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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Åslund, Olof (Uppsala University, Uppsala Center for Labor Studies (UCLS), the Institute for Evaluation of Labor Market and Education Policy (IFAU), IZA, CReAM); Karimi, Arizo (Uppsala University, UCLS, IFAU); Sundberg, Anton (Uppsala University, UCLS, IFAU) |
| Abstract: | We present evidence that shared institutional and economic contexts may be at least as im portant as culturally rooted gender equality norms for the size of the motherhood penalty. Our study covers child migrants and children of immigrants in Sweden, and while the results point to a moderate but statistically robust negative association between source country gender equality and the labor market impact of motherhood, the overall picture is more one of similarity across highly diverse groups. All groups of mothers exhibit qual itatively comparable labor market trajectories following first childbirth, but penalties are somewhat greater among those descending from the most gender unequal societies. |
| Keywords: | Motherhood penalty; Cultural norms; Earnings inequality; |
| JEL: | J13 J15 J16 |
| Date: | 2025–02–20 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2025_001 |
| By: | Omoniyi Alimi (University of Waikato); Dave Maré (Motu Economic and Public Policy Research) |
| Abstract: | We present estimates of intergenerational earnings persistence (IEP) in New Zealand using linked administrative data. We assemble a dataset of around 288, 000 individuals born between 1986 and 1992 and link them to their parents using data from various administrative datasets, 2013 and 2018 Censuses, and household surveys. We examine inter-generational persistence in outcomes including income source and access to employment. For around 198, 000 cases where both parents and children are actively participating in the labour market (defined as earning wages and salaries for more than 6 months a year), we estimate IEP, including by ethnic groups. Our preferred (IV) overall rank-rank slope of parent-child earning is 0.27. This implies that children experience about one quarter of the earnings advantage or disadvantage of their parents, and that within-family persistence of inequality can explain only a small proportion of sustained inter-family or ethnic disparities. We examine both relative and absolute intergenerational earnings persistence and explore whether persistence depends linearly on parental earnings, varies by ethnicity and gender, or is accounted for by persistence in observed characteristics of children and parents. We discuss the possible causes and consequences of earnings persistence, and the influence of discrimination and racism in the labour market and elsewhere. |
| Keywords: | Intergenerational earnings persistence; ethnicity; Aotearoa New Zealand |
| JEL: | J62 J70 J15 |
| Date: | 2025–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mtu:wpaper:25_01 |
| By: | Sam Desiere (Ghent University); Tiziano Toniolo (UNIVERSITE CATHOLIQUE DE LOUVAIN, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES)); Gert Bijnens (National Bank of Belgium) |
| Abstract: | Policies supporting small businesses are popular among policymakers but often criticised by economists for their potential to distort the economy. This paper provides a comprehensive evaluation of a unique policy that subsidises the first employee. Empirically, we find that the policy led to a surge in the number of firms employing exactly one employee, without a noticeable effect on the number of firms with two or more employees. A simple frictionless general equilibrium model of occupational choices predicts the empirical facts remarkably well. Leveraging our model, we show that the general equilibrium effects on wages and aggregate output are likely to be small. However, the policy is expensive. Our findings support the traditional view that size-dependent subsidies distort the optimal allocation of resources. |
| Keywords: | size-dependent policies; firm entry; small firms; wage subsidies; payroll taxes |
| JEL: | D22 H25 J08 L25 L26 |
| Date: | 2025–03–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ctl:louvir:2025005 |
| By: | Andrén, Daniela (Örebro University School of Business); Andrén, Thomas (Sveriges akademikers centralorganisation); Kahanec, Martin (Central European University (CEU)) |
| Abstract: | When economic crises destabilize labor markets, they offer unique opportunities to explore welfare dynamics and the interplay between partnership formation and social assistance. Using data from Sweden's 1990s economic crisis, characterized by high unemployment, expanding budget deficit, and a large inflow of war refugees from the former Yugoslavia, we examine state dependence in social assistance, which refers to the increased likelihood that households will receive benefits in the future if they have previously received them. Because Swedish social assistance eligibility depends on household-level resources and that partnership formation may correlate with unobserved factors, we focus on individuals who were single in 1990, prior to the recession, tracking their social assistance receipt and household composition over the subsequent decade. This approach allows us to compare individuals who remain single throughout the decade with those who form partnerships, assessing how gender, country of birth, and partnership choices affect state dependence in social assistance. Using a dynamic discrete choice model that addresses both unobserved heterogeneity and initial conditions, we found differences in structural state dependence both between and within the samples of Swedish-born (SB) and foreign-born (FB) individuals. Among singles, SB women exhibit lower structural state dependence than SB men, whereas FB women display slightly higher structural state dependence than FB men but lower than SB men. For FB individuals, the structural state dependence decreases when they partner with a SB individual but increases when they partner with another FB individual, suggesting that partnering with an SB individual may reduce the structural impact of prior welfare dependency, while partnering with an FB individual may reinforce it. |
| Keywords: | welfare persistence; social assistance; structural state dependence; unobserved heterogeneity; dynamic discrete choice model; GHK simulator |
| JEL: | I30 I38 J18 |
| Date: | 2025–03–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:oruesi:2025_005 |
| By: | Schuyler Louie; John Mondragon; Johannes F. Wieland |
| Abstract: | The standard view of housing markets holds that the flexibility of local housing supply—shaped by factors like geography and regulation—strongly affects the response of house prices, house quantities and population to rising housing demand. However, from 2000 to 2020, we find that higher income growth predicts the same growth in house prices, housing quantity, and population regardless of a city’s estimated housing supply elasticity. We find the same pattern when we expand the sample to 1980 to 2020, use different elasticity measures, and when we instrument for local housing demand. Using a general demand-and-supply framework, we show that our findings imply that constrained housing supply is relatively unimportant in explaining differences in rising house prices among U.S. cities. These results challenge the prevailing view of local housing and labor markets and suggest that easing housing supply constraints may not yield the anticipated improvements in housing affordability. |
| Keywords: | house prices; housing supply; affordability; regulation; zoning; land use |
| JEL: | E22 J61 R21 R31 R52 |
| Date: | 2025–03–21 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedfwp:99716 |
| By: | Mutsami, Chrispinus; Parlasca, Martin C.; Qaim, Matin |
| Abstract: | Most households in rural Africa are involved in smallholder farming, but off-farm employment is an important additional income source for many. Previous research has analyzed links between off-farm employment and wellbeing, but mostly at the household level, not considering that household members may be affected differently. In particular, gender gaps in employment, nutrition, and other wellbeing dimensions are widely observed. Here, we use survey data collected in Tanzania and Zambia to examine how women’s off-farm employment influences their individual-level dietary quality. Regression estimates with instrumental variables show that women’s off-farm employment improves their dietary diversity, including more frequent consumption of nutritious foods such as meat, fish, fruits, and vegetables. We also explore potential mechanisms, including changes in household income, women’s agency, and time allocation. The main results hold across various robustness checks, suggesting that improving women’s access to off-farm employment can help increase household income and reduce widespread gender gaps in rural Africa. |
| Keywords: | Community/Rural/Urban Development, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety |
| Date: | 2025–03–24 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:ubzefd:355423 |