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on Demographic Economics |
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Issue of 2012‒03‒21
29 papers chosen by Clarence Nkengne Tsimpo University of Montreal and World Bank Group |
| By: | Pierre Pestieau (CREPP - Center of Research in Public Economics and Population Economics - Université de Liège, PSE - Paris-Jourdan Sciences Economiques - CNRS : UMR8545 - Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) - Ecole des Ponts ParisTech - Ecole Normale Supérieure de Paris - ENS Paris - INRA, EEP-PSE - Ecole d'Économie de Paris - Paris School of Economics - Ecole d'Économie de Paris, CORE - Center of Operation Research and Econometrics [Louvain] - Université Catholique de Louvain, CEPR - Center for Economic Policy Research - CEPR); Grégory Ponthière (PSE - Paris-Jourdan Sciences Economiques - CNRS : UMR8545 - Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) - Ecole des Ponts ParisTech - Ecole Normale Supérieure de Paris - ENS Paris - INRA, EEP-PSE - Ecole d'Économie de Paris - Paris School of Economics - Ecole d'Économie de Paris) |
| Abstract: | Parenthood postponement is a key demographic trend of the last three decades. In order to rationalize that stylized fact, we extend the canonical model by Barro and Becker (1989) to include two - instead of one reproduction periods. We examine how the cost structure of early and late children in terms of time and goods a¤ects the optimal fertility timing. Then, focusing a stationary equilibrium with stationary population, we provide two alternative explanations for the observed postponement of births: (1) a fall of the direct cost of late children (thanks to medical advances); (2) a rise in hourly productivity, which increases the (relative) opportunity costs of early children in comparison to late children. |
| Keywords: | Fertility ; Birth Timing ; Population ; Dynastic Altruism ; OLG Model |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:psewpa:halshs-00676500&r=dem |
| By: | Jerome Adda; Christian Dustmann; Katrien Stevens |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the life-cycle career costs associated with child rearing and decomposes their effects into unearned wages (as women drop out of the labor market), loss of human capital, and selection into more child-friendly occupations. We estimate a dynamic life-cycle model of fertility, occupational choice, and labor supply using detailed survey and administrative data for Germany for numerous birth cohorts across different regions. We use this model to analyze both the male-female wage gap as it evolves from labor market entry onward and the effect of pro-fertility policies. We show that a substantial portion of the gender wage gap is explainable by realized and expected fertility and that the long-run effect of policies encouraging fertility are considerably lower than the short-run effects typically estimated in the literature. |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eui:euiwps:eco2012/01&r=dem |
| By: | Mikko Myrskyla; Hans-Peter Kohler; Francesco C. Billari |
| Abstract: | A fundamental switch in the fertility—development relationship has occurred so that among highly developed countries, further socioeconomic development may reverse the declining fertility trend. Here we shed light on the mechanisms underlying this reversal by analyzing the links between development and age and cohort patterns of fertility, as well as the role of gender equality. Using data from 1975 to 2008 for over 100 countries, we show that the reversal exists both in a period and a cohort perspective and is mainly driven by increasing older reproductive-age fertility. We also show that the positive impact of development on fertility in high-development countries is conditional on gender equality: countries ranking high in development as measured by health, income, and education but low in gender equality continue to experience declining fertility. Our findings suggest that gender equality is crucial for countries wishing to reap the fertility dividend of high development. |
| Keywords: | low fertility; socioeconomic development; Human Development Index; gender equality |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:don:donwpa:049&r=dem |
| By: | YAMAGUCHI Kazuo; YOUM Yoosik |
| Abstract: | Using panel survey data with comparable variables, this study tests whether certain sets of hypotheses that are related to rational-choice and purposive-action theories of birth behavior hold in Korea as well as in Japan. In a previous study, Yamaguchi (2009) tested similar sets of hypotheses with Japanese panel data and they were largely supported. First, we clarify that although the rate of first marital birth is higher for Korea than for Japan despite the former's smaller total fertility rate (TFR), Korean women tend to delay the timing of second birth following the first birth compared with Japanese women, and the rate of third childbirth is lower for Korea than for Japan. The latter two tendencies contribute to the lower average marital birth rate in Korea than in Japan.