|
on Demographic Economics |
| By: | Alesina, Alberto (Harvard University, NBER and IGIER); Michalopoulos, Stelios (Brown University and NBER); Papaioannou, Elias (London Business School, CEPR and NBER) |
| Abstract: | This study explores the consequences and origins of between-ethnicity economic inequality both across and within countries. First, combining satellite images of nighttime luminosity with the historical homelands of ethnolinguistic groups we construct measures of ethnic inequality for a large sample of countries and show that the latter is strongly inversely related to comparative development. Second, differences in geographic endowments across ethnic homelands explain a sizable portion of ethnic inequality contributing to its persistence over time. Third, exploiting across-district within-African countries variation using individual-level data on ethnic identification and well-being from the Afrobarometer Surveys we find that between ethnic-group inequality is systematically linked to regional under-development. In this sample we also explore the channels linking ethnic inequality to (under) development, finding that ethnic inequality maps to political inequality, heightened perceptions of discrimination and undersupply of public goods. |
| Keywords: | Ethnicity, Diversity, Inequality, Development, Geography |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cge:wacage:155&r=dem |
| By: | Jean-Pierre Tranchant (Institute of Development Studies); Patricia Justino (Institute of Development Studies); Cathérine Müller (Institute of Development Studies) |
| Abstract: | We analyse the combined effect of political violence and adverse climatic shocks on child nutrition. Instrumental variable models using longitudinal data from Andhra Pradesh, India, yield two key results: (i) drought has an adverse effect on child nutrition in Andhra Pradesh only in violence-affected communities, and (ii) political violence has large negative effects on child nutrition through a reduction of the ability of households to cope with drought. FE-2SLS results are complemented by the use of a unique natural experiment created by a ceasefire in 2004. Results show that the eight months ceasefire period reversed the adverse effects of drought in communities previously affected by the conflict. Potential mechanisms explaining the strong joint welfare effect of conflict and drought are the failure of economic coping strategies in areas of violence and restricted access to public goods and services. |
| Keywords: | Malnutrition, India, Drought, Naxal, Conflict |
| JEL: | I15 I30 O12 O15 |
| Date: | 2014–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hic:wpaper:173&r=dem |
| By: | Abramitzky, Ran (Stanford University); Lavy, Victor (Hebrew University and University of Warwick) |
| Abstract: | This paper uses an unusual pay reform to test the responsiveness of investment in schooling to changes in redistribution schemes that increase the rate of return to education. We exploit an episode where different Israeli kibbutzim shifted from equal sharing to productivity-based wages in different years and find that students in kibbutzim that reformed earlier invested more in high school education. This effect is stronger for males and is largely driven by students whose parents have lower levels of education. We also show that, in the long run, students in kibbutzim that reformed earlier were more likely to complete post-high school academic colleges. Our findings support the prediction that education is highly responsive to changes in the redistribution policy, especially for students from weaker backgrounds. |
| Keywords: | kibbutzim, education, Redistributive Policies. |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cge:wacage:150&r=dem |
| By: | Cristina Cattaneo (Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM)) |
| Abstract: | The paper investigates the determinants of ethnic heterogeneity of the Italian provinces. Among other factors, the paper tests empirically whether gradual improvements in distant communication boost the generation of ethnically heterogeneous provinces. Consequently to easier communication, movers increasingly rely on an enlarged community for identity transmission, rather than on localized peer effects of the ethnic enclaves. The empirical estimation provides support to this hypothesis. Improvements in internet communications are found to increase the ethnic diversity of the Italian provinces. |
| Keywords: | Immigration, Ethnic Diversity, Productivity |
| JEL: | F22 J61 R11 |
| Date: | 2014–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2014.34&r=dem |
| By: | Paul, Sohini |
| Abstract: | Domestic violence is recognised as a serious violation of women’s basic rights. Conventional economic models of domestic violence suggest that higher participation by women in the labour force leads to a decrease in domestic violence. In this paper, we study the relationship between women employment and domestic violence in India. We used a nationally representative database, National Family Health Survey Data III (2005–06), for our analysis. We found that employed women are more exposed to intimate partner violence. We argue that the higher emotional cost of men through the violation of traditional gender norm leads to increased domestic violence. |
| Keywords: | Gender; Domestic Violence; Labour force participation; India |
| JEL: | J16 J21 K14 |
| Date: | 2014–03–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:55311&r=dem |
| By: | Janneke Plantenga |
| Abstract: | The paper describes to which extent European welfare states support an individual adult worker model and how the current policy should be assessed in terms of gender equality. Although a more individual design of welfare policies is clearly recognizable, the paper also illustrates the large gap between the implicit assumptions of the adult worker model and the actual reality of most European Member States. Only a few countries, with the Nordic countries as the most well-known examples, have developed a system of child care arrangements that seems to be based on the assumption that fathers and mothers will both be fully engaged in the labour market. Others countries have invested in policies which allow for large interruption in labour force participation or which allow the combination of work and care by introducing part-time working hours. Overall the actual policy design does not indicate a high profile of gender equality. Perhaps the most challenging problem of the current redesign of the welfare state is that family support policies can only to a certain extent been redesigned in accordance with employment policies. Although some women participate on an equal footing with men, the ‘dual earner, gender specialized, family model’, which is geared towards greater, but not full equality, seems more feasible. |
| Keywords: | Labour force participation, gender equality, government policy, fiscal policy, child care |
| JEL: | J13 J16 J22 H31 I38 |
| Date: | 2014–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:feu:wfewop:y:2014:m:4:d:0:i:59&r=dem |
