nep-ltv New Economics Papers
on Unemployment, Inequality and Poverty
Issue of 2020‒01‒13
six papers chosen by



  1. Field experiments and the practice of economics By Banerjee, Abhijit
  2. Field experiments and the practice of policy By Duflo, Esther
  3. Experimentation, Innovation, and Economics By Kremer, Michael
  4. Better off? Distributional comparisons for ordinal data about personal well-being By Jenkins, Stephen P.
  5. Coordinated Work Schedules and the Gender Wage Gap By German Cubas; Chinhui Juhn; Pedro Silos
  6. Randomization and Social Policy Evaluation Revisited By James J. Heckman

  1. By: Banerjee, Abhijit (MIT)
    Abstract: Abhijit Banerjee delivered his Prize Lecture on Sunday 8 December 2019, at the Aula Magna, Stockholm University.
    Keywords: poverty; field experiments;
    JEL: C90 I30
    Date: 2019–12–08
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:nobelp:2019_003&r=all
  2. By: Duflo, Esther (MIT)
    Abstract: Esther Duflo delivered her Prize Lecture on Sunday 8 December 2019, at the Aula Magna, Stockholm University.
    Keywords: poverty; field experiments;
    JEL: C90 I30
    Date: 2019–12–08
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:nobelp:2019_004&r=all
  3. By: Kremer, Michael (Harvard University)
    Abstract: Michael Kremer delivered his Prize Lecture on Sunday 8 December 2019, at the Aula Magna, Stockholm University.
    Keywords: poverty; field experiments;
    JEL: C90 I30
    Date: 2019–12–08
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:nobelp:2019_005&r=all
  4. By: Jenkins, Stephen P.
    Abstract: How to undertake distributional comparisons when personal well-being is measured using income is well-established. But what if personal well-being is measured using subjective well- being indicators such as life satisfaction or self-assessed health status? Has average well-being increased or well-being inequality decreased? How does the distribution of well-being in New Zealand compare with that in Australia, or between young and old people in New Zealand? This paper addresses questions such as these, stimulated by the increasing weight put on subjective well-being measures by international agencies such as the OECD and national governments including New Zealand’s. The paper reviews the methods appropriate for distributional comparisons in the ordinal data context, comparing them with those routinely used for comparisons of income distributions. The methods are illustrated using data from the World Values Survey.
    Keywords: Inequality; ordinal data; subjective well-being; life satisfaction; world Values Survey; ES/L009153/1
    JEL: D31 D63 I31
    Date: 2019–11–22
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:102585&r=all
  5. By: German Cubas; Chinhui Juhn; Pedro Silos
    Abstract: Using U.S. time diary data we construct occupation-level measures of coordinated work schedules based on the concentration of hours worked during peak hours of the day. A higher degree of coordination is associated with higher wages but also a larger gender wage gap. In the data women with children allocate more time to household care and are penalized by missing work during peak hours. An equilibrium model with these key elements generates a gender wage gap of 6.6 percent or approximately 30 percent of the wage gap observed among married men and women with children. If the need for coordination is equalized across occupations and set to a relatively low value (i.e. Health care support), the gender gap would fall by more than half to 2.7 percent.
    JEL: E24 J2 J3
    Date: 2019–12
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:26548&r=all
  6. By: James J. Heckman (The University of Chicago)
    Abstract: This paper examines the case for randomized controlled trials in economics. I revisit my previous paper "Randomization and Social Policy Evaluation" and update its message. I present a brief summary of the history of randomization in economics. I identify two waves of enthusiasm for the method as "Two Awakenings" because of the near-religious zeal associated with each wave. The First Wave substantially contributed to the development of microeconometrics because of the flawed nature of the experimental evidence. The Second Wave has improved experimental designs to avoid some of the technical statistical issues identified by econometricians in the wake of the First Wave. However, the deep conceptual issues about parameters estimated, and the economic interpretation and the policy relevance of the experimental results have not been addressed in the Second Wave.
    Keywords: field experiments, randomized control trials
    JEL: C93
    Date: 2019–12
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hka:wpaper:2019-073&r=all

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