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on Demographic Economics |
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Issue of 2012‒06‒13
28 papers chosen by Clarence Nkengne Tsimpo University of Montreal and World Bank Group |
| By: | Bratberg, Espen (University of Bergen); Nilsen, Øivind Anti (Dept. of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration); Vaage, Kjell (University of Bergen) |
| Abstract: | This paper addresses whether children’s exposure to parents receiving disability benefits induces a higher probability of receiving such benefits themselves. Most OECD countries experience an increasing proportion of the working-age population receiving permanent disability benefits. Using data from Norway, a country where around 10% of the working-age population rely on disability benefits, we find that the amount of time that children are exposed to their fathers receiving disability benefits affects their own likelihood of receiving benefits positively. This finding is robust to a range of different specifications, including family fixed effects. |
| Keywords: | Disability; intergenerational correlations; siblings fixed effects. |
| JEL: | H55 J62 |
| Date: | 2012–04–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:nhheco:2012_010&r=dem |
| By: | Chakraborty, Indraneel (Department of Economics); Stepanchuk, Serhiy (Magyar Nemzeti Bank); Holter, Hans A. (Department of Economics) |
| Abstract: | Americans work more than Europeans. Using micro data from the U.S. and 17 European countries, we study the contributions from demographic subgroups to these aggregate level dierences. We document that women are typically the largest contributors to the discrepancy in work hours. We also document a negative empirical correlation between hours worked and dierent measures of taxation, driven by men, and a positive correlation between hours worked and divorce rates, driven by women. Motivated by these observations, we develop a life-cycle model with heterogeneous agents, marriage and divorce and use it to study the impact of two mechanisms on labor supply: (i) dierences in marriage stability and (ii) dierences in tax systems. We calibrate the model to U.S. data and study how labor supply in the U.S. changes as we introduce European tax systems, and as we replace the U.S. divorce and marriage rates with their European equivalents. We nd that the divorce and tax mechanisms combined explain 58% of the variation in labor supply between the U.S. and the European countries in our sample. |
| Keywords: | Aggregate Labor Supply; Taxation; Marriage; Divorce; Heterogeneous Households |
| JEL: | E24 E62 H24 H31 J21 J22 |
| Date: | 2012–05–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:uunewp:2012_010&r=dem |
| By: | Kenneth Harttgen (ETH Zürich); Sebastian Vollmer (Georg-August-University Göttingen) |
| Abstract: | For more than a hundred years, advances in development were associated with decreasing fertility rates. This led to total fertility rates far below replacement level in most developed countries. However, during the last decade fertility rates started to increase again in various developed countries. Myrskylä et al (2009) argue that the relationship of the human development index (HDI) with the total fertility rate (TFR) reverses from negative (increases in HDI are associated with decreases in TFR) to positive (increases in HDI are associated with increases in TFR) at a HDI level of 0.85. We revisit this topic and find that the reversal in the HDI-TFR relationship is neither robust to UNDP’s recent revision in the HDI calculation method nor the decomposition of the HDI into its education, standard of living and health sub-indices. |
| Keywords: | Human development; education; health; standard of living; fertility |
| Date: | 2012–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:got:gotcrc:114&r=dem |
| By: | Black, Sandra (University of Texas, Austin); Devereux, Paul J. (University College Dublin); Løken, Katrine V. (University of Bergen); Salvanes, Kjell G. (Dept. of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration) |
| Abstract: | Given the wide use of childcare subsidies across countries, it is surprising how little we know about the effect of these subsidies on children’s longer run outcomes. Using a sharp discontinuity in the price of childcare in Norway, we are able to isolate the effects of childcare subsidies on both parental and student outcomes. We find very small and statistically insignificant effects of childcare subsidies on childcare utilization and parental labor force participation. Despite this, we find significant positive effect of the subsidies on children’s academic performance in junior high school, suggesting the positive shock to disposable income provided by the subsidies may be helping to improve children’s scholastic aptitude. |
| Keywords: | Childcare; subsidies; academic performance |
| JEL: | H52 J13 |
| Date: | 2012–05–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:nhheco:2012_013&r=dem |
| By: | Lei, Xiaoyan; Giles, John; Hu, Yuqing; Park, Albert; Strauss, John; Zhao, Yaohui |
