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on Demographic Economics |
| By: | Huong Dinh; Maria Racionero |
| Abstract: | Do mothers and fathers differ in the way they trade off childcare time for market time? We examine the effects of increases in own and partner’s market time on parents’ primary and secondary childcare time. We use time-diary data on couples with children from the 2006 Australian Time Use Survey and employ a system of censored regression equations of the time parents spend in primary childcare, secondary childcare and market work. We find that mothers and fathers adjust their childcare time differently depending on which partner (father or mother) changes market time, which childcare type (primary or secondary) is considered and the age group their youngest child belongs to (less than 5 years or 5-14 years old). Our results suggest that there is a gender difference in the way each member of the couple adjusts primary and secondary childcare time in response to an increase in own or partner’s market time that may need to be accounted for when considering policies to promote female labour participation. |
| Keywords: | childcare time, market time, gender, time use |
| JEL: | J13 J22 |
| Date: | 2016–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:acb:cbeeco:2016-644&r=dem |
| By: | Michael Levere; Gayatri Acharya; Prashant Bharadwaj |
| Abstract: | While substantial progress has been made in combating malnutrition at a global level, chronic maternal and child malnutrition remains a serious problem in many parts of the developing world. In this paper, using a randomized control trial design in Nepal, we evaluate a program that provided information on best practices regarding child care and cash to families in extremely poor areas with pregnant mothers and/or children below the age of 2. We find significant and sizable impacts of the information plus cash intervention on maternal knowledge, behavior, child development, and nutrition. The size of these impacts along some measures of knowledge and development are significantly different from the information only intervention group suggesting a potential role for providing a short term cash safety net along with information to tackle the problem of malnutrition. |
| JEL: | I15 |
| Date: | 2016–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:22640&r=dem |
| By: | Jaison R. Abel; Richard Deitz |
| Abstract: | Though labor market conditions steadily improved following the Great Recession, underemployment among recent college graduates continued to climb, reaching highs not seen since the early 1990s. In this paper, we take a closer look at the jobs held by underemployed college graduates in the early stages of their careers during the first few years after the Great Recession. Contrary to popular perception, we show that relatively few recent graduates were working in low-skilled service jobs, and that many of the underemployed worked in fairly well paid non-college jobs requiring some degree of knowledge and skill. We also find that the likelihood of being underemployed was lower for those with more quantitatively oriented and occupation-specific majors than it was for those with degrees in general fields. Moreover, our analysis suggests that underemployment is a temporary phase for many recent college graduates as they transition to better jobs after spending some time in the labor market, particularly those who start their careers in low-skilled service jobs. |
| JEL: | I23 J23 J24 J62 |
| Date: | 2016–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:22654&r=dem |
| By: | Apouey, Bénédicte H. |
| Abstract: | Objectives. Social health inequalities remain a key policy challenge. The existing literature has not presented a synthetic view on the evolution of inequalities in physical development across childhood. We examine social disparities as children grow older using a range of different outcomes. Study design. Population-based secondary data analysis. Methods. We employ longitudinal data on British children ages 9 months to 12 years from the Millennium Cohort Study (N=13,811-18,987) and focus on multiple child physical measures: weight, BMI, overweight, fat mass, and waist circumference. Results. Higher family income is associated with lower BMI (for females), less body fat, and a smaller likelihood of overweight (for both genders) on average throughout childhood. When income is multiplied by three, the probability of overweight decreases by 2.8 (95% CI -0.041 to -0.016) percentage points for females and by 2.7 (95% CI -0.038 to -0.016) percentage points for males. Social inequalities in weight, BMI, overweight, and body fat significantly widen as children grow older, for both genders. For instance, for females, when income is multiplied by three, the probability of overweight decreases by 1.6 (95% CI -0.032 to -0.000) percentage points at ages 2-3, but by 8.6 (95% CI -0.112 to -0.060) percentage points at ages 10-12. Conclusions. The trajectory of social inequalities, which may reflect the cumulative effect of family socioeconomic status, is a precursor of inequalities in adulthood. |
| Keywords: | Longitudinal Studies; Inequalities; Socioeconomic Status; Child; Physical Development. |
| JEL: | I14 I18 |
| Date: | 2016–09–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:73771&r=dem |
| By: | Bloom, David E.; Kuhn, Michael; Prettner, Klaus |
| Abstract: | We analyze the economic consequences for less developed countries of investing in female health. We do this through developing and calibrating a novel micro-founded dynamic general equilibrium model in which parents trade off the number of children against investments in their education and in which we allow for health-related gender differences in productivity. We show that better female health speeds up the demographic transition and thereby the take-off toward sustained economic growth. By contrast, male health improvements delay the transition and take-off because ceteris paribus they raise fertility. Investing in female health is therefore a potent lever for promoting development. |
| Keywords: | economic development,educational transition,female health,fertility transition,quality-quantity trade-off |
| JEL: | O11 I15 I25 J13 J16 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:hohdps:112016&r=dem |
| By: | Walter Shelley (University at Albany, SUNY); Colleen Wynn (University at Albany, SUNY) |
| Abstract: | Research indicates youth who face family instability have more negative outcomes than youth who remain in stable families. A gap in the literature is whether following family instability youth will move to a neighborhood with more disorder. Individuals that transition to neighborhoods with more disorder have profound negative effects in comparison to those who remain in higher quality neighborhoods. This study employs longitudinal data from the Fragile Families Study to determine whether family instability increases youths’ risk of movement to a lower quality neighborhood, and whether the effects of family instability in conjunction with movement to lower quality neighborhood impact educational outcomes, internalizing problem behaviors, and externalizing problem behaviors in comparison to youth only experiencing family instability. We find family instability significantly increases the odds of youth moving to lower quality neighborhoods, and youth display increased internalizing and externalizing problem behaviors following both family instability and movement to lower quality neighborhoods. |
| JEL: | R20 |
| Date: | 2016–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pri:crcwel:wp16-09-ff&r=dem |
| By: | Averett, Susan L. (Lafayette College); Smith, Julie K. (Lafayette College); Wang, Yang (University of Wisconsin-Madison) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the effect of minimum wage increases on the self-reported health of teenage workers. We use a difference-in-differences estimation strategy and data from the Current Population Survey, and disaggregate the sample by race/ethnicity and gender to uncover the differential effects of changes in the minimum wage on health. We find that white women are more likely to report better health with a minimum wage increase while Hispanic men report worse health. |
| Keywords: | minimum wage, self-reported health, teenagers |
| JEL: | I10 I18 J15 J16 |
| Date: | 2016–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10185&r=dem |