|
on Demographic Economics |
|
Issue of 2013‒08‒31
thirty-two papers chosen by Clarence Nkengne Tsimpo University of Montreal and World Bank Group |
| 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: | The impact of HIV/AIDS on fertility in sub-Saharan Africa has received attention recently, since changes in population structure can impact on future economic development. We analyze the effect of AIDS on actual and desired fertility in rural Malawi, using data from Malawi 2004 Demographic and Health Survey and population censuses. Since AIDS was the dominating cause of death during the 1990s and early 2000s, we use prime-age adult mortality as the key explanatory variable. The focus is on heterogeneity in the response of gender-specific mortality rates. By estimating ordered probit models we show that actual fertility responds positively to male mortality but negatively to female mortality, and that the overall fertility response is positive but small. One interpretation of the findings is that the effects of female and male mortality differ because of an old-age security motive for having children. When a woman risks death before her children grow up, she is less likely to need support of children and demand should be low, but when the risk of husband’s death is high, the woman should expect to rely more on children’s support. |
| Keywords: | AIDS; demand for children; fertility; HIV; adult mortality; old age security |
| JEL: | I10 J13 O12 |
| Date: | 2013–08–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:gunwpe:0570&r=dem |
| By: | Isabel Günther (ETH Zurich); Kenneth Harttgen (ETH Zurich) |
| Abstract: | With about five children born per woman and a population growth rate of 2.5 per cent per year, sub-Saharan Africa has been the world’s fastest growing region over the last decade. Economists have often argued that high fertility rates are mainly driven by women’s demand for children (and not by family planning efforts) with low levels of unwanted fertility across countries (and hence with little room for family planning efforts to reduce population growth). We study the relationship between wanted fertility and number of children born in a panel of 200 country-years controlling for country characteristics and global trends. In general, we find a close relationship between wanted and actual fertility, with one desired child leading to one additional birth. However, our results also indicate that in the last 20 years the level of unwanted births has stayed at two across sub-Saharan Africa whereas it has decreased from one to zero in other developing countries. Hence, women in African countries are less able to translate child preferences into birth outcomes than women in other developing countries, i.e. leaving plenty of room for family planning efforts; and forces other than fertility demand have been important for fertility declines in other developing countries. Family planning efforts only partly explain the observed temporal and spatial differences in achieving desired fertility levels. |
| Keywords: | Fertility; Population Growth; Development; Population Policies |
| JEL: | J10 J13 |
| Date: | 2013–08–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:got:gotcrc:144&r=dem |
| By: | Jan S. Cramer; Rob Kaas (University of Amsterdam) |
| Abstract: | We consider the relation between mortality hazards and life expectancy for men and women in the Netherlands and in England. Halving the lifetime mortality hazards increases life expectancy at birth by only 9%. |
| Date: | 2013–03–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ame:wpaper:1303&r=dem |
| By: | Peri, Giovanni (University of California, Davis); Romiti, Agnese (Institute for Employment Research (IAB), Nuremberg); Rossi, Mariacristina (University of Turin) |
| Abstract: | Women contribute disproportionately to household production, especially in Southern European countries. As a consequence of population aging assistance to elderly parents, rather than child care, has become a prevalent activity in home-production services. Immigrant labor has increasingly become a substitute for women labor in those services. Their presence, therefore, may allow women over 55 to work more outside of the house and retire later. We use a unique database of Italian households to identify the effect of local availability of foreign workers on planned retirement age and labor supply of Italian women. We find that an exogenous increase by one point in the immigrant percentage of the local population increased the planned retirement age of women over 55 by two months relative to similar men. For women with old parents the increase was four months and if they were in low-wealth households the increase was one full year. The same inflow of immigrants also increased the probability that women over 55 work outside the home by nine percentage points, relative to men. |
| Keywords: | international migration, retirement, labor supply, home production, elderly care |
| JEL: | J22 J26 F22 |
| Date: | 2013–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7549&r=dem |
| By: | Anne Solaz (INED - Institut National d'Etudes Démographiques Paris - INED); Francois-Charles Wolff (LEMNA - Laboratoire d'économie et de management de Nantes Atlantique - Université de Nantes : EA4272) |
