nep-dem New Economics Papers
on Demographic Economics
Issue of 2012‒02‒08
five papers chosen by
Clarence Nkengne Tsimpo
University of Montreal and World Bank Group

  1. Group Decision Making with Uncertain Outcomes: Unpacking Child-Parent Choices of High School Tracks By Pamela Giustinelli
  2. Market Competitiveness and Demographic Profiles of Dairy Alternative Beverages in the United States: The Case of Soymilk By Dharmasena, Senarath; Capps, Oral. Jr
  3. Retirement and home production : A regression discontinuity approach By Elena Stancanelli; Arthur Van Soest
  4. Health Insurance and Joint OffâFarm Labor Allocation Decisions of Farm Families By D'Antoni, Jeremy M.; Mishra, Ashok K.
  5. The Value of Transportation for Improving the Quality of Life of the Rural Elderly By Israel, Alicia; Mjelde, James W.; Dudensing, Rebekka; Cherrington, Linda; Jin, Yanhong; Chen, Junyi

  1. By: Pamela Giustinelli (University of Michigan)
    Abstract: Predicting group decisions with uncertain outcomes involves the empirically difficult task of disentangling individual decision makers' beliefs and preferences over outcomes' states from the group's decision rule. This paper addresses the problem within the context of a consequential family decision concerning the high school track of adolescent children in presence of curricular strati cation. The paper combines novel data on children's and parents' probabilistic beliefs, their stated choice preferences, and families' decision rules with standard data on actual choices to estimate a simple model of curriculum choice featuring both uncertainty and heterogeneous cooperative-type decisions. The model's estimates are used to quantify the impact on curriculum enrollment of policies affecting family members' expectations via awareness campaigns, publication of education statistics, and changes in curricular specialization and standards. The latter exercise reveals that identity of policy recipients--whether children, parents, or both--matters for enrollment response, and underlines the importance of incorporating information on decision makers' beliefs and decision rules when evaluating policies.
    Keywords: Choice under Uncertainty, Multilateral Choice, Heterogeneous Decision Rules, Curricular Tracking, Curriculum Choice, Child-Parent Decision Making, Subjective Probabilities, Stated and Revealed Preferences, Choice-Based Sampling
    JEL: C25 C35 C50 C71 C81 C83 D19 D81 D84 I29 J24
    Date: 2011–07
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hka:wpaper:2011-030&r=dem
  2. By: Dharmasena, Senarath; Capps, Oral. Jr
    Abstract: Data from U.S. households for year 2008 were used in examining market competitiveness of soymilk using tobit procedure. Unconditional own- and cross-price elasticities are larger than their conditional counterparts. Income, age, employment status, education level, race, ethnicity, region and presence of children are significant drivers affecting the demand for soymilk.
    Keywords: Soymilk, white milk, flavored milk, Nielsen HomeScan data, tobit procedure, Agribusiness, Consumer/Household Economics, Demand and Price Analysis, Marketing, D11, D12,
    Date: 2012–01
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:saea12:119680&r=dem
  3. By: Elena Stancanelli (Observatoire Français des Conjonctures Économiques); Arthur Van Soest (Tilburg University, Netspar)
    Abstract: Existing studies show that individuals who retire replace some private consumption by home production, but do not consider joint behaviour of couples. Here we analyze the causal effect of retirement of each partner on hours of home production of both partners in a couple. Our identification strategy exploits the earliest age retirement laws in France, enabling a fuzzy regression discontinuity approach. We find that own retirement significantly increases own hours of home production and the effect is larger for men than for women. Moreover, retirement of the female partner significantly reduces male hours of home production but not vice versa.
    Keywords: House work, Ageing,Retirement,Regression Discontinuity
    JEL: D13 J22 J14 C1
    Date: 2011–12
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fce:doctra:1128&r=dem
  4. By: D'Antoni, Jeremy M.; Mishra, Ashok K.
    Abstract: Farm operators and spouses have increasingly engaged in off-farm work in recent years. Many studies have analyzed the role of government payments; however, little is known about the impact of health insurance coverage. This study builds on previous literature by using copulas to test for dependence in the labor allocation decisions of the operator and spouse, addressing the importance of fringe benefits to the farm household, and determining how these considerations affect our knowledge of the impact of government payments on off-farm labor. The results indicate that the off-farm hours worked by the operator and spouse are dependent. We then find significant evidence of endogeneity in the health insurance coverage variable. Using the predicted probability of insurance coverage, we find a positive and highly significant relationship with the hours worked off-farm. Further, we find that both coupled and decoupled payments are negatively correlated with the hours worked off-farm.
    Keywords: Health insurance coverage, endogeneity, copula, off-farm labor supply, dependence, bivariate tobit, coupled farm programs payments, decoupled farm program payments, Agribusiness, Farm Management, Food Security and Poverty, Labor and Human Capital, Public Economics, C34, I13, J12, J22, J38, J43, Q12, Q18,
    Date: 2012
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:saea12:119646&r=dem
  5. By: Israel, Alicia; Mjelde, James W.; Dudensing, Rebekka; Cherrington, Linda; Jin, Yanhong; Chen, Junyi
    Abstract: When an elderly individual living in a rural community is no longer able to drive, issues that come with living in an isolated area (i.e. limited access to health and personal services, distance between home and town centers) are exaggerated and the individual may experience a decrease in their quality of life. Public transportation that supports elderly individuals may be an important issue for rural communities to consider in creating an aging-friendly community and maintaining quality of life for residents who are no longer able to drive. The purpose of this research is to obtain an understanding of opinions about public transportation for the elderly held by rural county residents and their WTP for transportation options through an additional vehicle registration fee. To achieve this objective, a survey with choice experiments was distributed to residents in Atascosa and Polk County, Texas in September 2011. Researchers employed a conditional logit model to analyze the choice survey data and examine county residentsâ WTP for various transportation options. The results of this study provide public transportation managers insights into the attributes taxpayers expect in transportation routes and programs.
    Keywords: Elderly Transportation, Rural Transportation, Rural Elderly, Rural Quality of Life, Community/Rural/Urban Development,
    Date: 2012
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:saea12:119667&r=dem

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