|
on Demographic Economics |
|
Issue of 2013‒04‒06
29 papers chosen by Clarence Nkengne Tsimpo University of Montreal and World Bank Group |
| By: | Gilles Pison (Ined) |
| Abstract: | In most developed countries, fertility has declined in response to the economic crisis. France appears to be anexception, but without the crisis, the total fertility rate,which had been increasing for several years, would have continued its upward trend and exceeded 2 children per woman. Trends in infant mortality are difficult to interpret due to changes in birth registration practices. A solution to this problem would be to add the birth weight and gestational age on the birth certificate so that the viability of each birth can be gauged against the international criteria established by the WHO. |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idg:posoce:498&r=dem |
| By: | Louise Grogan (Department of Economics,University of Guelph) |
| Abstract: | This paper explains how household formation rules affect the fertility and labour supply of women in the Former Soviet Union and neighbouring countries. Women who bear a male first child in countries dominated by traditional, patrilocal households are shown to have sub- stantially lower subsequent fertility from those whose first child is female. Where households are generally nuclear, male first borns do not reduce subsequent fertility. Middle-aged women in more patrilocal contexts often work less if their first child is male, despite reduced fertility and being more likely to reside with a daughter-in-law. In more nuclear contexts, they tend to work more. These findings suggest that household formation rules are strongly related both to women’s demand for sons and to the direction of intergenerational transfers. |
| Keywords: | household formation rules, fertility, daughter-in-law, deferred compensation, Central Asia, Russia, Soviet Union, patrilocality, intergenerational transfers |
| JEL: | J10 O12 O5 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gue:guelph:2013-02&r=dem |
| By: | Durevall, Dick (Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University); Lindskog, Annika (Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University) |
| Abstract: | We investigate the relationship between intimate partner violence and HIV among married women in sub-Saharan Africa. Using propensity score matching, we find a strong relationship. To investigate mechanisms, we split the sample according to spouse’s HIV status. Neither women with HIV-positive husbands nor those with HIV-negative husbands are more likely to be infected when subject to IPV. To find an effect the two samples have to be combined. Thus the relationship is explained by higher HIV risk among violent men. Neither women’s decreased ability to protect from HIV transmission within marriage, nor their risky sexual behavior explains the link. |
| Keywords: | Domestic violence; HIV; HIV epidemic; Intimate partner violence; Gender inequality; Sexual violence; Propensity score matching; Sub-Saharan Africa |
| JEL: | I14 I15 J12 |
| Date: | 2013–03–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:gunwpe:0563&r=dem |
| By: | Weiss, Yoram (Tel Aviv University); Yi, Junjian (University of Chicago); Zhang, Junsen (Chinese University of Hong Kong) |
| Abstract: | We study the rise in marriages between residents of HK and China following the handover of HK to China in 1997. Cross-boundary marriages accounted for almost half the marriages registered in HK in 2006. Because of large differences in male income between China and HK, marriages of HK men with Mainland women outnumbered those of HK women with mainland men sevenfold. Following the handover, HK women had lower marriage, higher divorce and higher emigration rates. These outcomes are predicted by our matching model and contradict the hypothesis that cross-boundary marriages were driven by rising education of HK women. |
| Keywords: | one-way permit, hypergamy, cross-boundary marriage, family behavior |
| JEL: | F22 J11 J12 |
| Date: | 2013–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7293&r=dem |
| By: | Fang He (Graduate School of Business and Commerce, Keio University) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we have attempted to identify the factors behind the tendency in Japan to marry late. We applied search theory to the process of women's mate search in marriage markets and used having a full-time job as the indicator of being marriageable. We therefore used the number of male full-time workers for every hundred women in the same age and residence region as the variable showing the condition of the marriage markets. Using the estimations from the Cox Proportional Hazard model, we confirmed the following facts: First, when the number of the full-time male workers in labor market increases, women's marriage timing will be brought forward in the marriage market. Female marriage timing is influenced by the number of potential marriage mates. Second, increases in female wage rates relative to male wage rates bring forward female marriage timing. Third, increases in earned income for women bring forward female marriage timing, but the effect is not strong. There is a popular notion that a decline in the benefits of marriage owing to the increase in women's economic independence is the preeminent factor in the recent rise in delayed marriage, but according to the findings here, this is not true. |
| Date: | 2013–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kei:dpaper:2012-052&r=dem |