| Abstract: | Despite the increasing prevalence of dual-earner couples, women still perform the bulk of domestic and parental tasks within the household. In this paper, we investigate the role of the parental model in the persistence of this gender inequality. We study the possible correlation between the domestic time of parents and their young adult co-resident children using the French time-use survey conducted in 1999-2000 in which all family members aged above 14 years old were interviewed. Estimation results show a positive relationship between child and parental housework times. Girls' participation in domestic tasks is much higher than that of boys, but a gendered effect of the intergenerational relationship is not systematically confirmed and depends on the type of domestic tasks. |
| Keywords: | domestic time, intergenerational transmission, gender roles |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-00853391&r=dem |
| By: | Anne C. Gielen; Jessica Holmes; Caitlin Myers |
| Abstract: | Testosterone, which induces sexual differentiation of the male fetus, is believed to transfer from males to their littermates in placental mammals. Among humans, individuals with a male twin have been found to exhibit greater masculinization of sexually dimorphic attributes relative to those with a female twin. We therefore regard twinning as a plausible natural experiment to test the link between prenatal exposure to testosterone and labor market earnings. For men, the results suggest positive returns to testosterone exposure. For women, however, the results indicate that prenatal testosterone does not generate higher earnings and may even be associated with modest declines. |
| Keywords: | testosterone, twins, gender gap |
| JEL: | J30 J71 |
| Date: | 2013–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mdl:mdlpap:1301&r=dem |
| By: | Leonardo Morales |
| Abstract: | This paper addresses the estimation of peer group effects on a fertility decision. The peer group is composed of neighbors with similar socio-demographic characteristics. In order to deal with the endogeneity problem associated to the estimation of neighborhood effects, an instrumental variables procedure is performed. To control for the reflection problem, usual in linear effects models, this paper uses an identification strategy that relies on the definition of peer groups at the individual level. This paper provides evidence that peer effects explain the age at which poor women in Medellín (Colombia) decide to have their firstborn. These social forces are hazardous factors that may increase the incidence of adolescent pregnancy.. |
| Keywords: | Fertility, Family Planning, Demographic Economics, Social Interaction Models. Classification JEL: J13, J130, C310 |
| Date: | 2013–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdr:borrec:777&r=dem |
| By: | Stephan Klasen (Georg-August University Göttingen); Janneke Pieters (Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)) |
| Abstract: | We study the surprisingly low level and stagnation of female labor force participation rates in urban India between 1987 and 2009. Despite rising growth, fertility decline, and rising wages and education levels, women's labor force participation stagnated at around 18%. Using five large cross-sectional micro surveys, we find that a combination of supply and demand effects have contributed to this stagnation. The main supply side factors were rising household incomes, husband's education, stigmas against educated women engaging in menial work, and falling selectivity of highly educated women. On the demand side, employment in sectors appropriate for educated women grew less than the supply of educated workers, leading many women to withdraw from the labor force. |
| Keywords: | female labor force participation; education; India |
| JEL: | J20 J16 I25 O15 |
| Date: | 2013–08–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:got:gotcrc:146&r=dem |
| By: | Takayama, Noriyuki |
| Date: | 2013–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hit:cisdps:605&r=dem |
| By: | Bernd Fitzenberger; Katrin Sommerfeld; Susanne Steffes |
| Abstract: | The effects of childbirth on future labor market outcomes are a key issue for policy discussion. This paper implements a dynamic treatment approach to estimate the effect of having the first child now versus later on future employment for the case of Germany, a country with a long maternity leave coverage. Effect heterogeneity is assessed by estimating ex post outcome regressions. Based on SOEP data, we provide estimates at a monthly frequency. The results show that there are very strong negative employment effects after childbirth. Although the employment loss is reduced over the first five years following childbirth, it does not level off to zero. The employment loss is lower for mothers with a university degree. It is especially high for medium-skilled mothers with long prebirth employment experience. We find a significant reduction in the employment loss for more recent childbirths. |
| Keywords: | Female labor supply, Maternity leave, Dynamic treatment effect, Inverse Probability Weighting |
| JEL: | C14 J13 J22 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp576&r=dem |
| By: | Adema, Y.; Bonenkamp, J.; Meijdam, A.C. (Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research) |
