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on Demographic Economics |
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Issue of 2013‒10‒02
forty-nine papers chosen by Clarence Nkengne Tsimpo University of Montreal and World Bank Group |
| By: | Kevin E. Cahill, (Sloan Center on Aging & Work at Boston College); Michael D. Giandrea, (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics); Joseph F. Quinn (Boston College) |
| Abstract: | Controlling for career employment later in life, the retirement patterns of men and women in America have resembled one another for much of the past two decades. Is this relationship coming to an end? Recent research suggests that the retirement patterns of the Early Boomers – those born between 1948 and 1953 – have diverged from those of earlier cohorts. Gender differences appear to be emerging as well in the way that career men and women exit the labor force, after nearly two decades of similarities. This paper explores these gender differences in detail to help determine whether we are witnessing a break in trend or merely a short-term occurrence. We use data on three cohorts of older Americans from the nationally-representative, longitudinal Health and Retirement Study (HRS) that began in 1992. We explore by gender the types of job transitions that occur later in life and explore, in particular, the role of four potentially relevant determinants: the presence of dependent children; a parent in need of caregiving assistance; occupational status on the career job; and self-employment status. We find that, among career men and women, child and parental caregiving are not significant drivers of the retirement transitions of the Early Boomers, all else equal. Gender differences that may exist with respect to these characteristics are therefore unlikely to lead to persistent gender differences in retirement patterns. In contrast, self employment continues to be a statistically significant determinant of bridge job transitions and phased retirement. This finding, combined with the fact that men are much more likely than women to be self employed later in life, could lead to some differences by gender going forward, though the impact is likely to be limited given that the large majority of older workers are in wage-and-salary employment. Older Americans – both men and women – are responding to their economic environment by working later in life and exiting the labor force gradually. While some determinants of these decisions likely impact men and women differently, gender differences with respect to the retirement patterns of the Early Boomers appear to be the result of broader macroeconomic forces. The evidence to date suggests that gender differences may dissipate as the recovery ensues. |
| Keywords: | Economics of Aging, Partial Retirement, Gradual Retirement |
| JEL: | J26 J14 J32 H55 |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bls:wpaper:ec130090&r=dem |
| By: | Nicola Curci (Bank of Italy); Vincenzo Mariani (Bank of Italy) |
| Abstract: | The paper evaluates gender differences in labour market transitions in Italy. Women have a lower employment rate than men, owing to their shorter periods of employment and lower probability of entering into employment. The shorter duration of periods of employment for women is related to a higher incidence of non-permanent jobs compared with men. Italian women remain inactive longer than men, especially when inactivity is for family care reasons. Unemployed women are more likely than unemployed men to drop out of the labour force, owing both to a stronger discouragement effect and to more stringent family care necessities. After the recession began in 2008, gender disparities in employment and inactivity declined, thanks mainly to the reduction in women transitioning from employment to inactivity. |
| Keywords: | gender gap, unemployment, inactivity. |
| JEL: | J16 J71 |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdi:opques:qef_173_13&r=dem |
| By: | Hallward-Driemeier, Mary; Hasan, Tazeen; Rusu, Anca Bogdana |
| Abstract: | This study uses a newly compiled database of women's property rights and legal capacity covering 100 countries over 50 years to test for the impact of legal reforms on employment, health, and education outcomes for women and girls. The database demonstrates gender gaps in the ability to access and own property, sign legal documents in one's own name, and have equality or non-discrimination as a guiding principle of the country's constitution. In the initial period, 75 countries had gender gaps in at least one of these areas and often multiple ones. By 2010, 57 countries had made reforms that strengthened women's economic rights, including 28 countries that had eliminated all of the constraints monitored here. In the cross-section and within countries over time, the removal of gender gaps in rights is associated with greater participation of women in the labor force, greater movement out of agricultural employment, higher rates of women in wage employment, lower adolescent fertility, lower maternal and infant mortality, and higher female educational enrollment. This paper provides evidence on how the strengthening of women's legal rights is associated with important development outcomes. |
| Keywords: | Gender and Law,Population Policies,Access to Finance,Legal Products,Labor Policies |
| Date: | 2013–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6617&r=dem |
| By: | Josephson, Malin (The Swedish Social Insurance Inspectorate (ISF)); Karnehed, Nina (The Swedish Social Insurance Inspectorate (ISF)); Lindahl, Erica (IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy); Persson, Helena (The Swedish Social Insurance Inspectorate (ISF)) |
| Abstract: | The aim of this study is to investigate the importance of intergenerational transmission of sick leave using universal Swedish register data on the rate of sickness benefits. We find that there is a positive correlation between parents’ and their children’s sick leave. The child–parent correlation is of about the same magnitude irrespective of the gender of the parent and the child, but it is larger the more sick leave the parent had when observed. Furthermore, there is a positive correlation between the sick leave level of the children and that of the parents-in-law, implying that persons tend to live with a partner whose sick leave resembles that of their parents. Finally, a comparison between siblings of different birth order shows that firstborn daughters report fewer spells of sick leave than their younger siblings of the same gender. This gap only emerges in the group of daughters with parents who lack sick leave themselves, suggesting that the birth-order effect is only of importance among women with low levels of sick leave. |
| Keywords: | Intergenerational mobility; sickness absence; sickness benefits; disability pension |
| JEL: | I10 I14 I15 |
| Date: | 2013–09–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2013_019&r=dem |
| By: | YAMAGUCHI Kazuo |
| Abstract: | This article analyzes the determinants of sex difference in the proportion of managers among white-collar regular workers by using linked data of the employers and employees of Japanese firms obtained from the International Comparative Surveys on Work-Life Balance conducted by the Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry. First, the article shows that reasons for "having few or no female managers," such as women's job quit rate, given as responses by employer surveys conducted by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, cannot be real major causes even though they are among the minor causes, judging from objective facts and that, even if the number of years of employment for the current employer is the same, the proportion of managers among female college graduates is far below that among male high school graduates. The most fundamental problem is the "pre-modern" human-resource managerial practices that sex, as an ascribed status, has a greater weight than educational achievement in determining who become managers. The article also shows that the sex difference in the proportion of middle managers and above is explained only about 20% by the difference in human capital between men and women, that to become managers, long hours of work seem to be required more for women than for men, that the proportion of managers increases for men and decreases for women depending on the age of their last child in a way that suggests a reinforcement of traditional gender roles by the employers, and that firms with a center dedicated for the promotion of work-life balance among employees and firms with 1,000 or more regular employees have smaller sex difference in the proportion of managers, with the gender gap among those firms decreasing more rapidly than other firms as the quit rate of female employees decreases. As measures for eliminating the gender gap in the proportion of managers, this article emphasizes that firms must first abolish such indirectly discriminatory intra-firm tracking system, through which the majority of female employees are removed from the candidacy for managerial positions, and should realize workplaces where work-life balance can be attained. Given those conditions, then, the article predicts that the realization of gender equality in educational attainment and the reduction of the job quit rate among female employees will also be critical in realizing gender equality in the attainment of managerial positions. |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:rdpsjp:13069&r=dem |
