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on Demographic Economics |
| By: | Johansson, Per (IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy); Laun, Lisa (IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy); Palme, Mårten (Department of Economics, Stockholm University) |
| Abstract: | We study how economic incentives affect labor force exit through different income security programs, old-age pensions as well as income taxes in Sweden. We use the option value for staying in the labor force as a measure of economic incentives and estimate an econometric model for the choice of leaving the labor market. Besides old-age pension, we focus on the Disability Insurance (DI), which is the most important exit path before age 65. By simulating the effect of different probabilities to be admitted DI we show how changes in the stringency of DI admittance affects labor supply among older workers through economic incentives. |
| Keywords: | Disability Insurance; option value; labor market exit; labor supply |
| JEL: | H55 J14 J26 |
| Date: | 2014–08–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2014_020&r=dem |
| By: | Fabrizio Zilibotti (University of Zurich); Matthias Doepke (Northwestern University) |
| Abstract: | We construct a theory of intergenerational preference transmission that rationalizes the choice between alternative parenting styles (related to Baumrind 1967). Parents maximize an objective function that combines Beckerian and paternalistic altruism towards children. They can affect their children’s choices via two channels: either by influencing their 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. We consider two applications: patience and risk aversion. We argue that parenting styles may be important for explaining why different groups or societies develop different attitudes towards human capital formation, entrepreneurship, and innovation. |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:red:sed014:343&r=dem |
| By: | Alfonso Alba; Julio Cáceres-Delpiano |
| Abstract: | By using birth certificates for Chile and Spain we investigate differences in mother and child characteristics according to season of birth. Our findings reveal that children born in winter are more likely to have a mother who is a teenager and unmarried at date of birth. Spanish data also reveals that women giving birth in winter are more likely to be out of the labor force, a result largely driven by high skilled mothers. We additionally find that children born in the winter months have fewer weeks of gestation, lower birth weights and smaller size. Finally for Spain, the 2001 population census and the1999 fertility survey confirm the seasonal pattern in mother characteristics, and indicate that it is mostly driven by women who planned the births |
| Date: | 2014–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cte:werepe:we1423&r=dem |
| By: | Runu Bhakta (Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research); A. Ganesh Kumar (Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research) |
| Abstract: | The objective of the study is to analyse the impact of provision of health care facilities on the child health status taking into account the utilization of these available facilities. The study offers an insight into how parental education plays a significant role in explaining the slow progress in the health status of children. The results confirm that additional provision of health care facilities leads to significant increase in utilization of institutional delivery services and antenatal care which in turn improves the health status of a child. At the same time, we have observed that mere provision of more health care services will not solve the problem at the rate required to achieve acceptable levels of child health status. The model for utilization of health services reveals the fact that, schooling affects health seeking behavior among women which in turn results in greater utilization of institutional benefits in a region where the services are available. Thus female education must be enhanced to increase the utilization of antenatal care at a faster rate. Further, educated parents can manage child care practices in more efficient ways which offer them an additional edge among those who availed those facilities. To have a better utilization of available health care services and to raise the pace of reduction in child mortality rates government has to pay attention to increase education level of adults along with the expansion of health care centres. |
| Keywords: | Child health status, Health care services, Parental education, Child care, Ordered Probit Model |
| JEL: | I11 I12 I18 |
| Date: | 2014–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ind:igiwpp:2014-036&r=dem |
| By: | Frank T. Denton; Byron G. Spencer |
| Abstract: | Population aging is a problem common to many countries: an increasing proportion of retired people, a decreasing proportion of working age, and resultant downward pressure on national product per capita. We explore longer-run aspects of immigration as a policy instrument in this context. We consider, by simulation, the importance of immigrant age distribution, proportion of child immigrants, productivity growth as an offset to aging, possible higher fertility, increased life expectancy, and greater labour force participation among older people. Our laboratory for exploration is a mythical country Alpha with a simple economy and realistic characteristics of an aging population. |
| Date: | 2014–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mcm:deptwp:2014-14&r=dem |