| Abstract: | Abstract: This paper studies the redistribution and welfare effects of increasing the flexibility of individual pension take-up. We use an overlapping-generations model with Beveridgean pay-as-you-go pensions, where individuals differ in ability and life span. We find that introducing flexible pension take-up can induce a Pareto improvement when the initial pension scheme contains within-cohort redistribution and induces early retirement. Such a Pareto-improving reform entails the application of uniform actuarial adjustment of pension entitlements based on average life expectancy. Introducing actuarial non-neutrality that stimulates later retirement further improves such a flexibility reform. |
| Keywords: | redistribution;retirement;flexible pensions. |
| JEL: | H55 H23 J26 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:kubcen:2013043&r=dem |
| By: | Yoshihiko Kadoya; David Green |
| Abstract: | Purpose: Examining the linkage between self-reported ethnicity and the propensity for family-based informal health care, this study considers cultural connections to religion as a possible explanation for ethnic difference. Design and Methods: Nation-wide survey respondents (N = 2,126) were selected on the basis of having a parent requiring long-term care now or in the near future, and weighted according to age, gender, and self-reported Hispanic ethnicity. A probit analysis tested the association of Hispanic ethnicity, as well as several other explanatory variables, with the possibility of the respondent assuming the primary caregiving role for the elderly family member. Results: While there was a significant association between Hispanic ethnicity and family elder care, there was no significant relationship between religion and family elder care. There was additionally no significant association with level of income. Implications: This research reiterates, using recent micro-data, that there is indeed a connection between ethnicity and family elder care. However, we show that religion is not one of the facets underlying such ethnic difference. While we have taken an initial step in quantitatively defining cultural attributes, more research is needed to determine where ethnic differences may originate. |
| Date: | 2013–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dpr:wpaper:0880&r=dem |
| By: | Richard Akresh (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign); Damien de Walque (The World Bank, Washington DC); Harounan Kazianga (Oklahoma State University) |
| Abstract: | We conduct a randomized experiment in rural Burkina Faso to estimate the impact of alternative cash transfer delivery mechanisms on education. The two-year pilot program randomly distributed cash transfers that were either conditional (CCT) or unconditional (UCT). Families under the CCT schemes were required to have their children ages 7-15 enrolled in school and attend classes regularly. There were no such requirements under the unconditional programs. Results indicate that UCTs and CCTs have a similar impact increasing the enrollment of children who are traditionally favored by parents for school participation, including boys, older children, and higher ability children. However, CCTs are significantly more effective than UCTs in improving the enrollment of "marginal children" who are initially less likely to go to school, such as girls, younger children, and lower ability children. Thus, conditionality plays a critical role in benefiting children who are less likely to receive investments from their parents. |
| Keywords: | Cash transfers; Conditionality; Education; Africa |
| JEL: | I21 I25 I38 J13 O15 C93 |
| Date: | 2013–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:okl:wpaper:1301&r=dem |
| By: | Vera, Celia Patricia |
| Abstract: | One issue that has pervaded policy discussions for decades is the difficulty that school districts experience in retaining teachers. Almost a quarter of entering public school teachers leave teaching within the first three years and empirical evidence has related high attrition rates of beginner teachers to family circumstances, such as maternity or marriage. I examine female teachers' career choices and inquire about the effects that wage increases and child care subsidies have on their employment decisions. I set up a dynamic model of job search where individuals simultaneously make employment and fertility decisions, fit it to data from a national longitudinal survey and estimate it by Simulated Method of Moments. Estimates indicate that gains of exiting the teaching workforce to start a family vary between 75% and 88% of the average teaching wage if the exit occurs during the first five years. At late periods and provided a positive stock of children, nonpecuniary penalties to return to teach lie between one and two times the average teaching wage. A 20 percent raise in teaching wages increases retention by 14% and decreases the proportion of teachers giving birth by 50%. Results suggest that fertility changes occur not only at earlier periods but also after a career interruption when teachers are considering a returning decision. The effectiveness of the wage policy in attracting back to the field individuals who left teaching to enroll in nonteaching jobs is positively associated with the greatest impact that the policy has on fertility in nonteaching. Child care subsidies increase retention by 11% and 29% with the lowest and highest subsidy, respectively. New births are concentrated at earlier periods of teachers' careers and thus, generate longer first teaching spells. However, large nonpecuniary rewards at late periods of the non labor market alternative relative to being in teaching as well as exits out of the workforce concentrated at later periods lead the decrease of returning rates of teachers who dropped the workforce altogether. |