| By: | Ylenia Brilli; Daniela Del Boca; Chiara D. Pronzato |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the eects of public child care availability in Italy in mothers' working status and children's scholastic achievements. We use a newly available dataset containing individual standardized test scores of pupils attending the second grade of primary school in 2009-10 in conjunction with data on public child care availability. Our estimates indicate a positive and signicant eects of child care availability on both mothers' working status and children's Language test scores. We nd that a percentage change in public child care coverage increases mothers' probability to work by 1.3 percentage points and children's Language test scores by 0.85 percent of one standard deviation; we do not nd any eect on Math test scores. Moreover, the impact of a percentage change in public child care on mothers' employment and children's Language test scores is greater in provinces where child care availability is more limited. |
| Keywords: | child care, female employment, child cognitive outcomes, test scores |
| JEL: | J13 I2 H75 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cca:wchild:13&r=dem |
| By: | Kai P. Willführ (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany); Charlotte Störmer |
| Abstract: | The historical population of the Krummhörn region [1720-1850] in the northwest of Germany can be characterized as a non-industrialized, pre-capitalist agricultural society. Around 70 percent of the families had either no land or owned farms too small to ensure subsistence, and therefore worked on the big farms owned by the families of the economic upper class. The economic elite made up around 15 percent of the population, but they owned 80 percent of the farm land. The remaining 15 percent of the population did not belong to the elite, but owned estates that were big enough to support their families, and were therefore economically independent. During the study period there were no famines or wars, and mortality, especially of infants, was very low compared to mortality in other German regions. Furthermore, the population was not naturally fertile. As there were on average only four to five births in complete families, the population was barely growing. In this paper, we investigate how the reproductive behavior of these families was affected by their social status and by short-term fluctuations in their socioeconomic conditions. Poisson and Cox regression models are used to analyze the age at first reproduction, fertility, the sex ratio of the offspring, sex-specific infant survival rates, and the number of children. In addition, we investigate how fluctuations in crop prices affected seasonal-specific infant mortality and fertility. We also include information about the seasonal climate that may had an effect on crop prices as well as on infant mortality via other pathways. In sum, we find that reproductive success (the number of children born and the number of children surviving to adulthood) was correlated with social rank. Individuals from high-ranking families had more births and a higher number of surviving children. We also find that social strata-specific constraints were important factors: birth rank and sex-specific reproductive values affected both infant mortality and the female age at first marriage differently in the different social strata. High crop prices were associated with a rise in infant mortality in the autumn and the winter, which may have been a reflection of a tense situation among the landless. Meanwhile, warm or hot weather was associated with an increase in child mortality in the summer, possibly because of the increased risk of infection with malaria, a common disease in the Krummhörn region at that time. |
| Keywords: | Germany, family reconstitution, historical sources, reproductive behavior, social stratification |
| JEL: | J1 Z0 |
| Date: | 2013–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dem:wpaper:wp-2013-011&r=dem |
| By: | Lundberg, Shelly (University of California, Santa Barbara); Pollak, Robert (Washington University, St. Louis) |
| Abstract: | Since 1950 the sources of the gains from marriage have changed radically. As the educational attainment of women overtook and surpassed that of men and the ratio of men's to women's wage rates fell, traditional patterns of gender specialization in work weakened. The primary source of the gains to marriage shifted from the production of household services and commodities to investment in children. For some, these changes meant that marriage was no longer worth the costs of limited independence and potential mismatch. Cohabitation became an acceptable living arrangement for all groups, but cohabitation serves different functions among different groups. The poor and less educated are much more likely to rear children in cohabitating relationships. The college educated typically cohabit before marriage, but they marry before conceiving children and their marriages are relatively stable. We argue that different patterns of childrearing are the key to understanding class differences in marriage and parenthood, not an unintended by-product of it. Marriage is the commitment mechanism that supports high levels of investment in children and is hence more valuable for parents adopting a high-investment strategy for their children. |
| Keywords: | marriage, cohabitation, children |
| JEL: | J12 J13 |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7607&r=dem |
| By: | Daniela Piazzalunga |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the gender and ethnic wage differentials for female immigrants, applying the Oaxaca decomposition to estimate the level of discrimination. The gender pay gap is quite small (7.42%), but it's not explained by observable differences, whilst the ethnic wage gap is larger (27.11%), but the explained components account for about 30%. Ultimately, we will evaluate how the multiple levels of discrimination (due to being a woman and a foreigner at the same time) intersect, following the decomposition suggested by Shamsuddin (1998). The double-negative effect is estimated to be 56-62%. |
| Keywords: | Immigration, gender, wage discrimination, Oaxaca decomposition, double-negative effect |
| JEL: | J16 J31 J61 J71 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cca:wchild:11&r=dem |
| By: | Masaya Yasuoka (School of Economics, Kwansei Gakuin University) |
| Abstract: | In economically developed countries, aging of the population with fewer children is progressing. Social security benefits such as pensions and elderly care are increasing. In a society with fewer children, it is difficult for a government to provide sufficient pension benefits for older people if pay-as-you-go pensions are adopted because a decrease in the working population reduces tax revenues to provide pension benefits. Therefore, the pension contribution rate must be increased to provide sufficient pension benefits. This paper demonstrates that an increase in the pension contribution rate can not always raise pension benefits. However, if a government provides a subsidy for elderly care services and if aggregate demand for elderly care services increases, then the pension benefit can always increase because younger people purchase elderly care services and increase the labor supply instead of performing elderly care with their time. Moreover, this paper presents an examination of whether a subsidy for elderly care can raise the level of social welfare or not and shows that the subsidy can raise the social welfare level thanks to an increase in pension benefits. |
| Keywords: | Aging society, Elderly care service, Pay-as-you-go pension |
| JEL: | H51 H55 J14 |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kgu:wpaper:109&r=dem |
| By: | Christine Ho (Singapore Management University) |
| Abstract: | One-fifth of children aged below five with employed mothers benefit from grandparent provided child care as their main source of daycare in the U.S. Using data from the Health and Retirement Study, we investigate how grandchild care needs relate to intergenerational transfers of time and money and grandparents’ labor supply behavior. We find that grandparents with a new born grandchild are more likely to provide grandchild care while married grandparents are also more likely to be employed and provide financial help. Grandparents with grandchildren living close by provided higher time transfers while married grandmothers with resident grandchildren also worked longer hours. |
| Keywords: | Grandchild care, Intergenerational Transfers, Grandparents’ Labor Supply |
| JEL: | D13 J13 J14 J22 |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:siu:wpaper:06-2013&r=dem |
