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on Demographic Economics |
| By: | Abdulloev, Ilhom (Open Society Institute Assistance Foundation, Tajikistan); Gang, Ira N. (Rutgers University); Yun, Myeong-Su (Tulane University) |
| Abstract: | Women who want to work often face many more hurdles than men. This is true in Tajikistan where there is a large gender gap in labour force participation. We highlight the role of two factors – international migration and education – on the labour force participation decision and its gender gap. Using probit and decomposition analysis, our investigation shows that education and migration have a significant association with the gender gap in labour force participation in Tajikistan. International emigration from Tajikistan, in which approximately 93.5% of the participants are men, reduces labour force participation by men domestically; increased female education, especially at the university and vocational level, increases female participation. Both women acquiring greater access to education and men increasing their migration abroad contribute to reducing the gender gap. |
| Keywords: | migration, education, gender gap, labour force participation, Tajikistan |
| JEL: | J01 J16 O15 |
| Date: | 2014–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8226&r=dem |
| By: | Hallberg, Daniel (Uppsala Center for Labor Studies); Johansson, Per (Uppsala Center for Labor Studies); Josephson, Malin (the Swedish Social Insurance Inspectorate (ISF)) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies empirically the consequences of retirement on health. We make use of a targeted retirement offer to army employees 55 years of age or older. Before the offer was implemented in the Swedish defense, the normal retirement age was 60 years of age. Estimating the effect of the offer on individuals’ health within the age range 56-70, we find support for a reduction in both mortality and in inpatient care as a consequence of the early retirement offer. Increasing the mandatory retirement age may thus not only have positive government income effects but also negative effects on increasing government health care expenditures |
| Keywords: | Health; mortality; inpatient care; retirement; health care; pensions; occupational pensions |
| JEL: | I18 J22 J26 |
| Date: | 2014–06–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:uulswp:2014_005&r=dem |
| By: | Merlino, Luca Paolo; Parrotta, Pierpaolo; Pozzoli, Dario (Department of Economics, Copenhagen Business School) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we investigate the sorting of workers in firms to understand gender gaps in labor market outcomes. Using Danish employer-employee matched data, we find strong evidence of glass ceilings in certain firms, especially after motherhood, preventing women from climbing the career ladder and causing the most productive female workers to seek better jobs in more female-friendly firms in which they can pursue small career advancements. Nonetheless, gender differences in promotion persist and are found to be similar in all firms when we focus on large career advancements. These results provide evidence of the sticky floor hypothesis, which, together with the costs associated with changing employer, generates persistent gender gaps. |
| Keywords: | Sorting; Assortative Matching; Gender Gap; Glass Ceiling; Sticky Floor. |
| JEL: | J16 J24 J62 |
| Date: | 2014–05–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:cbsnow:2014_001&r=dem |
| By: | Alfonso R. Sánchez; J. Ignacio García-Pérez; Sergi Jiménez-Martín |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we explore the links between pension reform, early retirement, and the use of unemployment as an alternative pathway to retirement. We use a dynamic rational expectations model to analyze the search and retirement behaviour of employed and unemployed workers aged 50 or over. The model is calibrated to reproduce the main reemployment and retirement patterns observed between 2002 and 2008 in Spain. It is subsequently used to analyze the effects of the 2011 pension reform in Spain, characterized by two-year delays in both the early and the normal retirement ages. We find that this reform generates large increases in labour supply and sizable cuts in pension costs, but these are achieved at the expense of very large welfare losses, especially among unemployed workers. As an alternative, we propose leaving the early retirement age unchanged, but penalizing the minimum pension (reducing its generosity in parallel to the cuts imposed on individual pension benefits, and making it more actuarially fair with age). This alternative reform strikes a better balance between individual welfare and labour supply stimulus. |
| Date: | 2014–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:upf:upfgen:1422&r=dem |
| By: | Gensowski, Miriam (University of Copenhagen) |
| Abstract: | Talented individuals are seen as drivers of long-term growth, but how do they realize their full potential? In this paper, I show that even in a group of high-IQ men and women, lifetime earnings are substantially influenced by their education and personality traits. I identify a previously undocumented interaction between education and traits in earnings generation, which results in important heterogeneity of the net present value of education. Personality traits directly affect men's earnings, with effects only developing fully after age 30. These effects play a much larger role for the earnings of more educated men. Personality and IQ also influence earnings indirectly through educational choice. Surprisingly, education and personality skills do not always raise the family earnings of women in this cohort, as women with very high education and IQ are less likely to marry, and thus have less income through their husbands. To identify personality traits, I use a factor model that also serves to correct for prediction error bias, which is often ignored in the literature. This paper complements the literature on investments in education and personality traits by showing that they also have potentially high returns at the high end of the ability distribution. |