| Keywords: | Teachers, Fertility, Attrition, Structural Model. |
| JEL: | C61 J13 J44 J45 |
| Date: | 2013–08–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:49340&r=dem |
| By: | Emanuela Cardia; Paul Gomme |
| Abstract: | Over the twentieth century, the allocation of womens' time changed dramatically. This paper explores the implications for the allocation of married womens' time stemming from: (1) the household revolution associated with the introduction of a variety of labor-saving devices in the home; (2) the remarkable increase in the relative wage of women; and (3) changes in childcare requirements associated with changes in fertility patterns. To do so, we construct a life-cycle model with home production and childcare constraints. The parameters of the childcare production function are estimated using micro evidence from U.S. time use data. We find that the increase in the relative wage of women is the most important explanation of the increase in married womens' market work time over the twentieth century. Changes in fertility had large effects up to 1980, but little effect thereafter. The declining price of durables has an appreciable effect only since 1980, an effect that is consistent with a broader interpretation of durable goods re ecting the marketization of home production. |
| Keywords: | Household technology, childcare, women labor force participation, home production |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mtl:montec:08-2013&r=dem |
| By: | Hammer, Jeffrey; Spears, Dean |
| Abstract: | Open defecation is exceptionally widespread in India, a county with puzzlingly high rates of child stunting. This paper reports a randomized controlled trial of a village-level sanitation program, implemented in one district by the government of Maharashtra. The program caused a large but plausible average increase in child height (95 percent confidence interval [0.04 to 0.61] standard deviations), which is an important marker of human capital. The results demonstrate sanitation externalities: an effect even on children in households that did not adopt latrines. Unusually, surveyors also collected data in districts where the government planned but ultimately did not conduct an experiment, permitting analysis of the importance of the set eligible for randomization. |
| Keywords: | Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Disease Control&Prevention,Population Policies,Hygiene Promotion and Social Marketing,Early Child and Children's Health |
| Date: | 2013–08–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6580&r=dem |
| By: | Pierre-Philippe COMBES (Aix-Marseille University (Aix-Marseille School of Economics), CNRS & EHESS); Bruno DECREUSE (Aix-Marseille University (Aix-Marseille School of Economics), CNRS & EHESS); Morgane LAOUENAN (UNIVERSITE CATHOLIQUE DE LOUVAIN, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES) and Aix-Marseille University (Aix-Marseille School of Economics), CNRS & EHESS); Alain TRANNOY (Aix-Marseille University (Aix-Marseille School of Economics), CNRS & EHESS) |
| Abstract: | The paper investigates the link between the over-exposure of African immigrants to unemployment in France and their under-representation in jobs in contact with customers. We build a two-sector matching model with ethnic sector-specifc preferences, economy-wide employer discrimination, and customer discrimination in jobs in contact with customers. The outcomes of the model allow us to build a test of ethnic discrimination in general and customer discrimination in particular. We run the test on French individual data in a cross-section of local labor markets (Employment Areas). Our results show that there is both ethnic and customer discrimination in the French labor market. |
| Keywords: | Discrimination, Matching frictions, Jobs in contact, Ethnic unemployment, Local labor markets |
| JEL: | J15 J61 R23 |
| Date: | 2013–06–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ctl:louvir:2013016&r=dem |
| By: | Rampino, Tina; Taylor, Mark P. |
| Abstract: | We use data from the youth component of the British Household Panel Survey to examine gender differences in educational attitudes and aspirations among 11-15 year olds. While girls have more positive aspirations and attitudes than boys, the impacts of gender on childrens attitudes and aspirations vary significantly with parental education level, parental attitudes to education, childs age and the indirect cost of education. Boys are more responsive than girls to positive parental characteristics, while educational attitudes and aspirations of boys deteriorate at a younger age than those of girls. These findings have implications for policies designed to reduce educational attainment differences between boys and girls as they identify factors which exacerbate the educational disadvantage of boys relative to girls. |
| Date: | 2013–08–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ese:iserwp:2013-15&r=dem |
| By: | Crespo, Nuno; Simoes, Nadia; Moreira, Sandrina B. |