| By: | Magda Bianco (Bank of Italy); Francesca Lotti (Bank of Italy); Roberta Zizza (Bank of Italy) |
| Abstract: | Gender gaps in the labour market, in boardrooms and in wages are still significant in Italy. This paper, which summarizes the main results of a research project aimed at identifying the economic consequences of these gaps and their main causes, presents some evidence regarding wage differentials, differences in the gender composition of boards and differentials in access to credit. The causes of these persistent gaps are found both in labour supply and demand factors. Among the former we count the dearth of policies and programmes to reconcile work and family commitments and the lack of flexibility in the workplace; education is also relevant in some respects. Among the latter, we include cultural factors and “implicit” discrimination, i.e. when the labour market rewards traits more commonly found in men even when they have no bearing on specific job requirements. Some policies to narrow gender gaps are discussed: national and regional legislation; subsidies for female entrepreneurship; a tax system that does not discourage female labour supply. |
| Keywords: | gender gap, conciliation, discrimination, politics |
| JEL: | J1 J16 |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdi:opques:qef_171_13&r=dem |
| By: | Alberto Basso (Plymouth Business School); David Cuberes (Department of Economics, The University of Sheffield) |
| Abstract: | This paper uses data on fertility and financial development in 19th century U.S. to test the hypothesis that more developed local financial markets reduce the incentives for families to have a large offspring to provide for them at old age, the so-called old-age security hypothesis. We find that the presence of banks is associated to lower children-to-women ratios and crude birth rates even after controlling for a large set of socio-economic factors. To account for possible endogeneity of bank location we instrument for the presence of some banking activity in a given county in 1840 with the existence of at least a bank in that county in 1820. The results of using this identification strategy are in line with the OLS ones, namely that fertility in 1850 is negatively affected by financial development. Next we explore the relationship between banking activity and fertility in the state of Pennsylvania, where, by law, most banks were created before 1820. This allows us to treat banks in 1840 as exogenous and confirm the existence of a strong negative causal effect from financial development to fertility. Finally, we show that our results are robust to measuring banking activity with the number of cities with at least a bank in a given county. |
| Keywords: | fertility; old-age security hypothesis; financial development; 19th century U.S. |
| JEL: | O10 N31 J10 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:shf:wpaper:2013011&r=dem |
| By: | Stefania Marcassa (THEMA - Théorie économique, modélisation et applications - CNRS : UMR8184 - Université de Cergy Pontoise) |
| Abstract: | At the end of the 1960s, the U.S. divorce law underwent major changes and the divorce rate almost doubled in all of the states. This paper shows that changes in property division, alimony transfers, and child custody assignments account for a substantial share of the increase in the divorce rate, especially for young, college educated couples with children. I solve and calibrate a model where agents make decisions on their marital status, savings, and labor supply. Under the new financial settlements, divorced men gain from a higher share of property, while women gain from an increase in alimony and child support transfers. The introduction of the unilateral decision to divorce has limited effects. |
| Date: | 2013–08–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-00865640&r=dem |
| By: | Magda Bianco (Bank of Italy); Angela Ciavarella (Consob); Rossella Signoretti (Consob) |
| Abstract: | We examine the presence of women in Italian corporate boards before the introduction of Law 120/2012. We consider all directors of publicly-traded firms in 2008-10 and investigate the potential determinants of having boards with gender-diverse representation and the correlation between female directorship and selected governance measures. Two different models emerge. In the majority of diverse boards at least one of the women has a family connection with the controlling shareholder: family-affiliated women are more frequently found in smaller companies, firms with a concentrated ownership, businesses that operate in the consumer sector and those with larger boards. By contrast, unaffiliated women are more common in widely held companies, companies with younger and more highly educated boards, those with a higher proportion of independent directors and those with fewer “connected” directors. With reference to governance-related outcomes, the number of board meetings is positively correlated with the presence of women on boards, while no difference is found between female and male directors in board meeting attendance. |
| Keywords: | gender diversity, corporate governance, board of directors. |
| JEL: | G34 G38 |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdi:opques:qef_174_13&r=dem |
| By: | Fredrik Andersson; John C. Haltiwanger; Mark J. Kutzbach; Giordano Palloni; Henry O. Pollakowski; Daniel H. Weinberg |
| Abstract: | Research on effects of living in voucher-assisted and public housing to date has largely focused on short-term outcomes and data limitations and challenges of identification have been an obstacle to conclusive results. In contrast, this paper assesses effects of children’s housing on their later employment and earnings, uses national longitudinal data, and makes use of within-household variation to mitigate selection issues. We combine several national datasets on housing assistance, teenagers and their households, and the subsequent earnings and employment outcomes, such that we are able to follow1.8 million children aged 13-18 in 2000 in over 800,000 households within many different assisted and unassisted housing settings, controlling for neighborhood conditions, and examine their labor market outcomes for the 2008-2010 period. By focusing on within-family variation in subsidy treatment, we remove a substantial source of unobserved heterogeneity affecting both a child’s selection into housing and their later outcomes. OLS estimates show a substantial negative effect of housing subsidies on earnings and employment outcomes. However, using within-household variation to control for selection issues attenuates these effects, and results in positive effects for some demographic groups. The large sample size allows us to study to what extent results vary by gender and race/ethnicity, and we find strong evidence of heterogeneous effects. Children in Black households who have lived in voucher-supported housing and public housing often benefit in terms of positive subsequent economic outcomes. Girls raised in Black households derive a considerable positive effect on later earnings from having lived in voucher-supported housing, and a somewhat lesser effect from having lived in public housing. Boys raised in Black households fare relatively worse than girls; in contrast, girls in White households tend to have relatively worse outcomes than boys. |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cen:wpaper:13-48&r=dem |
| By: | Bellou, Andriana (University of Montreal); Cardia, Emanuela (University of Montreal) |
| Abstract: | WWII induced a dramatic increase in female labor supply, which persisted over time, particularly for women with higher education. Using Census micro data we study the qualitative aspects of this long term increase through the lenses of the occupations women held after the war. Almost two decades after its end, we find that WWII had lasting, albeit complex but interesting effects on the occupational landscape. It led to a significant increase in the presence of young women, who were of working age at the time of the war, in manufacturing and professional/managerial occupations, while it entailed a decrease in the presence of older cohorts in clerical. Though differently, the effects surprisingly extended to the next generation of women who were too young to be working at the time of the war. For this cohort, the increase was concentrated in clerical and manufacturing. The entry of this very young cohort in clerical jobs and the exit of the older, suggests within-gender crowding-out; the increased presence of both cohorts in manufacturing, that the legacy of the wartime Rosies permeated occupational choices. |
| Keywords: | WWII, occupations |
| JEL: | J24 J31 N42 |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7615&r=dem |
| By: | Tamara Fioroni (Department of Economics (University of Verona)); Simone D\'Alessandro (University of Pisa) |