| By: | Adsera, Alicia (Princeton University); Ferrer, Ana (University of Calgary) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we examine the fertility experience of immigrants during their first years in Canada. Fertility decisions at the time of arrival may be crucial in determining immigrants' economic assimilation into the new country, as households with infants usually face large expenses and are constrained in the amount of time they can supply to the labour market. Using the confidential files of the Canadian Census of Population for the years 1991 through 2006 we look at native born-immigrant differentials in new births up to five years after migration. We find evidence of a relatively rapid growth in births during this initial period compared to both similar natives and migrants themselves during the two years before the move. To what extent the presence of infants in immigrant households converges to the levels of the native-born during the early migration years differs greatly by broad area of origin. |
| Keywords: | immigrant fertility, fertility disruption, recent immigrants, Canada |
| JEL: | J11 J13 J15 |
| Date: | 2013–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7289&r=dem |
| By: | Dilara Kýlýnç (Department of Economics, Izmir University of Economics); Ý. Hakan Yetkiner (Department of Economics, Izmir University of Economics) |
| Abstract: | This work studies the role of gender on economic convergence in a standard convergence model expanded by gender shares of labor force. The theoretical part of the paper shows the positive role of gender on economic growth. Next, the paper presents 5-year span panel data tests of the contribution of the female share in employment on economic growth for 34 OECD countries in the period 1951-2010. We find that an increase in the share of women has a positive contribution to economic convergence across OECD countries. In addition to this, we also show that there is a U-shaped curvilinear relationship between gender equality and economic growth for OECD countries in the period 1951-2010. We conjecture that this result coincides with the ‘S-shaped’ Kuznets Curve of Gender hypothesis. |
| Keywords: | Gender, Income Convergence, Economic Growth, Kuznets Curve of Gender |
| JEL: | J16 O47 O50 C23 |
| Date: | 2013–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:izm:wpaper:1302&r=dem |
| By: | Cervellati, Matteo (University of Bologna); Sunde, Uwe (University of Munich) |
| Abstract: | This paper presents a theoretical and empirical analysis of the role of life expectancy for optimal schooling and lifetime labor supply. The results of a simple prototype Ben-Porath model with age-specific survival rates show that an increase in lifetime labor supply is not a necessary, nor a sufficient, condition for greater life expectancy to increase optimal schooling. The observed increase in survival rates during working ages that follows from the "rectangularization" of the survival function is crucial for schooling and labor supply. The empirical results suggest that the relative benefits of schooling have been increasing across cohorts of US men born 1840-1930. A simple quantitative analysis shows that a realistic shift in the survival function can lead to an increase in schooling and a reduction in lifetime labor hours. |
| Keywords: | longevity, life expectancy, schooling, lifetime labor supply, rectangularization of the survival function |
| JEL: | E20 J22 J24 J26 O11 |
| Date: | 2013–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7286&r=dem |
| By: | Fredriksson, Peter (Dept. of Economics, Stockholm University); Öckert, Björn (Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy (IFAU)) |
| Abstract: | In Sweden, children typically start compulsory school the year they turn 7. Individuals born around the new year have about the same date of birth but enter school at different ages. We exploit this source of exogenous variation to identify effects of age at school entry on educational attainment and long-run labor market outcomes. Using data for the entire native population born 1935-55, we find that school entry age raises educational attainment. We show that the comprehensive school reform (which postponed tracking until age 16) reduced the effect of school starting age on educational attainment. We also trace the effects of school starting age on prime-age earnings, employment, and wages. On average, school starting age only affects the allocation of labor supply over the lifecycle; prime-age earnings is unaffected, and there is a negative effect on discounted life-time earnings. But for individuals with low-educated parents, and to some extent women, we find that prime-age earnings increase in response to age at school start. |
| Keywords: | School starting age; educational attainment; life-time earnings; regression discontinuity |
| JEL: | C31 I21 I28 J24 |
| Date: | 2013–03–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:sunrpe:2013_0007&r=dem |
| By: | Nicolas Jacquemet; Jean-Marc Robin (Institute for Fiscal Studies and Sciences Po) |
| Abstract: | We extend the search-matching model of the marriage market of Shimer and Smith (200) to allow for labour supply and home production. We characterise the steady-state equilibrium when exogenous divorce is the only source of risk. We study nonparametric identification using cross-section data on wages and hours worked, and we develop a nonparametric estimator. The estimated matching probabilities that can be derived from the steady-state flow conditions are strongly increasing in male and female wages. We estimate the expected share of marriage surplus appropriated by each spouse as a function of wages. The model allows to infer the specialisation of female spouses in home production from observations on wages and hours worked. |