<br />Despite these differences, there are many commonalities between the two countries regarding the determinants of marital childbirth. The magnitude of the effects of these determinants differs between the two countries, however. First, we found that the negative interaction effect between parity and income on fertility rate predicted by Gary Becker's theory regarding the quality-price of children exists for both Japan and Korea. The theory is supported more strongly for Korea than for Japan, however. This finding indicates that policies to reduce the costs of attaining "high-quality children," such as children's educational and medical expenses, will be effective in raising fertility, but more efficiently so in Korea than in Japan.<br />Second, we found that the availability of childcare leave increases the rate of marital fertility in both Japan and Korea. This tendency, however, holds more strongly in Japan than in Korea. Although this finding may be a result of the fact that the legally entitled term of childcare is much longer in Japan than in Korea, it nonetheless indicates that childcare leave policies in Japan were more successful than their Korean counterparts in raising fertility. |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:dpaper:12013&r=dem |
| By: | Furtado, Delia (University of Connecticut); Trejo, Stephen (University of Texas at Austin) |
| Abstract: | Immigrants who marry outside of their ethnicity tend to have better economic outcomes than those who marry within ethnicity. It is difficult, however, to interpret this relationship because individuals with stronger preferences for ethnic endogamy are likely to differ in unobserved ways from those with weaker preferences. To clarify some of the complex issues surrounding interethnic marriage and assimilation, this chapter starts by considering the determinants of intermarriage, proceeds with an examination of the economic consequences of intermarriage, and ends with a discussion of the links between intermarriage, ethnic identification, and measurement of long-term socioeconomic integration. |
| Keywords: | intermarriage, immigration, ethnicity |
| JEL: | J12 J15 J61 |
| Date: | 2012–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6399&r=dem |
| By: | Nicoletta Balbo; Nicola Barban |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates how social interactions among friends shape fertility. We specifically examine whether and how friends’ fertility behaviour affects an individual’s transition to parenthood. By integrating insights from economic and sociological theories, we elaborate on the mechanisms via which interactions among friends might affect an individual’s risk of becoming a parent. By exploiting the survey design of the Add Health data, we follow a strategy that allows us to properly identify interaction effects and distinguish them from selection and contextual effects. We engage in a series of discrete time event history models with random effect at the dyadic level. Results show that, net of confounding effects, a friend’s childbearing increases an individual’s risk of becoming a parent. We find a short-term, curvilinear effect: an individual’s risk of childbearing starts increasing after a friend’s childbearing, it reaches its peak around two years later, and then decreases. |
| Keywords: | transition to parenthood; add-health; social interaction; peer effect |
| Date: | 2012–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:don:donwpa:050&r=dem |
| By: | Posadas, Josefina (World Bank); Vidal-Fernández, Marian (University of New South Wales) |
| Abstract: | In the U.S., grandparents look after one in five preschool children of employed women. Does this source of informal childcare increase female labor force participation and if so, up to what extent? The main challenge to answer this question is that a positive relationship between grandparents’ childcare and female labor force participation might not be causal. We use the maternal grandmother’s death as an instrument of grandparents’ childcare to measure the effect of grandparents’ childcare on maternal labor force participation (MLFP). We compare OLS and IV estimates and find that grandparents’ childcare increases MLFP by 15 percentage points on average. We argue that most of the effect is driven by families from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds. |
| Keywords: | maternal labor force participation, grandparents, childcare, NLSY |
| JEL: | J2 I3 |
| Date: | 2012–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6398&r=dem |
| By: | Mano, Yukichi; Yamamura, Eiji |
| Abstract: | Japanese household-level data describing a husband's earnings, his wife's working status, and their schooling levels are used to test the implications of a model proposing a time-consuming process of human capital accumulation within marriages, in which an educated wife is more productive. The empirical results support the model’s predictions: in particular (i) a non-working wife's schooling has a greater positive effect on her husband's earnings than a working wife’s schooling; and (ii) the effect of a non-working wife's schooling increases with the length of marriage, whereas the effect of a working wife’s schooling does not change over the course of marriage. |
| Keywords: | Human capital; wife's working status |
| JEL: | D13 J24 |
| Date: | 2012–03–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:37247&r=dem |
| By: | Fischer, Elisabeth; Qaim, Matin |