| Abstract: | This paper focuses on the evolution of child labour, fertility and human capital in an economy characterized by two types of workers, low- and high-skilled. This heterogeneity allows an endogenous analysis of inequality generated by child labour. More specically, according to empirical evidence, we offer an explanation for the emergence of a vicious cycle between child labour and inequality. The basic intuition behind this result arises from the interdependence between child labour and fertility decisions. Furthermore, we investigate how child labour regulation policies can influence the welfare of the two groups in the short run, and the income distribution in the long run. We find that conflicts of interest may arise between the two groups. |
| Keywords: | Child Labour, Fertility, Human capital, Inequality |
| JEL: | J13 J24 J82 K31 |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ver:wpaper:18/2013&r=dem |
| By: | Angelica Salvi del Pero; Alexandra Bytchkova |
| Abstract: | This paper presents an overview of gender differences in education outcomes in OECD countries. A rich set of indicators describes the improvement of educational attainment among women over the past decades, and various dimensions of male under-performance in education. Possible explanatory factors include incentives provided by changing employment opportunities for women, demographic trends, as well as the higher sensitivity of boys to disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds. Gender differences in field of study and in performance by subject are found to be related to attitudes and self-perceptions towards academic subjects, which are in turn influenced by social norms. A number of policy options to address gender gaps are presented in the final section of the paper. Ce document présente un aperçu des différences entre garçons et filles dans les résultats scolaires des pays de l’OCDE. Les indicateurs utilisés décrivent l’amélioration du niveau d’instruction des femmes au cours des dernières décennies et les différents domaines dans lesquels les garçons obtiennent des résultats inférieurs par rapport aux filles. Parmi les explications avancées figurent les politiques encourageant les opportunités d’emploi pour les femmes, les tendances démographiques ainsi que la vulnérabilité accrue des garçons issus de milieux socio-économiques défavorisés. Les différences entre hommes et femmes dans le domaine des études et dans les résultats scolaires par discipline tiennent aux mentalités et à l’autoperception des disciplines, et sont elles-mêmes influencées par les normes sociales. La dernière section du document présente un certain nombre de mesures pouvant combler les disparités entre hommes et femmes. |
| Keywords: | PISA, college major, student performance, attitudes, gender, education attainment |
| JEL: | I21 I23 I28 J16 |
| Date: | 2013–09–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:elsaab:149-en&r=dem |
| By: | Ghani, Ejaz; Kerr, William R.; O'Connell, Stephen D. |
| Abstract: | The informal sector in India has been exceptionally persistent over the past two decades. Is this a bad thing? Not necessarily. This paper shows that a substantial share of the persistence in India's unorganized manufacturing sector is due to the rapid increase in female-owned businesses. Had women's participation remained in the proportion to male-owned businesses that was evident in 1994, the unorganized manufacturing sector would have declined in share rather than increased. Most of these new female-owned businesses are opened in the household and at a small scale, about a third of the size of a typical male-owned business in the informal sector. Yet, it appears that these businesses offer economic opportunities not otherwise present and a transition for some women from unpaid domestic work. |
| Keywords: | E-Business,Banks&Banking Reform,Population Policies,Housing&Human Habitats,Gender and Health |
| Date: | 2013–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6612&r=dem |
| By: | Chiara Pronzato; Arnstein Aassve |
| Abstract: | In contrast to most otherstudiesfocusing on children's cognitive outcomes and using crosssectional data, this paper exploits information from three waves of the Millennium Cohort Study to assess the impact of marital breakup on children's behaviour. Using fixed effect estimation throughout, the analysisshowsthat separation has an impact on some behavioural aspects, but not all, and that the impact may persist over time. On the contrary, we find negative anticipation effects, meaning that children of parents who are getting separated have fewer conduct problems. In terms of magnitude, the estimated effects, when significant, are allmodest. |
| Keywords: | divorce, strength and difficulties questionnaire, child’s behaviuor, Millennium Cohort Study, fixed effects |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cca:wchild:12&r=dem |
| By: | Hallward-Driemeier, Mary; Hasan, Tazeen; Rusu, Anca Bogdana |
| Abstract: | Using a newly compiled database of women's property rights and legal capacity covering 100 countries over 50 years, this paper analyzes the triggers and barriers to reform. The database documents gender gaps in the ability to access and own assets, to sign legal documents in one's own name, and to have equality or non-discrimination as a guiding principle of the country's constitution. Progress in reducing these constraints has been dramatic -- half of the constraints documented in the 1960s had been removed by 2010. However, some sticky areas persist where laws have not changed or have even regressed. The paper analyzes potential drivers of reforms. A significant finding is that the relationship with a country's level of development and the extent of its reforms is not straightforward. For the first half of the sample, there was no systematic connection; only in the last 25 years have increases in income been associated with higher probabilities for reform, but only in lower-income countries. With the remaining constraints as prevalent in middle- as low-income countries, increased growth is not necessarily going to spark additional reforms. Clearer patterns emerge from the momentum created by international conventions, such as the Committee to Eliminate All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), women's political representation at the national level, mobilization of women's networks, and increasing labor force participation in sectors that provide a voice for women, which are positive forces for change. Conversely, conflict and weak rule of law can entrench a discriminatory status quo. And much is at stake; strengthening women's legal rights is associated with important development outcomes that can benefit society as a whole. |
| Keywords: | Gender and Law,Population Policies,Access to Finance,Legal Products,Gender and Development |
| Date: | 2013–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6616&r=dem |
| By: | Domenico Depalo (Bank of Italy); Francesca Lotti (Bank of Italy) |
| Abstract: | Many empirical analyses find that the performance of firms headed by women (female firms) varies with respect to those headed by men and that the greatest part of this gap is due to observable characteristics (i.e. gender) related to firms’ characteristics. In this paper we evaluate whether this finding also holds for Italy in terms of productivity and returns.The classification of firms by gender follows that prescribed in Law 215/92; for the purposes of this paper only partnerships and private and public corporations were considered, the sole legal forms for which balance sheets are available. Whilst male firms operate in almost all sectors, female firms tend to cluster in those areas where interpersonal relations are most important, namely the retail sector, restaurants, hotels etc.. In terms of performance, measured by profitability and productivity (and even when controlling by sector and company size), there do not appear to be any significant differences between male and female enterprises. |
| Keywords: | female entrepreneurship, gender economic differences |
| JEL: | J1 L11 L25 |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdi:opques:qef_184_13&r=dem |
| By: | David Backus; Thomas Cooley; Espen Henriksen |
| Abstract: | We consider the causes of international capital flows. Since capital flows are extremely persistent, we argue that their drivers must be persistent, too. We think the most compelling candidates are demographic trends, tfp differences and financial frictions. In this paper we focus primarily on the role of demography in a multi-country overlapping generations model in which saving decisions are tied to agents' life expectancy. Capital flows reflect differences between saving and investment across countries. Demographic changes affect the aggregate accumulation of assets in two ways: by changing life expectancy which changes individual household saving behavior, and by changing the age distribution of the population by which individual household decisions are aggregated. The most important drivers turn out to be increases in life expectancy caused by decreases in adult mortality.We use a quantitative version of the model to illustrate the impact of demography on capital flows and net foreign assets in China, Germany, Japan, and the United States. |