| Keywords: | personality traits, social skills, cognitive skills, returns to education, life-time earnings, Big Five, human capital, factor analysis |
| JEL: | J24 I24 J16 |
| Date: | 2014–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8235&r=dem |
| By: | Engdahl, Mattias (Uppsala Center for Labor Studies) |
| Abstract: | I study the effects of naturalizations on labor market outcomes and family formation. The results show that naturalizations are associated with improving economic outcomes for immigrants from outside the OECD. The strength of the correlation varies depending on the country group and gender. A causal interpretation of the results is not possible as the outcomes start to improve already before the acquisition of citizenship. The study also shows that the propensity to get married rises for some country groups the years surrounding naturalizations. This is suggestive of naturalizations being related to not only labor market integration but also decisions regarding the family. Further, my findings illustrate that modeling assumptions are of great importance. Models that are not flexible enough could lead to false claims regarding causality. |
| Keywords: | naturalizations; labor market outcomes; family formation |
| JEL: | J13 J15 J21 J61 |
| Date: | 2014–05–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:uulswp:2014_006&r=dem |
| By: | Laura Salisbury |
| Abstract: | Under the Civil War pension act of 1862, the widow of a Union Army soldier was entitled to a pension if her husband died as a direct result of his military service; however, she lost her right to the pension if she remarried. I analyze the effect this had on the rate of remarriage among these widows. This study fits into a modern literature on the behavioral effects of marriage penalties. In addition, it offers a unique perspective on 19th century marriage markets, which are little understood. Using a new database compiled from widows' pension files, I estimate the effect of the pension on the hazard rate of remarriage using variation in pension processing times. Taking steps to account for the potential endogeneity of processing times to marital outcomes, I find that receiving a pension lowered the hazard rate of remarriage by 25 percent, which implies an increase in the median time to remarriage of 3.5 years. Among older women and women with children, this effect is substantially greater. This indicates that women were willing to substitute away from marriage if the alternatives were favorable enough, suggesting that changes in the desirability of marriage to women may account for some of the aggregate patterns of first marriage documented for this period. |
| JEL: | J1 J12 J18 N31 |
| Date: | 2014–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:20201&r=dem |
| By: | Antman, Francisca M. (University of Colorado, Boulder) |
| Abstract: | This paper considers the relationship between work status and decision-making power of the head of household and his spouse. I use household fixed effects models to address the possibility that spousal work status may be correlated with unobserved factors that also affect bargaining power within the home. Consistent with the hypothesis that greater economic resources yield greater bargaining power, I find that the spouse of the head of household is more likely to be involved in decisions when she has been employed. Similarly, the head of household is less likely to be the sole decision-maker when his spouse works. |
| Keywords: | intra-household, bargaining power, decision-making, gender, family |
| JEL: | J12 J16 D13 O15 |
| Date: | 2014–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8231&r=dem |
| By: | Checchi, Daniele (University of Milan); van de Werfhorst, Herman G. (University of Amsterdam) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we study the associations between educational policies, distributions of educational attainments and income distributions. By matching inequality measures on test scores, years of education and labour earnings by country, birth cohorts and gender, we show that inequality in education (measured both at quality and quantity levels) affect earnings inequality. We then consider potential endogeneity of educational distributions and we resort to instrumental estimation using information on government reforming activity in the field of education. By controlling for country-specific and time fixed effects, and by separating age and cohorts effects, we prove that educational inequality respond to educational reforms, identifying educational policies (like later entry into compulsory education or introduction of standardised tests) capable to reduce income inequalities thirty years later. |
| Keywords: | educational inequality, test score, earnings inequality, educational policies |
| JEL: | I24 I28 |
| Date: | 2014–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8222&r=dem |
| By: | Franz, Nele |
| Abstract: | Subject of this paper is the investigation of wage developments of women interrupting their careers for giving birth tochildren in comparison to men's wages not facing a parental interruption. We estimate OLS regression models for different subcategories defined by age and point in time. We use data from the German Socioeconomic Panel from 1984 to 2011 to show the importance of legal job protection on reentry wages. Furthermore, we show that wages and the penalty for maternity differs by the duration of interruption as well as in short-, intermediate and long-run perspective. We find less wage penalty for women interrupting their careers within legal protection in the short run, but delayed compensating penalties for the same group in the long run. -- |
| Keywords: | human capital,parental leave,wages,OLS |
| JEL: | C21 J13 J24 J31 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ciwdps:12014&r=dem |