abstract: | This paper uses the 2011 China Household Finance Survey data to estimate the effect of change in housing value on homeowners' labor force participation. Using the average housing capital gains of other homes in the same community as an instrument for the housing capital gains of a given household, we find that a 100 thousand yuan increase in housing value leads to a 1.37 percentage point decrease in female homeowners' probability of participating in the labor force and a 1.49 percentage point increase in their probability of becoming housewives. We find little effect on men's labor force participation. |
| Keywords: | housing wealth effect, housing price, labor supply, labor force participation |
| JEL: | J21 J22 R20 R30 |
| Date: | 2016–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9745&r=dem |
| By: | Garnero, Andrea (OECD); Hijzen, Alexander (OECD); Martin, Sébastien (OECD) |
| Abstract: | This paper provides comprehensive cross-country evidence on the relationship between earnings inequality and intra-generational mobility by simulating individual earnings and employment trajectories in the long-term using short panel data for 24 OECD countries. On average across countries, about 25% of earnings inequality in a given year evens out over the life cycle as a result of mobility. Moreover, mobility is not systematically higher in countries with more earnings inequality in general. However, a positive and statistically significant relationship is found only in the bottom of the distribution. This reflects the role of mobility between employment and unemployment and not that of mobility up and down the earnings ladder. |
| Keywords: | intra-generational mobility, life-time inequality, earnings-experience profiles, simulation |
| JEL: | E24 J30 J62 O57 |
| Date: | 2016–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9753&r=dem |
| By: | Bertrand, Marianne; Cortes, Patricia; Olivetti, Claudia; Pan, Jessica |
| Abstract: | In most of the developed world, skilled women marry at a lower rate than unskilled women. We document heterogeneity across countries in how the marriage gap for skilled women has evolved over time. As labor market opportunities for women have improved, the marriage gap has been growing in some countries but shrinking in others. We discuss a theoretical model in which the (negative) social attitudes towards working women might contribute towards the lower marriage rate of skilled women, and might also induce a non-linear relationship between their labor market prospects and their marriage outcomes. The model is suited to understand the dynamics of the marriage gap for skilled women over time within a country with set social attitudes towards working women. The model also delivers predictions about how the marriage gap for skilled women should react to changes in their labor market opportunities across countries with more or less conservative attitudes towards working women. We test the key predictions of this model in a panel of 23 developed countries, as well as in a panel of US states. |
| Date: | 2016–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:11124&r=dem |