| JEL: | J11 |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:19465&r=dem |
| By: | Parrotta, Pierpaolo (Aarhus School of Business); Smith, Nina (Aarhus University) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the relationship between gender of the CEO and composition of the board of directors (female chairman and share of women in the boardroom) and firm's risk attitudes measured as variability in four firm outcome variables (investments, profits, return to equity, and sales). Using a merged employer-employee panel sample of Danish companies with more than 50 employees, we find extensive evidence of a negative association between female CEO and firm's risk attitudes. This finding might be consistent with the theoretical assumption according to which women typically present a substantially higher risk aversion profile and put more effort in monitoring firm activities than men in the financial matter domains. A number of robustness checks corroborate and better explain our main findings. |
| Keywords: | firm performance, risk aversion, female CEO |
| JEL: | G34 J16 L25 |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7613&r=dem |
| By: | Francesco Franceschi (Bank of Italy) |
| Abstract: | We study how employed and self-employed workers living as a couple differ in terms of allocation of their time. In particular, we focus on the division of domestic work between men and women. It emerges that the type of job strongly affects the allocation of time of men, whereas it is much less relevant for women. Unobservable characteristics, like preferences for work, rather than the type of job (employed vs. self-employed) seem to matter for the allocation of time of women. In general, Italian data confirm that self-employed workers work longer hours, in particular at nights and during the weekends. When we analyse together the allocation of time of both partners, we find that market and domestic work are more equally distributed within couples where the woman is self-employed. Conversely, when the man is self-employed and the woman is employed the allocation of time is distributed very unevenly. This suggests that the choice of the type of job is a channel through which the allocation of time spent on domestic work within couples is determined. |
| Keywords: | time use, gender based discrimination. |
| JEL: | J16 J22 J29 |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdi:opques:qef_179_13&r=dem |
| By: | Maria Lucia Stefani (Bank of Italy); Valerio Vacca (Bank of Italy) |
| Abstract: | This paper uses ECB survey data to assess whether gender matters in the small firms’ financial structure and access to credit. Firms owned or managed by women (female firms) use smaller amounts and less heterogeneous sources of external finance than their male counterparts. According to statistical evidence, female firms have difficulty in accessing bank finance: on the demand side, they apply for bank loans less frequently, as they more often anticipate a rejection; on the supply side, they experience a higher rejection rate. Econometric analysis shows that these different patterns are largely explained by the characteristics (such as business size, age and sector of activity) that make female firms structurally different from those led by men, without leaving room for a significant gender effect. An additional contribution of this paper is to compare the major euro-area countries within a homogeneous framework: weak evidence of gender discrimination appears in the supply of bank loans in Germany, Italy and Spain, while some demand obstacles arise in France. |
| Keywords: | financial structure, banking, economics of gender, small business finance |
| JEL: | G32 G21 J16 |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdi:opques:qef_176_13&r=dem |
| By: | Kohei Daido (School of Economics, Kwansei Gakuin University); Ken Tabata (School of Economics, Kwansei Gakuin University) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the role played by the social norms of working hours in a household labor- leisure and fertility decision model. We suppose that social norms enforce workers not to deviate from the ideal level of working hours, which depends on past and current observations of working hours in workplaces. We show that the social norms lead to multiple equilibria: one with long working hours and a low fertility rate and another with short working hours and a high fertility rate. Our results may help to explain the long working hours and low fertility rate that are observed in Japan. |
| Keywords: | Fertility, Work-life balance, Social norms, Peer effects |
| JEL: | O40 J11 J22 |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kgu:wpaper:108&r=dem |
| By: | Backman, Mikaela (Centre for Entrepreneurship and Spatial Economics, Jönköping International Business School); Karlsson, Charlie (Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies (CESIS ), Jönköping International Business School) |
| Abstract: | Several studies confirm a positive inverted U-shaped relationship between age and entrepreneurship. This paper analyses if this statement is true also for Sweden. By focusing on those above the age of 50, this paper adds knowledge about how individuals close to their retirement act in terms of self-employment and to what extent they contribute as entrepreneurs to the overall society. First, it analyses at the regional level the propensity of older people to start firms with a focus on the relationship between different age cohorts and the rate of new firm formation. At the second stage, an individual perspective is taken where the probability to become self-employed is expected to increase as individuals be¬come older but at a decreasing rate. By decomposing the population in different age cohorts, it is possible to find differences in the probability of becoming self-employed. To increase and deepen the knowledge about the relationship between age and entrepreneurship this paper further adds to existing literature by separating regions into different categories along the urban-rural hierarchy. The results in this paper confirm that the rate of entrepreneurship first increases and then decreases with age. Individuals above both 55 and 64 have a positive influence on the rate of entrepreneurship at both the regional as well as the individual level. The impact is stronger in locations that are more rural. |
| Keywords: | Ageing; new firm formation; self-employment; age cohorts; micro data; urban-rural hierarchy |
| JEL: | L26 R12 R30 |
| Date: | 2013–09–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:cesisp:0325&r=dem |
| By: | Vincenzo Galasso; Paola Profeta |
| Abstract: | We study how family culture affected the initial welfare state design. Our theoretical framework shows that pre-existing institutions — namely inheritance rules — shaped the within family intergenerational transmission of resources. This organization is embedded in the family culture that later affected the design of pension systems. Countries with equalitarian inheritance rules acquired a non-individualistic family culture that induced the adoption of generous Bismarckian pension systems, whereas non-equalitarian inheritance rules nurtured family independence and led to Beveridgean (safety net) pension systems. Cross countries analyses using historical inheritance rules support these predictions, and results are robust to controlling for alternative legal, religious, demographic, economic and political explanations. Evidence from individual data confirm these findings: US citizens whose ancestors came from countries featuring equal inheritance rules prefer to rely on the government as a provider of old age security through generous retirement benefits. |
| Keywords: | culture; inheritance rules, pension design. JEL Classifications: Z10; Z13; N30; H10; H55. |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cca:wchild:14&r=dem |
| By: | Jan Feld; Nicolás Salamanca; Daniel S. Hamermesh |
| Abstract: | The immense literature on discrimination treats outcomes as relative: One group suffers compared to another. But does a difference arise because agents discriminate against others—are exophobic—or because they favor their own kind—are endophilic? This difference matters, as the relative importance of the types of discrimination and their inter-relation affect market outcomes. Using a field experiment in which graders at one university were randomly assigned students’ exams that did or did not contain the students’ names, on average we find favoritism but no discrimination by nationality, and neither favoritism nor discrimination by gender, findings that are robust to a wide variety of potential concerns. We observe heterogeneity in both discrimination and favoritism by nationality and by gender in the distributions of graders’ preferences. We show that a changing correlation between endophilia and exophobia can generate perverse changes in observed market discrimination. |
| JEL: | B40 I24 J71 |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:19471&r=dem |