| Abstract: | With the commercialization of agriculture, women are increasingly disadvantaged because of persistent gender-disparities in access to productive resources. Farmer collective action that intends to improve smallholder access to markets and technology could potentially accelerate this trend. Here, we use survey data of small-scale banana producers in Kenya to investigate the gender implications of recently established farmer groups. Traditionally, banana has been a women’s crop in Kenya. Our results confirm that the groups contribute to increasing male control over banana. While male control over banana revenues does not affect household food security, it has a negative marginal effect on dietary quality. We demonstrate that the negative gender implications of farmer groups can be reduced or avoided when women are group members themselves. In the poorest income segments, group membership even seems to have a positive effect on female-controlled income share. Some policy implications towards gender mainstreaming of farmer collective action are discussed. |
| Keywords: | gender, collective action, market access, agricultural technology, household food security and nutrition, Kenya, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, International Development, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, D71, J16, O12, O13, O31, Q13, |
| Date: | 2012–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:gagfdp:121229&r=dem |
| By: | Junsen Zhang (Chinese University of Hong Kong); Mark Rosenzweig (Economic Growth Center, Yale University) |
| Abstract: | Data from two surveys of twins in China are used to contribute to an improved understanding of the role of economic development in affecting gender differences in the trends in, levels of, and returns to schooling observed in China and in many developing countries in recent decades. In particular, we explore the hypothesis that these phenomena reflect differences in comparative advantage with respect to skill and brawn between men and women in the context of changes in incomes, returns to skill, and/or nutritional improvements that are the result of economic development and growth. |
| Keywords: | schooling, gender, twins, China |
| JEL: | J24 J16 I15 I25 O15 |
| Date: | 2012–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egc:wpaper:1008&r=dem |
| By: | Vivien Procher; Colin Vance |
| Abstract: | Drawing on individual-level mobility data from Germany between 1996 and 2009, this analysis econometrically investigates the determinants of automobile, public transit, and non-motorized travel against the backdrop of two questions: 1) Does gender play a role in determining the relative use of motor and non-motorized modes? 2) If so, how is this role mitigated or exacerbated by other socioeconomic attributes of the individual and the household? The results indicate that women display a relatively higher use of public transit and non-motorized modes coupled with a lower use of the car. However, it is important to qualify conclusions drawn with respect to the effect of gender given the range of confounding factors that mediate its impact, including age, the presence of children, the proximity to public transit, and the commute distance. The econometric estimates indicate that fare pricing and infrastructure provision have a significant influence on how individuals reach mode allocation decisions, and that women, in particular, stand to benefi t from the maintenance of an effi cient and dense public transportation network. |
| Keywords: | Automobile travel; public transit; gender |
| JEL: | D13 R20 R41 |
| Date: | 2012–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rwi:repape:0314&r=dem |
| By: | Aylit Tina Romm; Martha Wolny |
| Abstract: | As a result of population aging, governments of many OECD countries have begun to implement policies to increase average retirement ages in an attempt to alleviate some of the Â…nancial strain in supporting retirees. This paper explores the effect that later retirement ages have on aggregate household saving rates, both on a theoretical and empirical level. Using a two-wave panel of OECD countries, the results show that later retirement ages have the effect of decreasing aggregate household saving rates. We show that it is likely that this corresponds to a decrease in household saving. In addition, it appears that it is increases in female retirement ages that is driving this result. |
| Keywords: | retirement age, saving, life-cycle model |
| JEL: | E21 J26 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rza:wpaper:269&r=dem |
| By: | Pekkarinen, Tuomas (Aalto University) |
| Abstract: | This paper surveys the trends in gender gaps in education, their causes and potential policy implications. I show that female educational attainment has surpassed, or is about to surpass, male educational attainment in most industrialized countries. These gaps reflect male overrepresentation among secondary school drop-outs and female overrepresentation among tertiary education students and graduates. Existing evidence suggests that this pattern is a result of a combination of increasing returns to education and lower female effort costs of education. Widening gender gap in education combined with recent wage and employment polarization will likely lead to widening inequalities and is linked to declining male labor force participation. The paper discusses evidence on educational policies that both widen and reduce gender gaps in educational outcomes. |