| Abstract: | In this paper we evaluate if gender influences the pattern of upward and downward occupational mobility. With data for Portugal in the period 1998-2009, we find that women have a lower probability of upward mobility and a higher probability of downward mobility. The results also reveal the importance of some other determinant factors, especially education and initial occupation. Additionally, considering an analysis by quartiles (taking as reference a ranking based on average wages), we confirm that the determinants of occupational mobility depend on the ranking of the initial occupation. This analysis allows us to conclude that the unfavorable pattern of occupational mobility in the case of women is due, essentially, to the disadvantage they have at the bottom of the distribution. On the contrary, in the top occupations, the results suggest the existence of equality between genders. |
| Keywords: | Occupational mobility, Gender, Determinant factors, Portugal |
| JEL: | J24 J62 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:49195&r=dem |
| By: | Adena, Maja; Myck, Michal |
| Abstract: | Using a sample of Europeans aged 50+ from twelve countries in the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) we analyse the role of poor material conditions as a determinant of changes in health over a four-year period. We find that poverty defined with respect to relative incomes has no effect on changes in health. However, broader measures of poor material conditions such as subjective poverty or low relative value of wealth significantly increase the probability of transition to poor health among the healthy and reduce the chance of recovery from poor health over the time interval analysed. In addition to this the subjective measure of poverty has a significant effect on mortality, increasing it by 40.3% among men and by 58.3% among those aged 50-64. Material conditions matter for health among older people. We suggest that if monitoring of poverty in old age and corresponding policy targets are to focus on the relevant measures, they should take into account broader definitions of poverty than those based only on relative incomes. -- Wir untersuchen den Einfluss materieller Umstände auf die Gesundheit der Bevölkerung 50+ in Europa. Dafür analysieren wir die Ergebnisse des Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), einer repräsentativen Befragung von Personen im Alter 50+ aus 12 europäischen Ländern über einen Zeitraum von vier Jahren. Unsere Ergebnisse zeigen, dass das Leben in Armut, definiert über das relative Einkommen, keinen Einfluss auf die Gesundheit ausübt. Bei weiter gefassten Definitionen von Armut, wie der subjektiven Armut oder einem niedrigen relativen Vermögen, erhöht sich hingegen die Wahrscheinlichkeit, einen schlechteren Gesundheitszustand zu erreichen, die Genesungswahrscheinlichkeit im analysierten Zeitraum reduziert sich. Des Weiteren ergeben unsere Untersuchungen, dass das subjektive Armutsempfinden die Sterblichkeitsrate signifikant erhöht. Diese Wahrscheinlichkeit ist für Männer um 40,3 Prozent höher, bei den 50- bis 64-Jährigen sogar 58,3 Prozent höher. Solche Ergebnisse weisen darauf hin, dass die materiellen Lebensumstände entscheidend für die Gesundheit der älteren Generation sind. Wir empfehlen, dass sich die Messung von Armut innerhalb der älteren Generation sowie die Zielsetzung in der Politik auf weiter gefasste Armutsdefinitionen stützen sollte als lediglich über das Einkommen definierte. |
| Keywords: | health transitions,material conditions,poverty,mortality |
| JEL: | I14 I32 J14 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:wzbeoc:spii2013307&r=dem |
| By: | Doyle, Orla (University College Dublin); Harmon, Colm P. (University of Sydney); Heckman, James J. (University of Chicago); Logue, Caitriona (University College Dublin); Moon, Seong Hyeok (University of Chicago) |
| Abstract: | The literature on skill formation and human capital development clearly demonstrates that early investment in children is an equitable and efficient policy with large returns in adulthood. Yet little is known about the mechanisms involved in producing these long-term effects. This paper presents early evidence on the nature of skill formation based on an experimentally designed, five-year home visiting program in Ireland targeting disadvantaged families - Preparing for Life (PFL). We examine the impact of investment between utero to 18 months of age on a range of parental and child outcomes. Using the methodology of Heckman et al. (2010a), permutation testing methods and a stepdown procedure are applied to account for the small sample size and the increased likelihood of false discoveries when examining multiple outcomes. The results show that the program impact is concentrated on parental behaviors and the home environment, with little impact on child development at this early stage. This indicates that home visiting programs can be effective at offsetting deficits in parenting skills within a relatively short timeframe, yet continued investment may be required to observe direct effects on child development. While correcting for attrition bias leads to some changes in the precision of estimates, overall the results are quite similar. |
| Keywords: | early childhood intervention, human capital development, randomized control trial, multiple hypotheses, permutation testing |
| JEL: | C12 C93 J13 J24 |
| Date: | 2013–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7550&r=dem |
| By: | Todd Gardner |