| By: | Olivier Thévenon |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the response of female labour force participation to the evolution of labour markets and policies supporting the reconciliation of work and family life. Using country-level data from the early 1980s for 18 OECD countries, we estimate the influence of labour market and institutional characteristics on female labour force participation, and full-time and part-time employment participation. The relationship (interactions, complementarity) between different policy measures is also analyzed, as well as potential variations in the influence of policies across different Welfare regimes. The results first highlight how the increase in female educational attainment, the expansion of the service sector the increase in parttime employment opportunities have boosted women’s participation in the labour force. By contrast, there is no such clear relationship between female employment rates and the growing share of public employment. Employment rates react to changes in tax rates, in leave policies, but the rising provision of childcare formal services to working parents with children not yet three years old is a main policy driver of female labour force participation. Different policy instruments interact with each other to improve overall effectiveness. In particular, the coverage of childcare services is found to have a greater effect on women’s participation in the labour market in countries with relatively high degrees of employment protection. The effect of childcare services on female full-time employment is particularly strong in Anglophone and Nordic countries. In all, the findings suggest that the effect of childcare services on female employment is stronger in the presence of other measures supporting working mothers (as, for instance paid parental leave) while the presence of such supports seems to reduce the effectiveness of financial incentives to work for second earners. The effect of cash benefits for families and the duration of paid leave on female labour force participation also vary across welfare regimes. Cet article analyse la réponse de la participation des femmes à la force de travail aux évolutions des marchés du travail et des politiques favorisant la conciliation entre travail et vie familiale. Exploitant des données pour 18 pays de l’OCDE depuis le début des années 1980s, on estime l’influence des caractéristiques du marché du travail et institutionnelles sur la participation des femmes au marché du travail, et sur leurs taux d’emploi à temps plein et à temps partiel. Les interactions et complémentarités potentielles entre les mesures politiques sont aussi testées, tout comme les possibles variations de l’influence des politiques entre les différents Etats-Providence. Les résultats montrent, en premier lieu, comment l’élévation des niveaux d’éducation féminins, l’expansion de l’emploi dans les services et le développement du temps partiel ont favorisé la participation des femmes au marché du travail. En revanche, le développement de l’emploi des femmes n’est pas aussi clairement lié à la croissance de l’emploi dans le secteur public. Les taux d’emploi féminins réagissent aux variations de taux d’imposition, aux politiques de congés, mais l’offre de services d’accueil pour les enfants de moins de trois ans semble être le facteur clé du développement de la participation des femmes au marché du travail. Les différentes mesures politiques interagissent et leurs effets se renforcent mutuellement. En particulier, la couverture des services d’accueil de la petite enfance ont un effet plus important sur la participation des femmes au marché du travail dans les pays offrant une plus grande protection de l’emploi. L’effet des services d’accueil de la petite enfance sur l’emploi à temps plein des femmes est particulièrement important dans les pays anglophones et d’Europe du Nord. Par ailleurs, les résultats suggèrent que l’effet des services de la petite enfance sur l’emploi des femmes est renforcé lorsqu’ils sont associés à d’autres mesures favorisant les mères qui travaillent (comme par exemple le congé payé parental), mais que celles-ci réduisent l’efficacité des incitations financières à travailler pour le partenaire. L’effet des aides financières familiales et de la durée des congés payés sur la participation des femmes au marché du travail varie également entre les différents systèmes de prestations sociales. |
| Keywords: | family policy, work-life balance, institutional complementarity, female labour force participation |
| JEL: | J16 J18 J21 |
| Date: | 2013–05–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:elsaab:145-en&r=dem |
| By: | Stephanie Barrientos |
| Abstract: | Abstract Transformation of global sourcing over recent decades has significant implications for gender relations of production in the developing world. Analysis of global production networks and value chains (GPN/GVC) provides important insights into the changing dynamics of global sourcing and its embeddedness within diverse societies and countries. However, the gender dimension of this process is often overlooked. Feminist analysis provides important insights into a changing gender division of labour within global production, but rarely links it to the commercial dynamics of GPN/GVCs. This paper develops a gender production network analysis to inform a comparative examination of gender production relations in cocoa. It draws on case studies in Ghana and India. It asks in what ways are GPN/GVCs bearers of gender transformation, and what are the implications for the sustainability of quality cocoa sourcing by chocolate manufacturers? The paper finds that gendered social norms and practices in both countries mean that women’s contribution to cocoa production has long been under-valued, with women largely relegated to the position of unpaid family or casual labour. However, within the gender division of labour women do play an important role in certain activities that are increasingly recognised in the industry as critical to ensuring good yields and quality production. These are of increasing importance to consumer-focused brand name chocolate companies. Recognition and support for women’s role could make an important contribution, both to the empowerment of women cocoa farmers and workers, but also to the future sustainability of quality cocoa sourcing. |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bwp:bwppap:18613&r=dem |
| By: | Gregoric, Aleksandra (Department of International Economics and Management); Oxelheim, Lars (Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN)); Randøy, Trond (University of Agder); Thomsen, Steen (Department of International Economics and Management) |
| Abstract: | Scholars have previously investigated country and organizational-level factors associated with the incidence of female directors on boards. These studies, however, cannot explain why, in countries with strong gender equality and pressure for female directorships, firms are still hesitant to promote new women to their boards. To address this issue we – in this study – introduce the cognitive and affective processes related to directors’ identification with the traditional corporate elite as an explanation for the slow organizational response to pressure for gender diversity on boards. We bridge the social identity and critical mass theory to further show how these responses may vary with the current composition of the board. Viewing the board as a locus for the maintenance of the positive distinctiveness of the established corporate elite, we conjecture that new female appointments will not only depend on the current share of women on board but also on the current (minority) share of board positions held by male directors who are not prototypical of the established elite. We also uncover how this relationship is moderated by the share of institutional investors’ ownership. We test and support these propositions on a sample of 387 publicly traded Nordic corporations during 2001–2008. |
| Keywords: | Social identity; Board of director; Gender diversity |
| JEL: | D22 F23 G34 M16 |
| Date: | 2013–09–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:0978&r=dem |
| By: | Daniele Coin (Bank of Italy) |
| Abstract: | In this article we test whether Italian female entrepreneurs are more reliable payers than men, by carrying out a survival analysis of micro enterprises that utilize a credit for the first time in the period January 2005 to December 2008, and monitoring the quality of their exposure until December 2010. The data were drawn from the Bank of Italy’s Central Credit Register, which provides information on the entire Italian population that has loans with the Italian banking system. We observed that female entrepreneurs are better payers than their male counterparts only because women tend to undertake activities in less risky sectors. Our analysis could also be considered as an indirect measure of whether female entrepreneurs experience discrimination when accessing the Italian credit market. |
| Keywords: | small business credit, lending discrimination |
| JEL: | G21 J71 |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdi:opques:qef_186_13&r=dem |