| Keywords: | search-matching, sorting, assortative matching, collective labour supply, structural estimation |
| JEL: | C78 D83 J12 J22 |
| Date: | 2013–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ifs:cemmap:07/13&r=dem |
| By: | Janusz Jablonowski (National Bank of Poland); Christoph Müller (Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we evaluate the long-term performance of the Polish public pension system from three perspectives: fiscal stability, intergenerational redistribution and adequacy of pension benefits. We assess the two recent public pension reforms undertaken in Poland: 1) the shift of a part of pension contributions from the funded to the unfunded pension pillar and 2) the gradual increase in retirement ages to 67 for both men and women. The results suggest that the combined effect of both reforms shows a significant improvement in cash balances until 2040. The burden of the reforms is shared relatively equally across generations. The effect of higher retirement ages on benefit levels is also positive, especially for those having standard job contracts. What is worrying, however, is the general future drop of benefit levels, in particular for the group of self-employed persons. Policy makers should, therefore, start discussing possible measures today if they aim to avoid a significant increase in old age poverty in the future. |
| Keywords: | Generational Accounting, fiscal sustainability, fiscal policy, Poland, pension reform |
| JEL: | H50 H55 H60 H68 J10 H30 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbp:nbpmis:145&r=dem |
| By: | Cordoba, Juan Carlos; Ripoll, Marla |
| Abstract: | This paper provides a theory that explains the cross-country distribution of average years of schooling, as well as the so called human capital premium puzzle. In our theory, credit frictions as well as differences in access to public education, fertility and mortality turn out to be the key reasons why schooling differs across countries. Differences in growth rates and in wages are second order. |
| Keywords: | human capital; life expectancy; per capita income di§erences; public education spend- ing; life cycle model |
| JEL: | I J O |
| Date: | 2013–03–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:isu:genres:36066&r=dem |
| By: | David C. Ribar (Department of Economics, University of North Carolina at Greensboro and Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)) |
| Abstract: | Nest-leaving—the transition of young adults from their parents’ homes to other living arrangements—is a major life-course milestone. Although the causes of nest-leaving have been extensively researched, only a few studies have examined the changes in young adults’ own assessments of their well-being that immediately precede and follow these transitions. This study uses the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey to document the trajectories of financial hardships, food consumption, and other well-being outcomes among Australians who left their parents’ homes between the ages of 18 and 25 years. The study estimates multivariate fixed-effects models that compare outcomes before and after nest-leaving transitions to mitigate the effects of confounding characteristics. Men and women report increased financial hardships in the years that they leave home and in the first few years that follow. In particular, men and women both report more frequently going without meals and needing to ask friends and family for financial help. Women additionally report more frequently missing utility and housing payments. |
| Keywords: | Youths, nest-leaving, financial hardships, nutrition |
| JEL: | J12 J13 |
| Date: | 2013–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iae:iaewps:wp2013n10&r=dem |
| By: | Klaus Desmet; Jordan Rappaport |
| Abstract: | A prominent strand of economic literature argues that population growth rates across locations areas are uncorrelated with the population levels of those locations (“Gibrat’s Law”). Such uncorrelated growth, it is argued, can account for the current distribution of population across locations. This paper shows that, on the contrary, locations’ population growth throughout U.S. history has always been highly correlated with their initial population levels. Throughout the entire 19th century and the early 20th century, low-population locations tended to grow faster than intermediate-population locations, thereby causing the distribution of population to become more compressed. Throughout the second half of the 19th century and the entire 20th century, population growth among the highest-population locations was faster than population growth among intermediate-population locations, thereby causing the distribution of population to become more dispersed. ; This pattern of population growth is driven by two separate forces. First is the “entry” of new locations into the United States as the country spread westward. These locations typically entered with a low population after which many of them gradually transitioned up to much larger ones. Such transitions can account for the faster growth of low population locations. Second, the congestion arising from limited supplies of land within any given location may have eased over time. This may have occurred, for example, with the technology-driven move by workers from agriculture to manufacturing and services. Such a shift would cause high-population places to grow faster. ; Understanding historical population growth across locations gives insight into near-future population growth. For example, since 2000 population growth in larger locations (though not necessarily the very largest) has tended to outpace population growth in intermediate and smaller locations. This suggests that ongoing technological change may be continuing to relieve the “congestion” associated with living in large metro areas while increasing the disadvantages of living in small locations. Rapid advances in information technology are a possible source of such technological change. |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedkrw:rwp13-02&r=dem |