| Abstract: | This study uses census microdata from 1960 to 2010 to look at how the racial and ethnic composition of local government employees has reflected the diversity of the general population in the 100 largest metro areas over the last half century. Historically, one route to upward social mobility has been employment in local government. This study uses microdata that predates key immigration and civil rights legislation of the 1960s through to the present to examine changes in the racial and ethnic composition of local government employees and in the general population. For this study, local government employees have been divided into high- and low-wage occupations. These data indicate that local workforces have grown more diverse over time, though representation across different racial and ethnic groups and geographic areas is uneven. African-Americans were underrepresented in high-wage local government employment and overrepresented in low-wage jobs in the early years of this study, particularly in the South, but have since become proportionally represented in high-wage jobs on a national level. In contrast, the most recent data indicate that Hispanic and other races are underrepresented in this employment group, particularly in the West. Though the numbers of Hispanic and Asian high-wage local government employees are increasing, it appears that it will take several years for those groups to achieve proportional representation throughout the United States. |
| Keywords: | local government employment, race, ethnicity |
| Date: | 2013–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cen:wpaper:13-38&r=dem |
| By: | Todd Honeycutt; Allison Thompkins; Maura Bardos; Steven Stern |
| Keywords: | Transition-age youth, Vocational rehabilitation agencies; VR agencies, Youth with disabilities , State comparisons |
| JEL: | I J |
| Date: | 2013–08–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:7873&r=dem |
| By: | Gregory, Terry; Patuelli, Roberto |
| Abstract: | Demographic change is expected to affect labour markets in very different ways on a regional scale. The objective of this paper is to explore the spatio-temporal patterns of recent distributional changes in the workers age structure, innovation output and skill composition for German regions by conducting an Exploratory Space-Time Data Analysis (ESTDA). Beside commonly used tools, we apply newly developed approaches which allow investigating the space-time dynamics of the spatial distributions. We include an analysis of the joint distributional dynamics of the patenting variable with the remaining interest variables. Overall, we find strong clustering tendencies for the demographic variables and innovation that constitute a great divide across German regions. The detected clusters partly evolve over time and suggest a demographic polarization trend among regions that may further reinforce the observed innovation divide in the future. -- |
| Keywords: | innovation,workforce age structure,exploratory space-time data analysis,regional disparities |
| JEL: | J11 O31 R11 R12 R23 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:13057&r=dem |
| By: | Aspen Gorry; Sita Nataraj Slavov (American Enterprise Institute) |
| Abstract: | Should the US tax code treat people as families, as it currently does, or as individuals? This paper considers the costs and benefits of switching to a tax system based on individual, rather than family, income. |
| Keywords: | U.S. tax code,same-sex marriage,proposition 8,Income inequality,defense of marriage act |
| JEL: | A H |
| Date: | 2013–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aei:rpaper:37807&r=dem |
| By: | Amy Monahan |
| Abstract: | For a wide variety of reasons, many states and municipalities are turning a critical eye toward their employee retirement plans. As various parties debate the merits of different reform measures, it is important to keep in mind that in many states, the law limits potential reform options. |
| Keywords: | public pension system,pensions,Legal issues |
| JEL: | A H |
| Date: | 2013–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aei:rpaper:37896&r=dem |
| By: | Stark, Oded; Jakubek, Marcin |
| Abstract: | We draw a distinction between the social integration and economic assimilation of migrants, and study an interaction between the two. We define social integration as blending into the host country's society, and economic assimilation as acquisition of human capital that is specific to the host country's labor market. We show that a non-integrated migrant finds it optimal to acquire a relatively limited quantity of human capital; with fellow migrants constituting his only comparison group, a non-integrated migrant does not have a relative deprivation-based incentive to close the income gap with the natives. However, when a migrant is made to integrate, his social proximity to the natives exposes him to relative deprivation, which in turn prompts him to form more destination-specific human capital in order to increase his earnings and narrow the income gap with the natives. In this way, social integration becomes a catalyst for economic assimilation. -- |
| Keywords: | Assimilation,Social proximity,Interpersonal comparisons,Relative deprivation,Human capital formation |
| JEL: | D01 F22 J15 J24 J61 O15 Z10 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:tuewef:59&r=dem |
| By: | Bell, David N.F. (University of Stirling); Rutherford, Alasdair C. (University of Stirling) |
