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on Unemployment, Inequality and Poverty |
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Issue of 2024‒04‒01
eight papers chosen by |
| By: | Celidoni, Martina; Costa-Font, Joan; Salmasi, Luca |
| Abstract: | Longevity expectations (LE) are subjective assessments of future health status that can influence a number of individual health protective decisions. This is especially true during a pandemic such as COVID-19, as the risk of ill health depends more than ever on such protective decisions. This paper examines the causal effect of LE on some protective health behaviors and a number of decisions regarding forgoing health care using individual differences in LE. We use data from the Survey of Health Ageing and Retirement in Europe, and we draw on an instrumental variable strategy exploiting individual level information on parental age at death. Consistent with the too healthy to be sick hypothesis, we find that individuals, exhibiting higher expected longevity, are more likely to engage in protective behaviours, and are less likely to forgo medical treatment. We estimate that a one standard deviation increase in LE increases the probability to comply always with social distancing by 0.6%, to meet people less often by 0.4% and decreases the probability to forgo any medical treatment by 0.6%. Our estimates vary depending on supply side restrictions influencing the availability of health care, as well as individual characteristics such as their gender and the presence of pre-existing health conditions. |
| Keywords: | coronavirus; Covid-19; longevity expectations; private information; health behaviours; foregone medical treatment; health capital; SHARE; Europe; instrumental variables; forgone medical treatment |
| JEL: | I12 I18 |
| Date: | 2022–10–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:115979&r=ltv |
| By: | Rönnbäck, Klas (Unit for Economic History, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University); Galli, Theodoridis, (Unit for Economic History, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University); Theodoridis, Dimitrios (Unit for Economic History, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University); Faust Larsen, Kathrine (Unit for Economic History, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University) |
| Abstract: | It has been proposed that slave societies were the most unequal societies in recorded human history. What little evidence there is shows an ambiguous picture. We contribute with a study on the wealth distribution in a Caribbean society, based on individual-level data for the full population, combining tax and census records into the largest comparable historical dataset from the Global South. Our results show a distribution of wealth shockingly close to perfect inequality. Our results also show a remarkable degree of persistence: even after slavery was abolished, the freedmen never managed to accumulate physical wealth to any measurable degree. |
| Keywords: | Inequality; wealth; slavery; Caribbean; emancipation; long-term |
| JEL: | D31 J47 N36 |
| Date: | 2024–02–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:gunhis:0035&r=ltv |
| By: | Rönnbäck, Klas (Unit for Economic History, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University); Theodoridis, Dimitrios (Unit for Economic History, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University); Galli, Stefania (Unit for Economic History, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University) |
| Abstract: | In this article, we study what individual and social characteristics made it more likely for an individual to resist slavery. We employ a unique census from the Caribbean island of St. Croix in 1846, which allows us to study not only the characteristics of those that did resist slavery, but also of the whole enslaved population on the island. We analyze this data by using descriptive statistics as well as econometric analysis. Our findings show that relative deprivation played no role: individuals were as likely to resist slavery regardless of the relative status of the position they held. Resistance might have been more likely on small establishments, possibly the consequence of a greater level of trust among smaller groups of enslaved individuals. Gender also played a role in the types of resistance undertaken, and thereby possibly also in the risk of being detected and punished. |
| Keywords: | Resistance; repression; slavery; census; Danish West Indies; Caribbean |
| JEL: | J47 N36 |
| Date: | 2024–03–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:gunhis:0038&r=ltv |
| By: | Galli, Stefania (Unit for Economic History, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University); Dimitrios, Theodoridis, (Unit for Economic History, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University); Rönnbäck, Klas (Unit for Economic History, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University) |
| Abstract: | The issue of how elites as a social group come to be, how they maintain their position and how they affect the society they come to control is very much at the centre of the inequality debate. The present paper studies one of the most extreme unequal societies ever recorded, that of the sugar-based economies in the West Indies, and examines the emergence and persistence of its economic elite by focusing on the island of St. Croix in the Danish West Indies. The study spans 154 years, enabling us to study long-run elite persistence along with the effects that major economic, institutional, and social changes had on it. Our study shows that elite persistence remained high throughout this period, despite several potential ‘critical junctures’ taking place. The Crucian elite not only managed to maintain its relative standing but also to accumulate a growing share of the total wealth available on the island. Maintaining a grip on the economy did, nonetheless, coincide with a severe and rapid impoverishment in absolute terms. |
| Keywords: | Inequality; Wealth; Persistence; Elites; Caribbean; Slavery; Colonialism; Long-run; 18th to 21st century; Sugar plantation complex |
| JEL: | D63 E01 F54 N36 P16 |
| Date: | 2024–03–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:gunhis:0037&r=ltv |