| By: | Miguel Sánchez Romero (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany); Naohiro Ogawa; Rikiya Matsukura |
| Abstract: | In Japan due to the rapid population aging and its large financial pressure on pay-as-you-go retirement systems, the economic impact of bequest wealth has been drawing a tremendous amount of attention. Despite that, there are neither official statistics on bequest for the whole population, nor analyses of the historical evolution of bequest. Our study fills this gap by offering an estimate of bequest in Japan from 1850 to 2100, based on a computable general equilibrium model with realistic demography. Our model shows that the historical evolution of the bequest-to-output ratio in Japan follows the same U-shaped pattern described by Piketty (2011) for France. Moreover, we estimate that the annual flow of bequest represented between 4% and 6% of the output in the year 2000 and that it will reach between 7% and 13% of the output by year 2100. |
| Keywords: | Japan, economic demography, inheritance, mortality |
| JEL: | J1 Z0 |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dem:wpaper:wp-2013-012&r=dem |
| By: | De Beaufort, Viviane (ESSEC Business School); Summers , Lucy (University of Queensland) |
| Abstract: | The feminization of Boards has the potential to be a vector of change, bringing "added value" to organisations through gender diversity, thus creating greater efficiency. Promoting women to positions of power only makes sense, however, if these women are allowed to bring, in terms of skills and behavior, a difference to the table. This involves confronting the masculine model, in order to BUILD a model of mixed leadership integrating the "feminine" quotient (A.Arcier). A qualitative study on women and their relation to power, undertaken in France and abroad (published in October 2012), allowed the formulation of some hypotheses in order to construct a proposition of a mixed power model that would integrate both masculine and feminine "polarities" within enterprises and organisations (ValérieRocoplan).This article is the outcome of various influences: the data of this study (by the same author with the support of the firm Boyden) which was further enriched by the analysis of other publications on the subject, as well as the experience acquired within the framework of the program Women Be European Board Ready (created by ESSEC). The article deliberately focuses on the issues surrounding gender and governance in order to address the smooth and effective running of Boards. The study essentially aims to highlight the fact that women wishing to obtain these mandates, or those who have reached these posts, share a rigorous and idealised vision of the functioning of the Boards and demand a model based on "sustainable governance" that is better adapted to the challenges which Boards face in our corporate world of upheaval. These women are potential "engines" for change. |
| Keywords: | Corporate Governance; Leadership; Board Composition; Corporate Productivity; Firm-Level Governance Outcomes; Sustainable Governance; International Corporate Governance; Cross-Boarder Corporate Governance Issues; evolution of models of governance; women and boards; non-executive board members; gender dimension; women and power |
| JEL: | G30 J16 |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ebg:essewp:dr-13012&r=dem |
| By: | Jessica Meredith (University of Wollongong); Frank Neri (University of Wollongong); Joan Rodgers (University of Wollongong) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the manner and extent to which family structure impacts upon the cognitive development of young Australian children. Our methodology draws on the standard household production model of Becker but also includes control variables emphasised by parental investment and good-parent theories of child development. We use data from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC) and from the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) in cross sectional, panel, instrumental variables and fixed-effects analyses. Our results suggest that the large negative effects initially associated with single parent families disappear when child characteristics and parental preferences for education are controlled for. On the other hand parental completion of Year 12 education, ‘warm’ parent-child interactions, a stress-free home environment and positive parental aspirations for their children are persistently strong determinants of the educational success of young children. |
| Keywords: | Family structure, child cognitive development, parental investment, good parenting practices |
| JEL: | I21 I24 I28 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uow:depec1:wp13-05&r=dem |
| By: | Francesconi, Marco (University of Essex); Ghiglino, Christian (University of Essex); Perry, Motty (Department of Economics, University of Warwick) |
| Abstract: | We present a game theoretic model to explain why people form life long monogamous families. Three components are essential in our framework, paternal investment, fatherhood uncertainty, and, perhaps the most distinctive feature of all, the overlap of children of different ages. When all three conditions are present, monogamy is the most efficient form of sexual organization in the sense that it yields greater survivorship than serial monogamy, group marriage, and polygyny. Monogamy is also the only conguration that fosters altruistic ties among siblings. Finally, our result sheds light to the understanding of why most religions center around the monogamous delity family. JEL classification: Overlapping generations ; Free riding ; Kinship systems ; Religion JEL codes: C72 ; D01 ; D10 ; J12 ; Z13 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wrk:warwec:1028&r=dem |
| By: | Asongu Simplice (Yaoundé/Cameroun); Oasis Kodila-Tedika (Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo) |
| Abstract: | With earthshaking and jaw-breaking levels of corruption in the African continent, the question on the extent to which corruption influences crime still remains unanswered. This paper assesses the effect of corruption (corruption-control) in 38 African countries using updated data. We find that, crime is highly positively (negatively) correlated with corruption (corruption-control). The potential mitigation effect (by corruption-control) is higher than the corresponding positive effect of corruption, implying, corruption-control offsets crime emanating beyond the corruption mechanism (inter alia, other poor governance mechanisms). The relationship is statistically strong when controlling for the number of police officers, age dependency, per capital economic prosperity, level of education, government effectiveness and population density. Given that crime is proxied by the level of organized internal conflict, the findings also sustain the substantial role of corruption in the birth and propagation of conflicts within and across Africa. Policy implications are discussed. |
| Keywords: | Security; Corruption; Crime; Conflicts; Africa |
| JEL: | F52 K42 O17 O55 P16 |
| Date: | 2013–12–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:agd:wpaper:13/004&r=dem |
| By: | Felix Meier zu Selhausen; Erik Stam |
| Abstract: | This study on female entrepreneurs in Western Uganda provides empirical evidence on the socio-economic effects of participation in a microfinance cooperative of both the female entrepreneur and her husband. Participation by female entrepreneurs in a microfinance cooperative is not an unconditional blessing: even though it does deliver higher household incomes, it might also deteriorate the female's household decision-making power when her husband participates in the same self-help group of the microfinance cooperative. This offers new insights for development policy and for entrepreneurship scholars to study the bright and dark sides of microfinance. |
| Keywords: | microfinance, cooperatives, female entrepreneurship, coffee, Uganda |
| JEL: | J16 J54 L26 N27 O15 O16 Q13 |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:use:tkiwps:1310&r=dem |
| By: | Sarah J. Baird; Ephraim Chirwa; Jacobus de Hoop; Berk Özler |
| Abstract: | Interventions targeting adolescent girls are seen as a key component in the fight to break the cycle of poverty in developing countries. Policies that enable them to reach their full potential can have a strong impact not only on their own wellbeing, but also on that of future generations. This paper summarizes the short-term impacts of a cash transfer program on the empowerment of adolescent girls in Malawi during and immediately after the two-year intervention. We find that the program, which transferred cash directly to school-age girls as well as their parents, had effects on a broad range of important domains – including increased access to financial resources, improved schooling outcomes, decreased teen pregnancies and early marriages, better health – and generally enabled beneficiaries to improve their agency within their households. Underlying these overall impacts, the experiment revealed important differences in program effects between young women who were in school at the start of the intervention and those that were not, as well as between young women who received cash transfers conditional on regular school attendance and those who received cash unconditionally. The results point to the potential role that cash transfer programs can play in improving the lives of adolescent girls in Sub-Saharan Africa, as well as the heterogeneity of effects under different program designs. |