| Abstract: | Using the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study 2008 pilot, this paper analyzes the patterns and correlates of intergenerational transfers between elderly parents and adult children in Zhejiang and Gansu Provinces. The pilot is a unique data source from China that provides information on the direction as well as amount of transfers between parents and each of their children, and clearly distinguishes transfers between parents and children from those among other relatives or friends. The paper shows that transfers flow predominantly from children to elderly parents, with transfers from children playing an important role in elderly support. Taking advantage of the rich information available in this survey, the authors find strong evidence that transfers are significantly affected by the financial capabilities of individual children. Educated and married children have a higher tendency to provide transfers to their parents; and oldest sons are less likely to provide transfers than their younger brothers. With future continued rapid economic growth in China, the income disadvantage of the elderly will persist and upward generational transfers will likely remain the most common form of private transfers. In the absence of some other source of elderly support (such as a public pension or own savings), the dwindling number of children implies that the financial burden associated with supporting the elderly is likely to increase. |
| Keywords: | Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Youth and Governance,Rural Poverty Reduction,Labor Policies,Population&Development |
| Date: | 2012–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6076&r=dem |
| By: | Sanjeev Sridharan; Julia Koschinsky (GeoDa Center for Geospatial Analysis and Computation; Arizona State University); Jeremy Walker |
| Abstract: | Background A growing body of research emphasizes the importance of contextual factors on health outcomes. Using postcode data for Scotland (UK), this study tests the hypothesis of spatial heterogeneity in the relationship between area-level deprivation and mortality to determine if contextual differences in the West vs. the rest of Scotland influence this relationship. Research into health inequalities frequently fails to recognise spatial heterogeneity in the deprivation-health relationship, assuming that global relationships apply uniformly across geographical areas. In this study, exploratory spatial data analysis methods are used to assess local patterns in deprivation and mortality. Spatial regression models are then implemented to examine the relationship between deprivation and mortality more formally. Results The initial exploratory spatial data analysis reveals concentrations of high SMR and deprivation values (hotspots) in the West of Scotland and concentrations of low values (coldspots) for both variables in the rest of the country. The main spatial regression result is that deprivation is the only variable that is highly significantly correlated with all-cause mortality in all models. However, in contrast to the expected spatial heterogeneity in the deprivation-mortality relationship, this relation does not vary between regions in any of the models. This result is robust to a number of specifications, including weighing for population size, controlling for spatial autocorrelation and heteroskedasticity, assuming a non-linear relationship between mortality and deprivation, breaking the dependent variable into male and female SMRs, and distinguishing between West, North and Southeast regions. The rejection of the hypothesis of spatial heterogeneity in the relationship between deprivation and mortality complements prior research on the stability of the deprivation-mortality relationship over time. Conclusions The obtained homogeneity in the deprivation-mortality relationship across the regions of Scotland and the absence of a contextualized effect of region highlights the importance of taking a broader strategic policy that can combat the toxic impacts of deprivation on health. Focusing on a few specific places (e.g. 15% of the poorest areas) to concentrate resources might be a good start but the impacts of deprivation on mortality is not restricted to a few places. A comprehensive strategy that can be sustained over time might be needed to interrupt the linkages between poverty and mortality. |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:asg:wpaper:1042&r=dem |
| By: | Marcassa, Stefania |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the conditional probability of leaving unemployment of French married individuals from 1991 to 2002. We find that the effect of spousal labor income on unemployment duration is asymmetric for men and women. In particular, the probability of men to find a job is increasing in wife labor income, while it is decreasing in husband’s earnings for women. To adjust for endogenous selection into marriage, we use the occupation of the fathers in-law as an instrumental variable for the spousal wage. Finally, we show that introducing a breadwinner stigma in a joint job search model generates the positive correlation observed for men in the data. |
