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on Demographic Economics |
| By: | Willem Adema; Nabil Ali; Olivier Thévenon |
| Abstract: | This paper presents new information on trends in family and child outcomes and policies over the past decades, in order to assess whether there has been any convergence over time across OECD and EU countries. Important drivers of population structure such as life expectancy and fertility rates are becoming more similar across countries as are marriage and divorce rates. Increased educational attainment has contributed to greater female employment participation and convergence therein across countries. Child well-being outcomes show a more mixed pattern with improvements and convergence in infant mortality, but varying trends in child poverty across countries. |
| Keywords: | female employment, Taxes and Benefits, Child Care and Parental leave, Family and Child outcomes |
| JEL: | D1 J12 J13 J18 |
| Date: | 2014–07–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:elsaab:157-en&r=dem |
| By: | Alena Bičáková; Štěpán Jurajda |
| Abstract: | It is well known that highly female fields of study in tertiary education are characterized by higher fertility. However, existing work does not disentangle the selection-causality nexus. We use variation in gender composition of fields of study implied by the recent expansion of tertiary education in 19 European countries and a difference-in-differences research design, to show that the share of women on study peer groups affects early fertility levels only little. Early fertility by endogamous couples, i.e., by tertiary graduates from the same field of study, declines for women and increases for men with the share of women in the group, but non-endogamous fertility almost fully compensates for these effects, consistent with higher early fertility in highly female fields of study being driven by selection of family-oriented students into these fields. We also show that the EU-wide level of gender segregation across fields of study has not changed since 2000, despite heterogeneous country-level evolution. |
| Keywords: | Field-of-Study Gender Segregation, Tertiary Graduates, Fertility |
| JEL: | I23 J13 J16 |
| Date: | 2014–05–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cel:dpaper:22&r=dem |
| By: | Matthias Doepke; Fabrizio Zilibotti |
| Abstract: | We develop a theory of intergenerational transmission of preferences that rationalizes the choice between alternative parenting styles (as set out in Baumrind 1967). Parents maximize an objective function that combines Beckerian altruism and paternalism towards children. They can affect their children's choices via two channels: either by influencing children's preferences or by imposing direct restrictions on their choice sets. Different parenting styles (authoritarian, authoritative, and permissive) emerge as equilibrium outcomes, and are affected both by parental preferences and by the socioeconomic environment. Parenting style, in turn, feeds back into the children's welfare and economic success. The theory is consistent with the decline of authoritarian parenting observed in industrialized countries, and with the greater prevalence of more permissive parenting in countries characterized by low inequality. |
| JEL: | D10 J10 O10 O40 |
| Date: | 2014–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:20214&r=dem |
| By: | Cygan-Rehm, Kamila (University of Erlangen-Nuremberg); Riphahn, Regina T. (University of Erlangen-Nuremberg) |
| Abstract: | We study the development of teenage fertility in East and West Germany using data from the German Socioeconomic Panel (SOEP) and from the German Mikrozensus. Following the international literature we derive hypotheses on the patterns of teenage fertility and test whether they are relevant in the German case. We find that teenage fertility is associated with teenage age and education, with the income of the teenager's family, with migration status, residence in East Germany, and aggregate unemployment. Our evidence supports countercyclical teenage fertility. |
| Keywords: | teenage fertility, abortion, unemployment, East and West Germany, population economics |
| JEL: | J13 Z18 I00 |
| Date: | 2014–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8229&r=dem |
| By: | Mona Amer; Philippe Fargues |
| Abstract: | Will the radical political changes Egypt has gone through since early 2011 have an impact on emigration from the country? This all depends on young Egyptian adults, who are the potential migrants of tomorrow. In order to understand the consequences of the Egyptian revolution might for migration, a questionnaire survey was conducted amongst Egyptian youth in 2013. The objective of this paper is to analyse the Egyptian labour market together with Egyptian migration to see whether changing conditions in the labour market, in particular after the revolution of 25 January 2011, may affect migration. This study is divided into three parts. The first analyses recent trends – from 2007 to 2011 – of the labour market and in particular the evolution of the labour force in terms of participation rate and unemployment rate according to gender, age group and educational level. The second part outlines the demographic and socio-economic characteristics of Egyptian migrants, in general, and according to region of migration (Gulf Cooperation Countries and other Arab countries as opposed to OECD countries). It also presents an analysis of unemployment against the education and skill levels of Egyptian migrants. Finally, the last part presents the findings of a survey on orientation towards migration of Egyptian youth. This survey was designed by the Migration Policy Centre and was conducted through phone interviews by the Egyptian Centre for Public Opinion Research (Baseera) in 2013. |
| Keywords: | Egypt, Youth, Migration, Labour Market, Political Change |
| Date: | 2014–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rsc:rsceui:2014/55&r=dem |
| By: | Jessica Wolpaw Reyes |
| Abstract: | It is well known that exposure to lead has numerous adverse effects on behavior and development. Using data on two cohorts of children from the NLSY, this paper investigates the effect of early childhood lead exposure on behavior problems from childhood through early adulthood. I find large negative consequences of early childhood lead exposure, in the form of an unfolding series of adverse behavioral outcomes: behavior problems as a child, pregnancy and aggression as a teen, and criminal behavior as a young adult. At the levels of lead that were the norm in United States until the late 1980s, estimated elasticities of these behaviors with respect to lead range between 0.1 and 1.0. |
| JEL: | I18 J13 K49 Q53 Q58 |
| Date: | 2014–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:20366&r=dem |
| By: | Davide Rasella (Instituto de Saúde Coletiva, Federal University of Bahia); Rômulo Paes-Sousa (World Centre for Sustainable Development, RIO+ Centre) |
| Abstract: | Combining Conditional Cash Transfers and Primary Health Care to Reduce Childhood Mortality in Brazil |
| Keywords: | Combining Conditional Cash Transfers and Primary Health Care to Reduce Childhood Mortality in Brazil |
| Date: | 2014–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipc:oparab:242&r=dem |