| JEL: | C93 I10 I21 I38 |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:19479&r=dem |
| By: | Lucia Rizzica (Bank of Italy) |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to estimate the effects of the expansion of tertiary education supply on the educational choices of young Italian high school graduates. A quasi-experimental setting given by the reform of the tertiary education system implemented in 2001 is exploited. The reform was embraced at different points in time and to different degrees: it created significant changes in local educational supply in certain provinces while being only marginally relevant in others. This geographical variation is exploited through a diff-in-diff strategy to estimate the impact of the increase in tertiary education supply on enrolment and the mobility decisions of high school graduates. Major gender differences emerge: the increase of local tertiary education supply generated a significant increase in female enrolment rates leaving unchanged those of males; men, on the other hand, switched from studying outside their province of residence to studying at the local university. These results would suggest the existence of a relationship of substitutability between studying away from home and studying at the local university for boys, but not for girls. |
| Keywords: | human capital, tertiary education, gender, evaluation of education reform |
| JEL: | H52 I23 I28 J24 |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdi:opques:qef_181_13&r=dem |
| By: | Armando Barrientos; Juan Miguel Villa |
| Abstract: | Abstract The paper examines labour market outcome effects from participation in Familias en Acción in urban areas, a conditional cash transfer programme in Colombia. There is considerable interest in the potential impact of antipoverty transfers on labour market outcomes in developing countries. The available literature finds at best very marginal effects, both positive and negative, of participation on labour market outcomes. Relying on a regression discontinuity design and a large panel dataset, the paper finds significant and largely positive effects on labour market outcomes. These effects are heterogeneous in household composition and gender, confirming that the effects of antipoverty transfers on labour supply reflect a re-organisation of household productive resources in response to the transfer. |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bwp:bwppap:18513&r=dem |
| By: | Patrick A. Imam |
| Abstract: | Abstract Empirical evidence is mounting that, in advanced economies, changes in monetary policy have a more benign impact on the economy—given better anchored inflation expectations and inflation being less responsive to variation in unemployment—compared to the past. We examine another aspect that could explain this empirical finding, namely the demographic shift to an older society. The paper first clarifies potential transmission channels that could explain why monetary policy effectiveness may moderate in graying societies. It then uses Bayesian estimation techniques for the U.S., Canada, Japan, U.K., and Germany to confirm a weakening of monetary policy effectiveness over time with regards to unemployment and inflation. After proving the existence of a panel co-integration relationship between ageing and a weakening of monetary policy, the study uses dynamic panel OLS techniques to attribute this weakening of monetary policy effectiveness to demographic changes. The paper concludes with policy implications. |
| Keywords: | Monetary policy;United States;Canada;Japan;United Kingdom;Germany;Developed countries;Aging;Population;Economic models;Cross country analysis;Demographic shift, monetary transmission mechanism, life-cycle model |
| Date: | 2013–09–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imf:imfwpa:13/191&r=dem |
| By: | Anita Ratcliffe (Department of Economics, The University of Sheffield); Stephanie von Hinke Kessler Scholdery (University of Sheffield) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the impact of the London bombings on attitudes towards ethnic minorities, examining outcomes in housing and labour markets across London boroughs. We use a difference-in-differences approach, specifying `treated' boroughs as those with the highest concentration of Asian residents. Our results indicate that house prices in treated boroughs fell by approximately 2.3% in the two years after the bombings relative to other boroughs, with sales declining by approximately 5.7%. Furthermore, we present evidence of a rise in the unemployment rate in treated compared to control boroughs, as well as a rise in racial segregation. These results are robust to several `falsification' checks with respect to the definition and timing of treatment. |
| Keywords: | terrorism; racial prejudice; difference-in-differences |
| JEL: | J15 J71 R21 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:shf:wpaper:2013013&r=dem |
| By: | Francesca Maria Cesaroni (University of Urbino “Carlo Bo”); Francesca Lotti (Bank of Italy); Paolo Emilio Mistrulli (Bank of Italy) |
| Abstract: | During the financial crisis banks faced liquidity shocks, and lending slowed down. The reduction in credit availability was due to demand- and supply-side factors. The decrease in turnover and investment led to a contraction of financial needs; on the other hand, the tightening of credit supply was the result of banks’ greater risk-aversion, difficulties in raising funds, and a worsening in the creditworthiness of borrowers. However, banks do not pass on liquidity shocks to borrowers according to a homogenous pattern: by following a pecking order, they first reduce lending to the marginal segment of borrowers to protect their core customers. Previous studies have shown that banks are less prone to lend to female firms than to others: lending to female firms may have suffered more during the crisis than other segments of the credit market. By using data from the Credit Register at the Bank of Italy for the period 2007-2009, we find that women-owned firms faced a more pronounced credit contraction with respect to other firms. |
| Keywords: | financial crisis, banks, loans, women-owned firms. |
| JEL: | J16 G21 |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdi:opques:qef_177_13&r=dem |
| By: | Jing You; Samuel Annim |
| Abstract: | Abstract This paper assesses causal effects of formal microcredit on children’s educational outcomes by using household panel data (2000 and 2004) in a poor province of northwest rural China. The unobservables between borrowers and non-borrowers are controlled in static and dynamic regression-discontinuity designs. The static analysis reveals significant positive impact of microcredit on children’s schooling years (captured by late entry, failed grades and suspended schooling from time to time) in 2000 only, and no indication of influence on academic performance for both rounds of survey. The dynamic analysis shows progressive treatment effects of microcredit on both longer schooling years and higher average scores. Formal microcredit appears to improve education in the longer term compared to the short term, and hence may have potential in relaxing the grip of educational poverty traps. |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bwp:bwppap:18313&r=dem |
| By: | Jan Hagemejer (National Bank of Poland; Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw); Krzysztof Makarski (National Bank of Poland; Warsaw School of Economics); Joanna Tyrowicz (Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw; National Bank of Poland) |
| Abstract: | Pension system reforms involve fiscal consequences. In practice, a variety of fiscal closures may be implemented, while not all of them involve the same extent of distortions. This paper develops an overlapping generations model to analyze the case of a shift from pay-as-you-go defined benefit system to a partly funded defined contribution system. We calibrate the system to mimic the economy of Poland, which actually implemented such reform in 1999. We analyze the efficiency of the reform with two main closure types: public debt and taxes. Regardless of the fiscal closure scenario this particular reform seems to be efficient in terms of welfare and enhances economic performance. Comparing the welfare of various closures we find that while labor taxation yields relatively higher welfare gain, public debt closure involves least need for the redistribution if capital pillar is to be implemented. |
| Keywords: | PAYG, pension system reform, time inconsistency, welfare |
| JEL: | C68 E17 E25 J11 J24 H55 D72 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:war:wpaper:2013-23&r=dem |