| By: | Jones, Kelly M. |
| Abstract: | In sub-Saharan Africa, 60 % of child deaths are preventable by investments in child health as simple as immunizations, bed nets, or water purification. This article investigates how a household’s decisions regarding such investments are affected by the size and gender composition of a child’s cohort. I focus on a previously overlooked type of investment: nonrival, child-specific goods (club goods). I empirically estimate the response of immunization status to cohort characteristics. I carefully address the problem of endogenous fertility, which is common in cohort studies. Because most rural Senegalese households are composed of multiple nuclear families, a child’s cohort is composed of both siblings and nonsibling children. Estimating within households, I instrument cohort characteristics with those of the nonsibling (exogenous) portion. I find that children with larger (or more predominantly male) cohorts of vaccine-eligible age are significantly more likely to receive immunization. These findings suggest that children with larger cohorts may be better off in terms of club investments; this is a significant finding for child health given that many illness prevention methods are of a club good nature. |
| Keywords: | Family size Household composition Siblings Human capital Club goods |
| JEL: | D13 J12 J13 O12 O15 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:55182&r=dem |
| By: | Brollo, Fernanda (University of Warwick); Troiano, Ugo (University of Michigan) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the eect of the gender of local policymakers on policy outcomes. Analyzing a rich dataset from Brazilian municipalities and using a regression discon- tinuity design, we nd that municipalities ruled by female mayors have better health outcomes, receive more federal discretionary transfers, and have lower corruption. Addi- tionally, male mayors hire more temporary public employees than their female counter- parts when they are allowed to run for re-election, and when municipal elections are approaching. These ndings suggest that male mayors may promote more political pa- tronage than female mayors and that men and women may respond dierently to local election incentives. |
| Keywords: | election incentives, Brazil |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cge:wacage:161&r=dem |
| By: | Anna De Paoli (University of Milan Bicocca); Mariapia Mendola: (University of Milan Bicocca, Centro Studi Luca d\'Agliano and IZA) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the labor market effect of international migration on child work in countries of origin. We use an original cross-country survey dataset, which combines information on international migration with detailed individual-level data on child labor at age 5-14 in a wide range of developing countries. By exploiting both within- and cross-country variation and controlling for country fixed effects, we find strong and robust evidence on the role of international mobility of workers in reducing child labor in disadvantaged households through changes in the local labor market. |
| Keywords: | International Migration, Child Labor, Factor Mobility, Cross- |
| JEL: | F22 F1 J61 |
| Date: | 2014–04–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csl:devewp:365&r=dem |
| By: | Cristina Elisa Orso (Dipartimento di Economia, Università Ca' Foscari); Enrico Fabrizi (DISCE, Università Cattolica) |
| Abstract: | This paper employs the Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (2004) to explore the relationship between participation in microcredit programs and women's empowerment using a structural equation model with categorical observed variables. A MCMC-based Bayesian approach is adopted for estimation. Along with participation in microcredit, we consider a variety of socio-cultural aspects as potential predictors of empowerment in the Bangladeshi context including men's perceptions about women's status. We conclude that gender community norms are strongly rooted in women's minds regardless of the partners' perceptions of women's status, and microcredit interventions may actually contribute to change gender beliefs and social attitudes. |
| Keywords: | Microcredit programs, Women's empowerment, Gender relations, Asia, Bangladesh, Bayesian approach. |
| JEL: | J10 O15 O19 |
| Date: | 2013–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ctc:serie2:dises1396&r=dem |
| By: | Cervellati, Matteo (University of Bologna); Sunde, Uwe (University of Munich) |
| Abstract: | We propose a unified growth theory to investigate the mechanics generating the economic and demographic transition, and the role of mortality differences for comparative development. The framework can replicate the quantitative pat- terns in historical time series data and in contemporaneous cross-country panel data, including the bi-modal distribution of the endogenous variables across coun- tries. The results suggest that differences in extrinsic mortality might explain a substantial part of the observed differences in the timing of the take-off across countries and the worldwide density distribution of the main variables of interest. |
| Keywords: | Economic and Demographic Transition, Adult Mortality, Child Mortality, Quantitative Analysis, Unified Growth Model, Heterogeneous Human Capital, Comparative Development, Development Traps |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cge:wacage:113&r=dem |
| By: | Flores, Miguel; Bradshaw, Benjamin; Hoque, Nazrul |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this study is to provide life expectancy estimates at birth for states and aggregates of municipalities by population size within regions of Mexico. A regression-based technique is used to estimate life expectancy for these populations from 1990 to 2000. Our findings suggest that the greatest increase in life expectancy among population size groups occurred in “extended-rural” municipalities (those with a population of 2,500 to 14,999) with an average of 7 years. The capital region showed the highest increase in life expectancy among all the regions, with considerable increases in extended-rural municipalities. Our estimates are consistent with expectations with respect to urban advantages in life expectancy, which probably reflect the concentration of public health services, as well as primary, secondary and tertiary medical care. This analysis may be useful in evaluating the public health policies of the Mexican authorities that have focused on diminishing health inequalities between well and poorly served populations. In general, the life expectancies prepared by the regression method are quite close to those prepared from age-specific mortality rates, and our results show the utility of this shortcut method compared with life expectancies estimated from complete sets of age-specific mortality rates. |
| Keywords: | Health disparities, mortality rates, life expectancy, Mexican municipalities |
| JEL: | I19 |
| Date: | 2013–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:55212&r=dem |