| Keywords: | gender differences, test scores, education |
| JEL: | I20 J16 J24 |
| Date: | 2012–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6390&r=dem |
| By: | Gathmann, Christina (University of Heidelberg); Jürges, Hendrik (University of Mannheim); Reinhold, Steffen (MEA, University of Mannheim) |
| Abstract: | Education yields substantial non-monetary benefits, but the size of these gains is still debated. Previous studies, for example, report contradictory effects of education and compulsory schooling on mortality – ranging from zero to large mortality reductions. Using data from 19 compulsory schooling reforms implemented in Europe during the twentieth century, we quantify the mean mortality effect and explore its dispersion across gender, time and countries. We find that men benefit from compulsory education both in the shorter and longer run. In contrast, compulsory schooling reforms have little or no effect on mortality for women. |
| Keywords: | compulsory schooling, education, mortality, Europe |
| JEL: | I12 I21 I28 |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6403&r=dem |
| By: | Uwe Neumann |
| Abstract: | In the discussion about demographic change, the regional dimension so far has played a subordinate role. Based on municipal data for the period between 1998 and 2008, this paper examines to what extent recent demographic change has affected the population of cities and neighbourhoods, focusing on the largest urban agglomeration in Germany, the Rhine-Ruhr conurbation in North Rhine-Westphalia. The local outcomes of demographic change are modified considerably by regional migration and interrelate closely with regional prosperity. The survey provides a precise outline of the interrelation between basic demographic characteristics and shifts in the composition of neighbourhood populations over the study period. The analysis shows that in the most thriving cities, there is a particularly strong tendency of young adults to separate from other demographic groups. In neighbourhoods where there is no such influx of younger people, particularly in low-density residential areas on the urban fringe, rapid demographic ageing aff ects neighbourhood populations and local economies. |
| Keywords: | Demographic change; neighbourhoods; segregation; migration |
| JEL: | J11 R23 |
| Date: | 2012–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rwi:repape:0319&r=dem |
| By: | Thomas Breda (CEP - Centre for Economic Performance - LSE); Son Thierry Ly (PSE - Paris-Jourdan Sciences Economiques - CNRS : UMR8545 - Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) - Ecole des Ponts ParisTech - Ecole Normale Supérieure de Paris - ENS Paris - INRA, EEP-PSE - Ecole d'Économie de Paris - Paris School of Economics - Ecole d'Économie de Paris) |
| Abstract: | Stereotypes, role models played by teachers and social norms are known to push girls to choose humanities rather than science. Do professors directly contribute to this strong selection by discriminating more against girls in more scientific subjects? Using the entrance exam of a French higher education institution (the Ecole Normale Supérieure) as a natural experiment, we show the opposite: discrimination goes in favor of females in more male-connoted subjects (e.g. math, philosophy) and in favor of males in more female-connoted subjects (e.g. literature, biology), inducing a rebalancing of sex ratios between science and humanities majors. We identify discrimination by systematic differences in students' scores between oral tests (non-blind toward gender) and anonymous written tests (blind toward gender). By making comparisons of these oral/written scores differences between different subjects for a given student, we are able to control both for a student's ability in each subject and for her overall ability at oral exams. The mechanisms likely to drive this positive discrimination toward the minority gender are also discussed. |
| Keywords: | Discrimination ; Gender Stereotypes ; Natural Experiment ; Sex and Science |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:psewpa:halshs-00677438&r=dem |
| By: | Pia S. Schober |
| Abstract: | This research explores how different parental leave reforms in West Germany impacted on the time mothers and fathers in couples spent on child care. I investigate indirect effects through mothers' labor market return decisions more in detail than previous studies and also examine potential direct associations of reforms of the leave period and benefits with maternal and paternal care time. The analysis uses multilevel multiprocess models for 1299 couples with a first or second birth based on data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (1984-2009). I estimate simultaneously the timing and extent of mothers' labor market return, selection into childbearing, and maternal and paternal child care time over the years following a first or second birth. The findings suggest that the extensions of the maximum period of low-paid or unpaid leave between 1986 and 1992 and the introduction of shorter well-paid leave and two 'daddy months' in 2007 indirectly affected maternal and paternal child care through changes in mothers' work return decisions. Even after controlling for these indirect effects and fathers' take-up of leave, the parental leave extensions were directly associated with longer maternal care time on weekdays, whereas father involvement in child care increased after the 2007 reform. |