| Abstract: | Contrary to much of the established literature, this paper finds that though many older workers would prefer to reduce their working hours (the overemployed), there is a significant group who would like to work longer hours (the underemployed). And contrary to the assumption that the self-employed are more easily able than employees to select a desired combination of hours and the wage rate, this paper finds that older self-employed workers are more likely to wish to adjust their hours, both upward and downward than are employees. A new index of underemployment is used to show that for the UK, since the onset of the Great Recession, underemployment among older workers has been growing more rapidly than unemployment. Using longitudinal data from the UK Labour Force Survey, the paper investigates the effects of overemployment and underemployment on transitions from employment and self-employment into other labour market states. It confirms that overemployment is a significant predictor of retirement among employees while underemployed employees are less likely to retire. |
| Keywords: | retirement, working time, overemployment, underemployment, self-employment |
| JEL: | J01 J11 J21 J22 J23 J38 J64 |
| Date: | 2013–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7546&r=dem |
| By: | Julie Beugnot; Bernard Fortin; Guy Lacroix; Marie Claire Villeval |
| Abstract: | This paper extends the standard work effort model by allowing workers to interact through networks. We investigate experimentally whether peer performances and peer contextual effects influence individual performances. Two types of network are considered. Participants in Recursive networks are paired with participants who played previously in isolation. In Simultaneous networks, participants interact in real-time along an undirected line. Mean peer effects are identified in both cases. Individual performances increase with peer performances in the recursive network. In the simultaneous network, endogenous peer effects vary according to gender: they are large for men but not statistically different from zero for women. |
| Keywords: | Peer effects, social networks, Work effort, piece rate, experiment |
| JEL: | C91 J16 J24 J31 M52 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lvl:lacicr:1320&r=dem |
| By: | Adam Dunn; Dana Petersen; Leslie Foster |
| Keywords: | Health-e-app, Children's Health Care Coverage, California, HeA PA |
| JEL: | I |
| Date: | 2013–07–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:7869&r=dem |
| By: | Julie Beugnot (Department of economics, Université Laval, CIRPÉE); Bernard Fortin (Department of economics, Université Laval, CIRPÉE and CIRANO); Guy Lacroix (Department of economics, Université Laval, CIRPÉE and CIRANO); Marie Claire Villeval (Université de Lyon, Lyon, F-69007, France ; CNRS, GATE Lyon St Etienne,F-69130 Ecully, France) |
| Abstract: | This paper extends the standard work effort model by allowing workers to interact through networks. We investigate experimentally whether peer performances and peer contextual effects influence individual performances. Two types of network are considered. Participants in Recursive networks are paired with participants who played previously in isolation. In Simultaneous networks, participants interact in real-time along an undirected line. Mean peer effects are identified in both cases. Individual performances increase with peer performances in the recursive network. In the simultaneous network, endogenous peer effects vary according to gender : they are large for men but not statistically different from zero for women. |
| Keywords: | Peer effects, social networks, work effort, piece rate, experiment |
| JEL: | C91 J16 J24 J31 M52 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gat:wpaper:1323&r=dem |
| By: | Isaksson, Ann-Sofie (Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University) |
| Abstract: | While a growing literature relates macro variation in corruption to ethnic divisions, existing studies have paid little attention to the possible existence of systematic micro variation in corruption along ethnic lines. The present paper examines whether individual corruption experiences vary systematically depending on ethnic group affiliation, and what the nature of this possible variation is. More specifically, it considers the effect of belonging to influential ethnic groups. Empirical findings drawing on data for more than 23,000 respondents in 17 African countries indeed suggest that individual corruption experiences vary systematically along ethnic lines. Belonging to influential ethnic groups – in terms of relative group size or relative economic and political standing – is associated with a greater probability of having experienced corruption. Assuming that belonging to a larger and economically/politically stronger group helps proxy for a greater probability of the corrupt public official being a co-ethnic, this should imply more corruption among co-ethnics, supporting the idea that enforcement mechanisms within ethnic groups could act to strengthen corrupt contracts. The results depend on the type of corruption considered, though; when focusing on a more clearly extortive form of corruption, there is less evidence of collusive behaviour. |
| Keywords: | corruption; ethnic groups; Africa; afrobarometer |
| JEL: | D73 O12 O55 |
| Date: | 2013–08–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:gunwpe:0571&r=dem |