| By: | Quang Tran, Tuyen; Hong Nguyen, Son; Van Vu, Huong; Quoc Nguyen, Viet |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates both community and household determinants of poverty among ethnic minorities in the Northwest region, Vietnam. Results of a fractional logit and a logit model show that some household factors such as fixed assets, education, land and off-farm employment have a reducing effect on both poverty intensity and incidence. Furthermore, some commune characteristics were found to be closely linked to poverty. Notably, the presence of means of transportation and post offices reduces both the poverty intensity and incidence. However, other commune and household factors affect only the poverty incidence or intensity, but not both. This suggests that previous studies that focused only on the determinants of poverty incidence using a logit/probit approach might not adequately evaluate or even ignored the impact of some factors on the poverty intensity. We draw both socio-economic household and commune level implications for poverty alleviation in the study area. |
| Keywords: | shortfall, poverty incidence, poverty gap, poverty intensity, logit, fractional logit, national target program. |
| JEL: | I32 J15 O12 |
| Date: | 2014–09–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:59144&r=dem |
| By: | Fang, Lei (Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta); Cara, McDaniel (Peking University) |
| Abstract: | Using data from the Multinational Time Use Study, this paper documents the trends and levels of time allocation, with a focus on home hours, for a relatively large set of industrialized countries during the past 50 years. Three patterns emerge. First, home hours have decreased in both the United States and European countries. Second, female time allocation contributes more to the cross-country difference in both the trends and the levels of market hours and home hours per person. Third, time allocations between the United States and Europe are more similar for the prime-age group than for the young and old groups. |
| Keywords: | time use; home hours; sex; age |
| JEL: | D13 J22 |
| Date: | 2014–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedawp:2014-05&r=dem |
| By: | Luis Delfim Santos (University of Porto, Faculty of Economics and cef.up); Isabel Martins (University of Porto, CEGOT) |
| Abstract: | Geographical Information Systems (GIS) are an essential tool to integrate and manage large amounts of data (statistical and graphical) and to visualise the modelling efforts of the contemporary city. The further use of spatial analysis methods, in particular the exploratory analysis of data and spatial econometric models, is a promising way forward to analyse urban reality. In this analysis, we used a conceptual model and a geographical database developed for the city of Porto (Portugal) under a previous research on the topic of intra-urban disparities in the local quality of life. The aim of this paper is to contribute to the interdisciplinary debate on the relevance and use of this type of techniques, which enable us to describe spatial distributions, identifying patterns of spatial association, concentration areas or hot spots, in order to look into distributive features such as concentration, persistence and transitions that might provide interesting interpretations of complex territorial structures, such as the cities. |
| Keywords: | urban disparities; spatial analysis; quality of life |
| JEL: | R58 O21 |
| Date: | 2014–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:por:cetedp:1403&r=dem |
| By: | Martin Micheli (RWI Essen, Germany); Jan Rouwendal (VU University Amsterdam, the Netherlands); Jasper Dekkers (VU University Amsterdam, the Netherlands) |
| Abstract: | We estimate the effect of the Dutch-German border on house prices. In the last 40 years the development of house prices in the Netherlands and Germany has been substantially different. While the Netherlands have been hit by two real estate cycles, prices in Germany have been extraordinary stable. We develop a model for studying house prices and the impact of the border. Then we study the development of Dutch house prices close to the German border in the period 1985-2013. Next, combining German and Dutch real estate datasets, we study the jump in the housing price occurring at the border. Using different estimation strategies, we find that ask prices of comparable housing drop by about 16% when one crosses the Dutch-German border. Given that price discounts from the last observed asking price are substantially larger in Germany, we interpret our findings as indicating the willingness of Dutch households to pay up to 26% higher house prices to live among the Dutch. |
| Keywords: | house prices, European integration, border effects |
| JEL: | R31 F15 R21 |
| Date: | 2014–10–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:uvatin:20140141&r=dem |
| By: | Elmar A. Janssen (University of Paderborn); Rene Fahr (University of Paderborn) |
| Abstract: | We investigate wage effects of deviations from peer group body mass index (BMI) to evaluate the influence of social norms on wages. Our approach allows to show the existence of the influence of the social norm and to disentangle it from any (anticipated) productivity effects associated with deviations from a clinically recommended BMI in certain sections of the weight distribution. Estimates of between-effects models for 9 European countries for the years 1998 to 2001 suggest that the influence of the social norm varies considerably between countries, and wage penalties are rather found for upward deviations from the norm and for men. |
| Keywords: | social norms, discrimination, body mass index, cross-country evidence, wage effects |
| JEL: | I10 J30 J70 M51 |
| Date: | 2014–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pdn:dispap:04&r=dem |