| Keywords: | unemployment duration; hazard models; labor income; marriage; joint search theory |
| JEL: | J12 J64 J65 |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpm:docweb:1204&r=dem |
| By: | Dean Baker; David Rosnick |
| Abstract: | There have been a number of proposals in policy circles that involve raising the Social Security retirement age. This is viewed as both a way to reduce or eliminate the projected shortfall in the program and also a response to projected increases in longevity. This paper examines the impact of an increase in the retirement age on various demographic groups. Treating future Social Security benefits as a form of wealth, it projects the impact of a gradual increase in the normal retirement age from 67 to 70 (2 months a year for 18 years) on each quintile of the wealth distribution using data from the Federal Reserve Board’s 2007 Survey of Consumer Finances. It constructs separate projections for homeowners and non-homeowners, single individuals and couples in the age cohorts 35-44, 45-54, and 55-64. The projections show that Social Security wealth is a far larger share of the wealth of the bottom four quintiles in each of these categories, therefore a reduction in Social Security benefits will have the effect of increasing inequality. |
| Keywords: | social security, retirement, inequality, retirement age |
| JEL: | H H5 H55 J J1 J14 |
| Date: | 2012–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:epo:papers:2012-12&r=dem |
| By: | Stephan Lauermann; Georg Nöldeke (University of Basel) |
| Keywords: | Marriage Market, Stable Matchings, Random Matchings, Serarch Frictions |
| JEL: | C78 D83 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bsl:wpaper:2012/10&r=dem |
| By: | Nagore Iriberri; Pedro Rey-Biel |
| Abstract: | We study how gender differences in performance under competition are affected by the provision of information regarding rival’s gender and/or differences in relative ability. In a laboratory experiment, we use two tasks that differ regarding perceptions about which gender outperforms the other. We observe women’s underperformance only under two conditions: 1) tasks are perceived as favoring men and 2) rivals’ gender is explicitly mentioned. This result can be explained by stereotype-threat being reinforced when explicitly mentioning gender in tasks in which women already consider they are inferior. Omitting information about gender is a safe alternative to avoid women’s underperformance in competition. |
| Keywords: | gender differences, competition, feedback information, gender perception, stereotype-threat |
| JEL: | C72 C91 D81 |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:upf:upfgen:1288&r=dem |
| By: | Pertold, Filip (Department of Economics, Aarhus School of Business) |
| Abstract: | I estimate the effect of opposite-gender peer drinking on individual risky sexual behavior among Czech youth. The identification strategy relies on two main controls for individual and groupspecific unobservables. First, younger schoolmates’ sexual behavior is a control for school-specific attitudes toward sexual behavior. Second, pre-determined individual pre-secondary-school alcohol consumption is used to control for self-selection into schools of individuals with specific attitudes toward alcohol. As opposed to Waddell (2010), I find that female drinking affects the male propensity to have unprotected sex, while male drinking does not have such an effect on female behavior. This finding corresponds to the fact that females have usually older sexual partners than males |
| Keywords: | Peer effects; Sexual behavior; Drinking |
| JEL: | I12 J13 |
| Date: | 2011–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:aareco:2011_003&r=dem |
| By: | Peter Adamson; UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre |
| Abstract: | Report Card 10 considers two views of child poverty in the world’s advanced economies: a measure of absolute deprivation, and a measure of relative poverty. The first measure is a 14-item Child Deprivation Index that represents a significant new development in international monitoring, drawing on data from the European Union’s Statistics on Incomes and Living Conditions survey of 125,000 households in 31 European countries, which has included a section on children for the first time. Children were considered 'deprived' if they lacked two or more of the items, which ranged from three meals a day, to an Internet connection. The second measure covers the EU and an additional six OECD countries (Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Switzerland and the United States) and examines the percentage of children living below their national 'poverty line' - defined as 50 per cent of median disposable household income. |
| Keywords: | child poverty; econometric analysis; economic and social conditions; european union; oecd; poverty; poverty reduction; |
| JEL: | D10 H2 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ucf:inreca:inreca660&r=dem |