| By: | Cecilia García-Peñalosa (AMSE - Aix-Marseille School of Economics - Aix-Marseille Univ. - Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS) - Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) - Ecole Centrale Marseille (ECM)); Maty Konte (AMSE - Aix-Marseille School of Economics - Aix-Marseille Univ. - Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS) - Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) - Ecole Centrale Marseille (ECM)) |
| Abstract: | A substantial literature has examined the determinants of support for democracy and although existing work has found a gender gap in democratic attitudes, there have been no attempts to explain it. In this paper we try to understand why females are less supportive of democracy than males in a number of countries. Using data for 20 Sub-Saharan African countries, we test whether the gap is due to individual differences in policy priorities or to country-wide characteristics. We find that controlling for individual policy priorities does not offset the gender gap, but those women who are interested in politics are more democratic than men. Furthermore, our results indicate that the gap disappears in countries with high levels of human development and political rights. |
| Keywords: | Support for democracy; gender gap; policy priorities; institutions |
| Date: | 2013–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-00802838&r=dem |
| By: | Polato e Fava, Ana Claudia (CECS, Universidade Federal do ABC); Arends-Kuenning, Mary P. (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) |
| Abstract: | In Brazil, wives do most of the household work. About sixty percent of them also work outside the household, working a total of about 10 hours more per week than men. Because of this unequal distribution of household work, husbands and wives might have different priorities regarding the purchase of durable goods. Although both husbands and wives enjoy entertainment durable goods, wives might have a relative preference for household-production durable goods such as washing machines over entertainment durable goods such as televisions. Using a Brazilian household consumption survey, we examine whether decisions about ownership of entertainment and production durable goods are the outcomes of a bargaining process between husbands and wives. We use several variables to measure bargaining power, including the ratio of women to men in a state. The results indicate that decisions about durable goods ownership are the outcomes of bargaining processes between husbands and wives with wives having a relative preference for household-production durable goods over entertainment durable goods compared to their husbands. Bargaining might explain why ownership of household production durable goods is relatively low in Brazil, despite their potential to save women's time. |
| Keywords: | consumer durables, Brazil, household production |
| JEL: | J16 J12 |
| Date: | 2013–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7281&r=dem |
| By: | Louise Grogan (Department of Economics,University of Guelph) |
| Abstract: | This paper shows that rural electrification is associated with big changes in the time use of men and women in Nicaragua, even in the absence of labor-saving appliances. Electricity is shown to increase the propensity of rural Nicaraguan women to work out- side the home by about 23%, but to have no impact on male employment. These findings suggest significant potential benefits to rural electrification that are not generally captured in cost–benefit analyses, such as greater women’s earnings and reduced deforestation. |
| Keywords: | electric light, time use, employment, labor-saving technology, slope gradient, population density |
| JEL: | H4 I3 O1 O3 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gue:guelph:2013-03&r=dem |
| By: | Anna Baranowska-Rataj (Institute of Statistics and Demography, Warsaw School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | W niniejszym opracowaniu przedstawiamy diagnozê obecnych mo¿liwoœci dostosowywania organizacji czasu pracy do obowi¹zków rodzinnych w Polsce na podstawie badañ miêdzynarodowych. Pokazujemy, na ile uwarunkowania i mo¿liwoœci dostosowywania organizacji czasu pracy do obowi¹zków rodzinnych ulega³y poprawie w ostatnich latach. Wskazujemy tak¿e elementy polityki rynku pracy, które mog³yby zostaæ zmodyfikowane w celu polepszenia mo¿liwoœci ³¹czenia pracy zawodowej i obowi¹zków rodzinnych. |
| Keywords: | godzenie obowi¹zków zawodowych i rodzinnych, elastyczne formy zatrudnienia |
| JEL: | J13 J81 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:isd:wpaper:55&r=dem |
| By: | Michael D. Hurd (RAND); Angela Lee Duckworth (University of Pennsylvania); Susann Rohwedder (RAND); David R. Weir (Survey Research Center, University of Michigan) |