| Keywords: | Child care, gender division of unpaid work, maternal employment, parental leave policy, parenting |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp434&r=dem |
| By: | Renzo Derosas (Department of Economics, University Of Venice Cà Foscari); Marco Breschi (University of Sassari); Alessio Fornasin (University of udine); Matteo Manfredini (University of Parma); Cristina Munno (University of Venice Cà Foscari) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we review the main theories of household and marriage systems, highlighting their inability to account for the astonishing variety of family and marriage patterns that characterized modern Italy. We propose a new interpretative framework, where social reproduction is given pride of place as the main factor shaping marital behavior and household formation in the past. We test our theory analyzing five populations in northern and central Italy, characterized by different ecological, economic, and social conditions. We use an event history analysis approach to model the timing of marriage in the populations under study. The results confirm that coercion mattered much more than Malthusian economic constraints. We conclude suggesting a more general application of our approach to the study of marital behavior, family formation, and residential patterns in the past. |
| Keywords: | marriage, social reproduction, household and marriage systems, Italy |
| JEL: | J12 N33 C14 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ven:wpaper:2012_02&r=dem |
| By: | Lars Kunze |
| Abstract: | Empirical evidence suggests that parents who have themselves inherited from their own parents are more likely to leave an estate to their children even after controlling for income, wealth and education. This implies an indirect reciprocal behavior between three generations by transmitting the attitude towards bequeathing from one generation to the next. We incorporate such an intergenerational chain into an overlapping generations model and show that the economy might be characterized by multiple steady states involving poverty traps. Individuals will not leave bequests unless per capita income levels exceed a threshold level. In such a situation, an unfunded social security security programme may help to overcome poverty by providing additional old age income out of which to bequeath. |
| Keywords: | Capital accumulation; indirect reciprocity; overlapping generations; unfunded social security |
| JEL: | D64 D91 H55 |
| Date: | 2012–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rwi:repape:0318&r=dem |
| By: | Packel, Laura; Dow, William H.; de Walque, Damien; Isdahl, Zachary; Majura, Albert |
| Abstract: | Information, education, communication and interventions based on behavioral-change communication have had success in increasing the awareness of HIV. But these strategies alone have been less successful in changing risky sexual behavior. This paper addresses this issue by exploring the link between action and the intention to change behaviors. In Africa, uncertainty in the lives of those at risk for HIV may affect how intentions are formed. Characterize this uncertainty by understanding the reasons for discrepancies between intentions and actions may help improve the design of HIV-prevention interventions. Based on an incentives-based HIV prevention trial in Tanzania, the longitudinal dataset in this paper allows the exploration of intended strategies for changing sexual behaviors and their results. The authors find that gender, intervention groups and new positive diagnoses of sexually transmitted infections can significantly predict the link between intent and action. The paper examines potential mediators of these relationships. |
| Keywords: | Population Policies,HIV AIDS,Adolescent Health,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Gender and Health |
| Date: | 2012–03–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:5997&r=dem |
| By: | Lozano-Cortés , Maribel; Cabrera-Castellanos, Luis |
| Abstract: | A rural town (Morelos) and another urban (Cancun) in the state of Quintana Roo, México, have been analyzed, and paradoxically we discovered that women suffer higher degrees of violence by their partners in the environment with a higher level of female empowerment, measured through different indicators. We came to the conclusion that, in underdeveloped societies, there must be a “threshold” from which female empowerment implies a decrease in domestic violence. However, as long as this threshold is not reached, women will pay a price in terms of male violence against them, in the process of gaining more participation in society. |
| Keywords: | Empowerment; Gender Violence; Mexico |
| JEL: | Z10 J12 J16 |
| Date: | 2012–01–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:37190&r=dem |
| By: | Nikolai Roussanov; Pavel G. Savor |