| By: | Haan, Peter; Prowse, Victoria |
| Abstract: | How can public pension systems be reformed to ensure fiscal stability in the face of increasing life expectancy? To address this pressing open question in public finance, we use micro data to estimate a structural life-cycle model of individuals' employment, retirement and consumption decisions. Our modeling approach allows life expectancy and the nature of the public pension system to influence the decisions of forward-looking individuals planning for retirement. We calculate that, in the case of Germany, an increase of 4.34 years in the full pensionable age or a cut of 37.7% in the per-year value of public pension benefits would offset the fiscal consequences of the 6.4 year increase in age 65 life expectancy anticipated to occur over the next 40 years. Of these two approaches to coping with the fiscal impact of improving longevity, increasing the full pensionable age generates the largest responses in labor supply and retirement behavior. |
| Keywords: | Life Expectancy; Public Pension Reform; Retirement; Employment; Life-cycle Models; Consumption; Tax and Transfer System |
| JEL: | D91 J22 J64 J26 J11 |
| Date: | 2012–06–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:39282&r=dem |
| By: | Krishna Pendakur (Simon Fraser University); Martina Menon (University of Verona); Federico Perali (University of Verona) |
| Abstract: | Collective household models posit that each household member has access to a fraction of the household budget, called a resource share, which defines the shadow budget faced by a household member. Together with the within-household shadow price vector, the shadow budget determines the material well-being of the household member. In general, it is difficult to identify resource shares from typical household-level consumption data. However, several recent papers have shown that if resource shares do not depend on total household expenditure, then identification of resource shares may proceed from commonly available Engel curve data. Unfortunately, typical datasets do not allow the testing of this restriction. In this paper, we use a novel Italian dataset to establish that children's resource shares do not exhibit much dependence on total household expenditure. Thus, identification of resource shares on the basis of this restriction may be valid. |
| Keywords: | Collective Households; Resource Shares; Sharing Rule; Identification |
| JEL: | C2 D1 D6 D7 |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sfu:sfudps:dp12-11&r=dem |
| By: | Colonna, Fabrizio; Marcassa, Stefania |
| Abstract: | Italy has the lowest labor force participation of women among European countries. Moreover, the participation rate of married women is positively correlated to their husbands’ income. We show that a high tax schedule together with tax credits and transfers raise the burden of two-earner households, generating disincentives to work. We estimate a structural labor supply model for women, and use the estimated parameters to simulate the effects of alternative revenue-neutral tax systems. We find that joint taxation implies a drop in the participation rate. Conversely, working tax credit and gender-based taxation boost it, with the effects of the former concentrated on low educated women. |
| Keywords: | female labor force participation; Italian tax system; second earner tax rate; joint taxation; gender-based taxation; working tax credit |
| JEL: | J21 J22 H31 |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpm:docweb:1203&r=dem |
| By: | Kornder Nils; Dronkers Jaap (ROA rm) |
| Abstract: | As a follow-up of earlier analyses of the educational performance of all pupils with amigration background with Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA)waves 2003 and 2006, we analyze the differences between the educational performanceof 15-year old daughters and sons of migrants from specific regions of origin countriesliving in different destination countries. We use the newest PISA 2009 wave. Instead ofanalyzing only Western countries as destination countries, we analyze the educationalperformance of 16,612 daughters and 16,804 sons of migrants in destinationcountries across Asia, Europe, Latin America, and Oceania. We distinguish 62 origincountries and 12 origin areas in 30 destination countries. We test three hypotheses:1) The daughters of migrants from poorer, more traditional regions perform much betterin reading than comparable sons of migrants from the same origin regions, while thedaughters of migrants from more affluent and liberal regions perform slightly betterin reading than comparable sons of migrants from the same regions. 2) Individualsocioeconomic background has a stronger effect on the educational performance ofdaughters of migrants than on the performance of sons of migrants. 3) The performanceof female native pupils has a higher influence on the performance of migrant daughtersthan the performance of male native pupils has on the performance of migrant sons.The first hypothesis can only partly be accepted. Female migrant pupils have bothhigher reading and math scores than comparable male migrant pupils, and these genderdifferences among migrant pupils are larger than among comparable native pupils. Theadditional variation in educational performance by region of origin is, however, notclearly related to the poverty or traditionalism of regions. Neither the second nor thethird hypothesis can be accepted, given our results. |