| Abstract: | This paper assesses the effects of personality traits on economic preparation for retirement, wealth accumulation, and consumption, among persons 66 to 69 years of age. Among the five chief personality traits of neuroticism, extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness, we focus most on conscientiousness. We find levels of adequate economic preparation for retirement ranging from 29 percent to 90 percent and that conscientiousness positively affects the proportion of persons adequately prepared for retirement, while neuroticism negatively affects it. Both consumption and wealth increase with conscientiousness but wealth increases faster, indicating that more conscientious persons save more out of retirement resources. |
| Date: | 2012–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mrr:papers:wp279&r=dem |
| By: | Utteeyo Dasgupta (Franklin and Marshall College); Subha Mani (Fordham University) |
| Abstract: | In an artefactual field experiment, we introduce a novel allocation game to investigate the role of procedural altruism in household decision-making and study choices of married spouses. Subjects can distribute their earnings from the experiment either on food items (joint consumption good), or on gender specific personal clothing (private consumption good). Subjects’ consumption choices are observed under two treatments – earnings with effort, and earnings without effort. At the aggregate we find that subjects exhibit a strong preference for own private consumption good when assigned to the effort treatment. However, further scrutiny suggests that women’s choice for the joint consumption good in the household remains largely independent of the treatment. In contrast, men exhibit a strong preference for private consumption good in the effort treatment. |
| Keywords: | Procedural utility, Household decision making, Gender, Experiment |
| JEL: | C93 D1 Z1 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:frd:wpaper:dp2013-01&r=dem |
| By: | Paul Contoyannis (Department of Economics and Centre for Health Economics and Policy Analysis, McMaster University); Jinhu Li (Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne) |
| Abstract: | This paper employs a conditional quantile regression approach to examine the roles of family SES, early childhood life-events, unobserved heterogeneity and pure state dependence in explaining the distribution of depression among adolescents and young adults using data on the children of the US National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 79 cohort (CNLSY79). Our study also extends previous work by explicitly modelling depression dynamics during adolescence. To estimate dynamic models we integrate the ‘jittering’ approach for estimating conditional quantile models for count data with a recently-developed instrumental variable approach for the estimation of dynamic quantile regression models with fixed effects. |
| Keywords: | Health dynamics, dynamic quantile regression models, instrumental variable approach, depression, adolescence |
| JEL: | I12 C22 C23 |
| Date: | 2013–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iae:iaewps:wp2013n11&r=dem |
| By: | Fischer, Justina A.V. |
| Abstract: | Accounting for within-country spatial differences is a much neglected issue in many cross-country comparisons. This paper highlights this importance in this empirical analysis of the impact of a country’s degree of social and economic globalization on female employment in 33 OECD countries, using a pseudo micro panel on 110’000 persons from the World Values Survey, 1981 to 2008. A traditional cross-country analysis suggests that only the social dimension of globalization, the worldwide information exchange, increases employment probabilities of women. However, when accounting for sub-national regional differences, the social dimension of globalization appears to work at the regional level only, while economic globalization (trade) increases female employment in a cross-country fashion. |
| Keywords: | Globalization; economic integration; labor market; employment; regions; social norms; communication; discrimination; gender; World Values Survey |
| JEL: | C33 D83 F14 F16 J16 J7 R23 Z13 |
| Date: | 2013–04–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:45756&r=dem |
| By: | Ota, Hitoshi |
| Abstract: | The paper investigates the ageing situation in India and the development of the government initiatives for the welfare of senior citizens. It also presents the initial results of a survey that the author conducted in 2011 in North Delhi. The main features related to ageing in India are 'feminisation', 'rurality' and 'poverty'. The survey in North Delhi reveals the differences between the male and the female senior citizens, and the vulnerability of the latter, in particular. The social security coverage such as pensions and health insurance was found quite limited among the respondents. |
| Keywords: | India, Social security, Aged, Pensions, Social policy, Senior Citizens Policy, New Pension Scheme (NPS), Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme (IGNOAPS) |
| JEL: | I38 J14 R22 |
| Date: | 2013–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jet:dpaper:dpaper402&r=dem |
| By: | Stevenson, Betsey (University of Michigan); Wolfers, Justin (University of Michigan) |