| Abstract: | Relative wealth concerns can affect risk-taking behavior, as the payoff to a marginal dollar of wealth depends on the wealth of others. We develop a model where status concerns arise endogenously due to competition in the marriage market and lead to greater risk-taking for unmarried individuals. We evaluate empirically the importance of this effect in a high-stakes setting by studying corporate CEOs. We find that single CEOs, who are more likely to exhibit status concerns, are associated with firms that exhibit higher stock return volatility and pursue more aggressive investment policies. This effect is weaker for older CEOs. Our results hold both when we estimate the impact of marital status directly and when we use variation in divorce laws across U.S. states to instrument for CEO marital status. |
| JEL: | D92 G32 |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:17904&r=dem |
| By: | Filippin, Antonio (University of Milan); van Ours, Jan C. (Tilburg University) |
| Abstract: | We use data from the 24-hours Belluno run which has the unique characteristic that participants are affiliated with teams and run for an hour. This allows us not only to study the individual relationship between age and performance but also to study group dynamics in terms of accessions to and separations from teams in a manner that closely resembles workers and firms when individual productivity would have been perfectly observable. From our analysis we conclude that individual performance goes down with age, although the speed-age gradient is rather flat. Group performance goes down with age as well, but interestingly a counterbalancing force emerges, namely team dynamics that are driven by performance of runners who enter and leave. |
| Keywords: | age, performance, attrition |
| JEL: | J14 J24 J31 |
| Date: | 2012–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6387&r=dem |
| By: | Nelly Rakoto-Tiana (UMR DIAL Université Paris XIII) |
| Abstract: | (english) Much empirical research found that fostered children are less likely than others to attend school, which suggests that fostering may be disadvantaged human capital investment. This paper tries to analyze the impact of child fostering on school enrollment in rural Madagascar. We examine firstly if schooling is a principal reason of household’s decision to foster a child. Indeed, biological parents may decide to send their children to another household to be educated, but host household may have another motivation by accepting to receive them. Results suggest that schooling is not a determinant of fostering-in or fostering-out of households. Furthermore, household demographics are a strong determinant of receiving a child for host household. However, using a panel data and controlling the endogeneity problems, results suggest that fostering improves the enrollment of young children if they are blood-related to the head of the fostering-in household but has a negative impact if they are not blood-related to him. _________________________________ (français) Dans la plupart des travaux empiriques existants, les enfants confiés apparaissent moins éduqués en moyenne, suggérant par-là que le confiage est néfaste à l'investissement de l'éducation des enfants. Cet article s’inscrit dans cette voie de recherche et tente d’analyser l’effet du confiage sur le niveau d'éducation des enfants en milieu rural à Madagascar. Nous cherchons tout d’abord à identifier si la scolarisation est une des principales raisons du confiage auprès des ménages. En effet, les parents biologiques peuvent certes décider de confier leurs enfants à un autre ménage pour accroître leur chance d’intégrer ou de poursuivre l’école, mais les familles d’accueil peuvent avoir une autre logique. Les résultats économétriques montrent que la scolarisation n’est pas déterminante des décisions de confiage auprès des ménages. La composition démographique du ménage est le seul facteur déterminant des décisions de la famille d’accueil. En mobilisant des données longitudinales et en contrôlant les problèmes d’endogénéité, le confiage a cependant un impact positif et significatif sur la scolarisation des jeunes enfants apparentés au chef de ménage, et un impact négatif sur celle des enfants non apparentés. |
| Keywords: | Child fostering, schooling, confiage des enfants, scolarisation |
| JEL: | J12 I20 D10 |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dia:wpaper:dt201201&r=dem |
| By: | Feng, Zhiqiang (University of St. Andrews); van Ham, Maarten (Delft University of Technology); Boyle, Paul (University of St. Andrews); Raab, Gillian M. (University of St. Andrews) |
| Abstract: | Most studies investigating residential segregation of ethnic minorities ignore the fact that the majority of adults live in couples. In recent years there has been a growth in the number of mixed ethnic unions that involve a minority member and a white member. To our knowledge, hardly any research has been undertaken to explicitly examine whether the ethnic mix within households has an impact on the residential choices of households in terms of the ethnic mix of destination neighbourhoods. Our study addresses this research gap and examines the tendencies of migration among mixed ethnic unions in comparison with their co-ethnic peers. We used data from the Longitudinal Study for England and Wales. Our statistical analysis supports the spatial assimilation theory: ethnic minorities move towards less deprived areas and to a lesser extent also towards less ethnically concentrated areas. However, the types of destination neighbourhood of minority people living in mixed ethnic unions varied greatly with the ethnicity of the ethnic minority partner. |