| Keywords: | labour market entry and occupational careers; |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:umaror:2012004&r=dem |
| By: | Dabalen, Andrew L.; Paul, Saumik |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates the causal effects of civil war on years of education in the context of a school-going age cohort that is exposed to armed conflict in Cote d'Ivoire. Using year and department of birth to identify an individual's exposure to war, the difference-in-difference outcomes indicate that the average years of education for a school-going age cohort is .94 years fewer compared with an older cohort in war-affected regions. To minimize the potential bias in the estimated outcome, the authors use a set of victimization indicators to identify the true effect of war. The propensity score matching estimates do not alter the main findings. In addition, the outcomes of double-robust models minimize the specification errors in the model. Moreover, the paper finds the outcomes are robust across alternative matching methods, estimation by using subsamples, and other education outcome variables. Overall, the findings across different models suggest a drop in average years of education by a range of .2 to .9 fewer years. |
| Keywords: | Access&Equity in Basic Education,Population Policies,Post Conflict Reconstruction,Education For All,Primary Education |
| Date: | 2012–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6077&r=dem |
| By: | Jaldell, Henrik (Dept. of Economics) |
| Abstract: | The risk of dying in fires in nursing homes is six times the risk of dying in fires at home in Sweden. The risk of being injured in nursing homes is even higher. The reason is that fire alarms do not help if people have problems moving around, or have dementia and do not understand what is going on. One way to reduce this risk is to install fire sprinklers. The benefits depend on the value we put on elderly people living in nursing homes. Their life expectancy is 3.2 years. This study measures the benefits and compares them in terms of the monetary value of full lives, life years and quality adjusted life years (QALYs) for deaths and injuries. The results show that sprinklers are cost-effective in newly built nursing homes no matter what value of life is used. However, if sprinklers are installed in already existing buildings, they are cost-effective only if the value of a statistical life is used. |
| Keywords: | QALY; value of statistical life; nursing home; fire safety; sprinklers; elderly |
| JEL: | H75 I11 J14 K32 |
| Date: | 2012–06–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:kaunek:0005&r=dem |
| By: | Jonathan Bradshaw; Leonardo Menchini; Yekaterina Chzhen; Gill Main; Bruno Martorano; Chris De Neubourg; UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre |
| Abstract: | This paper presents and discusses child relative income poverty statistics for 35 economically advanced countries, representing all the members of the European Union, Australia, Canada, Iceland, Japan, New Zealand, Switzerland and the United States. As most of the data refer to the year 2008, the results partly reflect the initial impact of the global economic crisis as well as government responses. According to the data, Nordic countries and the Netherlands present the lowest child relative poverty levels, while Japan, the United States, most of the Southern European countries and some of the new EU member states have among the highest. Several factors are associated with the risk of poverty, such as demographic composition, educational level of household members, labour conditions, but the extent to which these factors influence the risk of poverty vary considerably across countries. Lastly, in several countries the role of government is found to be highly important in reducing child poverty. |
| Keywords: | child poverty; child well-being; employment; income household; industrialized countries; |
| JEL: | A1 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ucf:inwopa:inwopa655&r=dem |
| By: | Dionissi Aliprantis; Daniel Carroll |
