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on Unemployment, Inequality and Poverty |
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Issue of 2009‒12‒19
four papers chosen by |
| By: | Torben Sørensen (School of Economics and Management, University of Aarhus, Denmark); Rune Vejlin (School of Economics and Management, University of Aarhus, Denmark) |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates a Mincerian wage equation with worker, firm, and match specific fixed effects and thereby complements the growing empirical literature started by the seminal paper of Abowd, Kramarz and Margolis (1999). The analysis takes advantage of the extensive Danish IDA data, which provides wage information on the whole working population for a 24-year period. We find that the major part of wage dispersion in the Danish labor market can be explained by differences in worker characteristics. However, the relative contribution of the three components varies across subgroups of workers. The match effect contributes a non-neglible part to the overall wage dispersion and, fur- thermore, corrects the estimated returns to experience. An analysis of inter-industry wage differentials shows that firm characteristics are more important at the industry level than at the worker level. Like- wise, we find evidence of high wage workers sorting into high wage industries but not into high wage firms within industries. The mobility pattern of workers is related to the quality of the firm and the match, and we find that the wage gain from job mobility depends on worker characteristics. |
| Keywords: | MEE data, fixed effects, wage dispersion |
| JEL: | J21 J31 |
| Date: | 2009–12–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aah:aarhec:2009-11&r=ltv |
| By: | Sabatini Fabio |
| Abstract: | This paper uses a dataset built by the author on the basis of raw data taken from different national surveys to carry out an investigation into the socio-economic determinants of couples’ childbearing decisions in Italy. Since having children is in most cases a “couple matter”, the analysis accounts for the characteristics of both the aspiring parents. Our results contradict theoretical predictions according to which the increase in the opportunity cost of motherhood connected to higher female labour participation is responsible for the fall in fertility. On the contrary, the instability of the women’s work status (i.e. their being occasional, precarious, and low-paid workers) reveals to be a significant and strong dissuasive deterrent discouraging the decision to have children. Couples with unemployed women are less likely to plan childbearing as well. Other relevant explanatory variables are age, current family size, and the strength of family ties. |
| Keywords: | Fertility, Family planning, Childbearing, Labour market, Female participation, Labour precariousness, Social capital, Italy |
| JEL: | C25 J13 Z1 |
| Date: | 2009–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ter:wpaper:0059&r=ltv |
| By: | Martin Ravallion (World Bank) |
| Abstract: | The government of a rich country will be disinclined to give its aid to a country that has internal capacity to tackle poverty through redistribution from people at a similar standard of living to taxpayers in that rich country. Yet we do not have tools for measuring the capacity for redistribution that reflect this property. Indeed, past measures imply heavy tax burdens on people who would be considered poor in rich countries. |
| Keywords: | Do Poorer Countries Have Less Capacity for Redistribution? |
| Date: | 2009–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipc:opager:97&r=ltv |
| By: | Chakrabarti, Anindya S.; Chakrabarti, Bikas K. |
| Abstract: | The distributions of income and wealth in countries across the world are found to possess some robust and stable features independent of the specific economic, social and political conditions of the countries. We discuss a few physics-inspired multi-agent dynamic models along with their microeconomic counterparts, that can produce the statistical features of the distributions observed in reality. A number of exact analytical methods and solutions are also provided. -- |
| Keywords: | Income distribution,wealth distribution,inequality,exchange economies,money |
| JEL: | C00 C31 D51 |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ifwedp:200945&r=ltv |