| By: | Rönnbäck, Klas (Unit for Economic History, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University); Galli, Stefania (Unit for Economic History, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University); Theodoridis, Dimitrios (Unit for Economic History, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University) |
| Abstract: | In many slave societies, enslaved persons were barred from acquiring much education. What skills the enslaved persons nonetheless were able to acquire, and how this changed following emancipation, is not well known. We study quantitatively how a legacy of slavery impacted upon the development of basic numeracy skills. Our results show that numeracy skills started to improve in the population under study well before emancipation from slavery. We also show that the formal public and private schooling seems to have played a marginal role in this process. We therefore conclude that much of this learning was acquired in informal ways. |
| Keywords: | Numeracy; age-heaping; slavery; colonialism; human capital |
| JEL: | N36 |
| Date: | 2024–02–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:gunhis:0036&r=ltv |
| By: | Maris, Robbie (Centre for Education Policy and Equalising Opportunities, University College London (UCL)); Zack, Dorner (Department of Environmental Management, Lincoln University); Carlsson, Fredrik (Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University) |
| Abstract: | Shifting individual behaviour is an important tool for addressing environmental issues and there is a wide literature evaluating interventions to encourage pro-environmental behaviour. One important but under-researched area is the effect of combining interventions to affect behaviour. In this paper, we evaluate the effects of two interventions – monetary incentives and nudges – on nature restoration volunteering. We use a two-by-two treatment design to evaluate the individual and combined effects of the interventions in a field experiment setting. We find that the monetary incentive significantly increases volunteering behaviour, despite concerns incentives may crowd out motivation, but that nudging alone is ineffective at shifting behaviour. However, there are considerable positive synergies between the monetary incentive and nudge. The monetary incentive becomes more than twice as effective when it is combined with a nudge. We find support for our theoretical prediction that this synergy arises because the nudge reduces motivational crowding out effects from the incentive. Our results have important policy implications, showing that concerns around motivation crowding out from monetary incentives could be mitigated by simple, low-cost nudges. |
| Keywords: | Field experiment; incentive; nature restoration; nudge; PEB; pro-environmental behaviour; synergy; volunteering |
| JEL: | C93 D91 Q57 |
| Date: | 2024–03–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:gunwpe:0842&r=ltv |
| By: | Carvajal, Daniel (Dept. of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration); Franco, Catalina (Center for Applied Research (SNF)); Isaksson, Siri (Dept. of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration) |
| Abstract: | The promise of generative AI to increase human productivity relies on developing skills to become proficient at it. There is reason to suspect that women and men use AI tools differently, which could result in productivity and payoff gaps in a labor market increasingly demanding knowledge in AI. Thus, it is important to understand if there are gender differences in AI-usage among current students. We conduct a survey at the Norwegian School of Economics collecting use and attitudes towards ChatGPT, a measure of AI proficiency, and responses to policies allowing or forbidding ChatGPT use. Three key findings emerge: first, female students report a significantly lower use of ChatGPT compared to their male counterparts. Second, male students are more skilled at writing successful prompts, even after accounting for higher ChatGPT usage. Third, imposing university bans on ChatGPT use widens the gender gap in intended use substantially. We provide insights into potential factors influencing the AI adoption gender gap and highlight the role of appropriate encouragement and policies in allowing female students to benefit from AI usage, thereby mitigating potential impacts on later labor market outcomes. |
| Keywords: | Artificial intelligence; ChatGTP; gender; education; technology adoption |
| JEL: | I24 J16 J24 O33 |
| Date: | 2024–03–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:nhheco:2024_003&r=ltv |
| By: | Del Boca, Daniela (University of Turin); Pronzato, Chiara D. (University of Turin) |
| Abstract: | The increase in poverty rates among families and individuals in Italy over the past two decades can be attributed largely to repeated periods of economic crisis. Mounting concern over the problem has driven interest in the role of policy in supporting household welfare. Responding to the currently limited access to (or provision of) public aid and assistance, private institutions and philanthropic foundations have stepped up their efforts to create new initiatives for alleviating poverty. In this paper, we use a randomized control trial (RCT) to evaluate the impact of an Italian program aimed at supporting vulnerable individuals in four separate but related areas of household welfare: employment, financial circumstances, family responsibilities, and housing conditions. The program, known as Integro, was introduced in 2018 by the Compagnia di San Paolo, one of Italy's largest philanthropic institutions. Our findings indicate a positive and statistically significant impact of Integro on three of the four target outcomes considered, with only the fourth (housing conditions) not being affected. We also sought to identify any initial conditions potentially influencing the extent to which participants benefit from the program. Is Integro equally effective for everyone? According to our data, the program provides the best outcomes for males reporting lower human capital and greater socio-emotional stability. |
| Keywords: | housing, employment, randomized controlled trial |
| JEL: | J68 J24 I31 C93 |
| Date: | 2024–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16808&r=ltv |