| Abstract: | Progress in closing differences in many objective outcomes for blacks relative to whites has slowed, and even worsened, over the past three decades. However, over this period the racial gap in wellbeing has shrunk. In the early 1970s data revealed much lower levels of subjective well‐being among blacks relative to whites. Investigating various measures of well‐being, we find that the well‐being of blacks has increased both absolutely and relative to that of whites. While a racial gap in well‐being remains, two‐fifths of the gap has closed and these gains have occurred despite little progress in closing other racial gaps such as those in income, employment, and education. Much of the current racial gap in well‐being can be explained by differences in the objective conditions of the lives of black and white Americans. Thus making further progress will likely require progress in closing racial gaps in objective circumstances. |
| Keywords: | life satisfaction, subjective well‐being, happiness, race |
| JEL: | D6 I32 J1 J7 K1 |
| Date: | 2013–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7309&r=dem |
| By: | Joseph Altonji; Sarah Cattan (Institute for Fiscal Studies); Iain Ware |
| Abstract: | The large sibling correlations in risky behaviour between siblings raise the possibility that adolescents may directly influence the actions of their brothers or sisters. We assess the extent to which correlations in substance use and selling drugs are causal. Our identification strategy relies on panel data, the fact that the future does not cause the past, and the assumption that the direction of influence is from older siblings to younger siblings. Under this assumption along with strong restrictions on dynamics, one can identify the causal effect from a regression of the behaviour of the younger sibling on the past behaviour and future behaviour of the older sibling. We also estimate a joint dynamic model of the behaviour of older and younger siblings that allows for family specific effects, individual specific heterogeneity, and state dependence. We use the model to simulate the dynamic response of substance use to the behaviour of the older sibling. We find that smoking, drinking and marijuana use are affected by the example of older siblings, but only a small faction of the linke between siblings is causal. |
| Date: | 2013–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ifs:ifsewp:13/04&r=dem |
| By: | Gilles Pison (Ined) |
| Abstract: | La crise économique a fait chuter la fécondité dans la plupart des pays développés. La France semble échapper à la baisse mais, sans la crise, l’indicateur de fécondité, en hausse depuis quelques années, aurait continué d’augmenter et dépasserait deux enfants par femme. Les tendances de la mortalité infantile sont par ailleurs difficiles à interpréter suite à des changements dans l’enregistrement à l’état civil. Une solution serait de rajouter au bulletin de naissance le poids de l’enfant et la durée de grossesse pour pouvoir juger de la viabilité de chaque naissance au vu des critères internationaux fixés par l’OMS. |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idg:posocf:498&r=dem |
| By: | David C. Stapleton; Frank H. Martin |
| Keywords: | Social Security disability, disability insurance, Old Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance, OASDI, Rehabilitation Services Administration, RSA, SSDI workers, disabled adult children, disabled beneficiaries |
| JEL: | I J |
| Date: | 2012–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:7674&r=dem |
| By: | G. Delprat; M.-L. Leroux; P.-C. Michaud |
| Abstract: | The standard model of intertemporal choice assumes risk neutrality toward the length of life: due to additivity, agents are not sensitive to a mean preserving spread in the length of life. Using a survey fielded in the RAND American Life Panel (ALP), this paper provides empirical evidence on possible deviation from risk neutrality with respect to longevity in the U.S. population. The questions we ask allow to find the distribution as well as to quantify the degree of risk aversion with respect to the length of life in the population. We find evidence that roughly 75% of respondents were not neutral with respect to longevity risk. Higher income households are more likely to be risk averse. We do not find evidence that the degree of risk aversion varies with age or education. |
| Keywords: | Intertemporal choice, Risk aversion toward the Length of Life, Stated-Preference |
| JEL: | D12 D91 I10 J26 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lvl:lacicr:1304&r=dem |
| By: | Jingjing Chai (Goethe University); Raimond Maurer (Goethe University); Olivia S. Mitchell (The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania); Ralph Rogalla (Goethe University) |
| Abstract: | Social Security benefits are currently provided as a lifelong benefit stream, though some workers would be willing to trade a portion of their annuity streams in exchange for a lump sum amount. This paper explores whether allowing people to receive a lump sum as a payment for delayed retirement rather than as an addition to their lifetime Social Security benefits might induce them to work longer. We model the factors that influence how people trade off a Social Security stream for a lump sum, and we also examine the consequences of such tradeoffs for work, retirement, and life cycle wellbeing. Our base case indicates that workers given the chance to receive their delayed retirement credit as a lump sum payment would boost their average retirement age by l.5-2 years. This will interest policymakers seeking to reform the Social Security system without raising costs or cutting benefits, while enhancing the incentives to delay retirement. |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mrr:papers:wp266&r=dem |