| Abstract: | This paper uses an overlapping-generations dynamic general equilibrium model of residential sorting and intergenerational human capital accumulation to investigate effects of neighborhood externalities. In the model, households choose where to live and how much to invest toward the production of their child’s human capital. The return on the parent’s investment is determined in part by the child’s ability and in part by an externality from the average human capital in their neighborhood. We use the model to test a prominent hypothesis about the concentration of poverty within racially-segregated neighborhoods (Wilson 1987). We first impose segregation on a model with two neighborhoods and match the model steady state to income and housing data from Chicago in 1960. Next, we lift the restriction on moving and compute the new steady state and corresponding transition path. The transition implied by the model qualitatively supports Wilson’s hypothesis: high-income residents of the low-average-human-capital neighborhood move out, reducing the returns to investment in their old neighborhood. Sorting increases citywide human capital, but it also produces congestion in the high-income neighborhood, increasing the average cost of housing. As a result, average welfare decreases by 2.2 percent of steady state consumption, and the loss is greatest for those initially in the low-income neighborhood. |
| Keywords: | Housing policy ; Population ; Wealth ; Equilibrium (Economics) - Mathematical models ; Human capital |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedcwp:1212&r=dem |
| By: | Daniela Del Boca; Christopher J. Flinn |
| Abstract: | There is some controversy in the field of household economics regarding the efficiency of household decisions. We make the point that a flexible specification of spousal preferences and the household production technology precludes the possibility of using revealed preference data on household time allocations to determine the manner in which spouses interact: efficiently or inefficiently. Under strong, but standard, assumptions regarding marriage market equilibria, marital sorting patterns can be used essentially as “out of sample” information that allows us to assess whether household behavior is efficient or not. We develop a new likelihood-based metric to compare marriage market fits under the two alternative behavioral assumptions. We use a sample of households drawn from a recent wave of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, and find strong evidence supporting the view that household behavior is (constrained) efficient. |
| Keywords: | Bilateral Matching, Household Time Allocation, Efficient Outcomes, Likelihood Analysis |
| JEL: | D13 J12 J22 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cca:wpaper:254&r=dem |
| By: | Daniel S. Hamermesh |
| Abstract: | Using several microeconomic data sets from the United States and the Netherlands, and the examples of height and beauty, this study examines whether: 1) Absolute or relative differences in a characteristic are what affect labor-market and other outcomes; and 2) The effects of a characteristic change when all agents acquire more of it—become taller or better-looking. Confronted with a choice among individuals, decision-makers respond more to absolute than to relative differences among them. Also, an increase in the mean of a characteristic’s distribution does not alter market responses to differences in it. |
| JEL: | J71 J78 |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:18123&r=dem |
| By: | Peter Adamson |
| Abstract: | Questo rapporto presenta gli ultimi dati comparabili a livello internazionale sulla deprivazione materiale e sulla povertà tra I bambini e gli adolescenti. Insieme, queste due diverse misure offrono un'immagine completa ed esaustiva delle condizioni in cui vivono bambini e adolescenti in alcuni paesi a reddito medio-alto. |
| Keywords: | child poverty; child well-being; econometric analysis; economic crisis; europe; incentives; oecd countries; poverty; |
| JEL: | C1 H2 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ucf:inreca:inreca664&r=dem |
| By: | Peter Adamson; UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre |
| Abstract: | Les précédents rapports de la série des Bilans révèlent que lorsqu’une société ne protège pas les enfants contre la pauvreté, elle commet une erreur très coûteuse. En effet, si les enfants en sont les principales victimes, les pays en subissent également les conséquences et doivent affronter la baisse des compétences et de la productivité, la dégradation des niveaux de santé et d’instruction, l’augmentation du risque de chômage et de dépendance à l’égard de l’aide sociale, l’élévation des coûts de la protection sociale et des systèmes judiciaires, ainsi que l’érosion de la cohésion sociale. D’un point de vue économique, à l’exception du très court terme, la société a donc tout intérêt à prévenir la pauvreté des enfants. |
| Keywords: | child poverty; child well-being; econometric analysis; economic crisis; europe; incentives; oecd countries; poverty; |
| JEL: | C1 H2 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ucf:inreca:inreca661&r=dem |