| Keywords: | ethnic concentration, deprivation, migration, mixed ethnic unions, longitudinal analysis |
| JEL: | J12 J15 J61 R23 |
| Date: | 2012–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6394&r=dem |
| By: | García Muñoz, Teresa (Universidad de Granada); Neuman, Shoshana (Bar-Ilan University) |
| Abstract: | This study reviews and evaluates the intertwined relationship between immigration and religiosity, focusing on the two sides of the Atlantic – Europe and the United States. Based on the existing literature and on a statistical analysis of several data sets (the International Social Survey Program – ISSP: Module Religion, 2008; the European Social Survey – ESS, waves 2002-2010; and the General Social Survey – GSS, waves 2002-2010) the following aspects are explored: (i) the current religious landscape of Europe and of the United States and projections for the future; (ii) religiosity of immigrants (in Europe and the United States): are they more religious than the native populations (in terms of church attendance and of prayer habits)?; (iii) how does religiosity of immigrants affect integration: is it serving as a bridge that smoothens integration into the local population, or as a buffer against the harsh integration process?; and (iv) are the intersections between religiosity and integration different in Europe and in the United States, due to historical differences in the state-religion relationship, immigration policies and concepts? The main findings are the following: (a) immigrants are indeed more religious than the populations in the receiving countries. This fact, combined with higher fertility rates and also a continued inflow of immigrants, will lead to major changes in the religious landscape, both in Europe and in the United States; and (b) while in the united States religiosity of immigrants serves as a bridge between the immigrants and the local population, in Europe it has mainly the function of a buffer and of "balm to the soul". |
| Keywords: | immigration, religion, integration, Europe, United States |
| JEL: | J11 J15 Z12 Z13 |
| Date: | 2012–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6384&r=dem |
| By: | John M. Nunley; Richard Alan Seals Jr.; Joachim Zietz |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the impact of inflation, (un)employment, and stock market growth on the rates of larceny, burglary, motor vehicle theft, and robbery. The study uses U.S. data for the time period 1948 to 2009. We employ an unobserved component approach to circumvent the problems associated with omitted variables. We find that the three macroeconomic variables have a statistically significant impact for most of the property crime rates. However, taken together the macroeconomic variables explain no more than 15 percent of the surge in property crimes from the 1960 to the 1980s and their subsequent fall during the 1990s. Among the macroeconomic variables, almost all of the explanatory power is provided by changes in the inflation rate. |
| Keywords: | Murder Rate; Demographic Change; Age Composition; Crime; Misery Index |
| JEL: | J10 J11 |
| Date: | 2011–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:abn:wpaper:auwp2011-06&r=dem |
| By: | Zimmermann, Klaus F. (IZA and University of Bonn) |
| Abstract: | Um den deutschen Arbeitsmarkt demografiefest zu machen, bedarf es einer stärkeren Aktivierung des Potenzials weiblicher Erwerbspersonen bei gleichzeitiger Steigerung der Geburtenrate. Der vorliegende Beitrag zeigt Handlungsoptionen zur Lösung dieser beiden zentralen Zukunftsaufgaben auf und weist dabei der Schaffung besserer Betreuungsangebote eine Schlüsselrolle zu. |
| Keywords: | Demografischer Wandel, Fachkräftemangel, Fertilität, Vereinbarkeit von Familie und Beruf, Familienpolitik, Kinderbetreuung, Frauenerwerbsquote |
| JEL: | J13 J16 J21 |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izasps:sp48&r=dem |
| By: | Arthur Sweetman (Department of Economics, McMaster University); Casey Warman (Department of Economics, Queen`s University) |
| Abstract: | Two distinct issues are addressed. First, we explore earnings and employment outcome differences across categories of the immigrant selection system and directly link the points system to these outcomes, which is relatively rare in Canadian research. Second, the appropriateness of alternative approaches to selecting the sample for analysis and defining the dependent variable(s) are investigated to determine their relevance for answering different policy questions. Appreciable differences in outcomes across immigrant categories are observed with, as expected, the economic class having superior earnings in the long run. However, employment in some categories is comparable to, or higher than, that of the economic class, especially in the short run. Notably, privately sponsored refugees have relatively good outcomes, particularly in the short run and for employment. Their outcomes are particularly strong conditional on observed characteristics and plausibly point to the value of local information and networks. |
| Keywords: | Immigration Class, Point System, Canada |
| JEL: | J15 J24 J31 J61 J62 |
| Date: | 2012–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qed:wpaper:1292&r=dem |