| By: | Hélène Blake (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); Clémentine Garrouste (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: | How does the retirement age affect the physical and mental health of seniors? We identify this effect based on the 1993 reform of the French pension system, which was heterogeneously introduced among the population. With each cohort, the French government gradually increased the incentive to work using two tools: the contribution period required for entitlement to a full pension and the number of reference earning years taken to calculate pensions. We use a unique database on health and employment in France in 1999 and 2005, when the cohorts affected by the reform started to retire. A difference-in-differences approach, with the control group comprising public sector employees (not concerned by the 1993 reform), finds that the people more affected by the reform, and hence with a stronger incentive to work, were those posting less of an improvement and even a deterioration in their health between 1999 and 2005. Subsequently, taking the reform as a tool to filter out the potential influence of health on employment choices, we show that retirement improves physical and social health. The more physically impacted are the low-educated individuals. |
| Keywords: | Retirement ; Health ; Pension Reform |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:psewpa:halshs-00703706&r=dem |
| By: | Michał Krawczyk (University of Warsaw, Faculty of Economic Sciences) |
| Abstract: | This paper reports a field experiment investigating effectiveness of moral appeal in discouraging exam cheating. Substantial level of cheating was identified using an index of test answers similarity, contrasted with low self-reports. The treatment manipulation made an impact on self-reported but not observed frequency of cheating. Hypothesized gender difference, whereby males took but not gave more illicit information than females was also found. |
| Keywords: | exam cheating, moral appeal, gender differences, field experiments |
| JEL: | C93 D82 I23 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:war:wpaper:2012-09&r=dem |
| By: | Mariann RIGO (Department of Economics, Central European University, Budapest and UNIVERSITE CATHOLIQUE DE LOUVAIN, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES)); Vincent VANDENBERGHE (UNIVERSITE CATHOLIQUE DE LOUVAIN, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES)); Fabio WALTENBERG (Departamento de Economia and Centro de Estudos sobre Desigualdade e Desenvolvimento (CEDE), Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF), Brazil) |
| Abstract: | The Belgian population is ageing due to demographic changes; so does the workforce of firms active in the country. Such a trend is likely to remain for the foreseeable future. And it will be reinforced by the willingness of public authorities to expand employment among individuals aged 50 or more. But are older workers employable? The answer depends to a large extent on the gap between older workers’ productivity and their cost to employers. To address this question we use a production function that is modified to reflect the heterogeneity of labour with workers of different age potentially diverging in terms of marginal products. Using unique firm-level panel data we produce robust evidence on the causal effect of ageing on productivity (value added) and labour costs. We take advantage of the panel structure of data and resort to first-differences to deal with a potential time-invariant heterogeneity bias. Moreover, inspired by recent developments in the production function estimation literature, we also address the risk of simultaneity bias (endogeneity of firms’ age-mix choices in the short run) using i) the structural approach suggested by Ackerberg, Caves & Frazer (2006), ii) alongside more traditional system-GMM methods (Blundell & Bond, 1998) where lagged values of labour inputs are used as instruments. Our results indicate a negative impact of larger shares of older workers on productivity that is not compensated by lower labour costs, resulting in a lower productivity-labour costs gap. An increment of 10%-points of their share causes a 1.3-2.8% contraction of this gap. We conduct several robustness checks that largely confirm this result. This is not good news for older individuals’ employability and calls for interventions in the Belgian private economy aimed at combating the decline of productivity with age and/or better adapting labour costs to age-productivity profiles. |
| Keywords: | Ageing, Old Labour Productivity and Employability, Panel Data Analysis |
| JEL: | J24 C33 D24 |
| Date: | 2012–06–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ctl:louvir:2012011&r=dem |
| By: | Eiji Yamamura; Inyong Shin |
| Abstract: | Ethnic heterogeneity influences economic growth through various channels such as efficiency improvement and capital accumulation. However, it is open to discussion exactly how ethnic heterogeneity affects these channels. Hence, this paper attempts to examine the effects of heterogeneity on economic growth using data envelopment analysis. The empirical results of the estimations show that heterogeneity has a negative effect on efficiency improvements. However, heterogeneity has no effect on capital accumulation. This implies that ethnic heterogeneity hinders positive externalities such as information spillover, which hampers economic growth. |
| Keywords: | Ethnic fractionalization, Ethnic polarization, Efficiency improvement, Capital accumulation. |
| JEL: | H11 O43 |
| Date: | 2012–05–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eei:rpaper:eeri_rp_2012_09&r=dem |