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on Demographic Economics |
| By: | Anelli, Massimo (University of California, Davis); Peri, Giovanni (University of California, Davis) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we use a newly constructed dataset following 30,000 Italian individuals from high school to labor market and we analyze whether the gender composition of peers in high school affected their choice of college major, their academic performance and their labor market income. We leverage the fact that the composition of high school classmates (peers), within school-cohort and teacher-group, was not chosen by the students and it was as good as random. We find that male students graduating from classes with at least 80% of male peers were more likely to choose "prevalently male" (PM) college majors (Economics, Business and Engineering). However, this higher propensity to enroll in PM majors faded away during college (through transfers and attrition) so that men from classes with at least 80% of male peers in high school did not have higher probability of graduating in PM majors. They had instead worse college performance and did not exhibit any difference in income or labor market outcomes after college. We do not find significant effects on women. |
| Keywords: | peer effects, high school, gender, choice of college major, academic performance, wages |
| JEL: | I21 J16 J24 J31 Z13 |
| Date: | 2015–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9119&r=dem |
| By: | Erich Battistin (Queen Mary University of London, IRVAPP and IZA); Michele De Nadai (University of New South Wales); Mario Padula (Università della Svizzera italiana, IdEP, CSEF and CEPR) |
| Abstract: | We investigate the role of grandparental childcare for fertility decisions of their offspring. Exploiting pension reforms in Italy, we argue that delayed retirement represents a negative shock to the supply of informal childcare for the next generation. We show that, when the maternal grandmother is not available, motherhood after age 30 is less likely. This effect persists as the woman ages, and parallels that on number of children. We argue that these are permanent changes to completed fertility for many cohorts in our data. Consistent with our interpretation, we show that results are limited to the most familistic close-knits where the role of grandparents is more important, and that are not the mechanical consequence of changes of living arrangements and labor supply. Given the Italian lowest low fertility, we conclude that pension reforms may have had unintended inter-generational effects. |
| Keywords: | Fertility, Informal child care, Pension reforms |
| JEL: | J08 J13 H42 |
| Date: | 2015–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qmw:qmwecw:wp748&r=dem |
| By: | Vincenzo Galasso; Paola Profeta; Chiara Pronzato; Francesco Billari |
| Abstract: | We investigate the effect of providing information about the benefits to children of attending formal child care when women intend to use formal child care so they can work. We postulate that the reaction to the information differs across women according to their characteristics, specifically their level of education. We present a randomized experiment in which 700 Italian women of reproductive age with no children are exposed to positive information about formal child care through a text message or a video, while others are not. We find a positive effect on the intention to use formal child care, and a negative effect on the intention to work. This average result hides important heterogeneities: the positive effect on formal child care use is driven by better-educated women, while the negative effect on work intention is found only among less-educated women. These findings may be explained by women’s education reflecting their work-family orientation, and their ability to afford formal child care. |
| Keywords: | Female labour supply, education, gender roles. |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:don:donwpa:075&r=dem |
| By: | Peter, Noemi (University of Bern); Lundborg, Petter (Lund University); Webbink, Dinand (Erasmus University Rotterdam) |
| Abstract: | We examine how the gender of a sibling affects earnings, education and family formation. Identification is complicated by parental preferences: if parents prefer certain sex compositions over others, children's gender affects not only the outcomes of other children but also the very existence of potential additional children. We address this problem by looking at dizygotic twins. In these cases, the two children are born at the same time, so parents cannot make decisions about one twin based on the gender of the other twin. We find that the gender of the sibling influences both men and women, but in a different way. Men with brothers earn more and are more likely to get married and have children than men with sisters. Women with sisters obtain lower education and give birth earlier than women with brothers. Our analysis shows that the family size channel cannot explain the findings. Instead, the most likely explanation is that siblings affect each other via various social mechanisms. |
| Keywords: | sibling gender, sex composition, twins, income, schooling, fertility |
| JEL: | J00 J24 J16 |
| Date: | 2015–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9128&r=dem |
| By: | Riphahn, Regina T. (University of Erlangen-Nuremberg); Schwientek, Caroline (University of Erlangen-Nuremberg) |
| Abstract: | We study the mechanisms that are associated with the gender education gap and its reversal in Germany. We focus on three outcomes, graduation from upper secondary school, any tertiary education, and tertiary degree. Neither individual and family background nor labor market characteristics appear to be strongly associated with the gender education gap. There is some evidence that the gender gap in upper secondary education reflects the rising share of single parent households which impacts boys' attainment more than girls'. The gender education gap in tertiary education is correlated with the development of class sizes and social norms. |
| Keywords: | educational attainment, wage premium, gender gap |
| JEL: | I21 J16 |
| Date: | 2015–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9117&r=dem |
| By: | Meurs, Dominique (University Paris Ouest-Nanterre); Puhani, Patrick A. (Leibniz University of Hannover); von Haaren, Friederike (NIW Hannover, Leibniz Universität Hannover) |
| Abstract: | We document the educational integration of immigrant children with a focus on the link between family size and educational decisions and distinguishing particularly between first- and second-generation immigrants and between source country groups. First, for immigrant adolescents, we show family-size adjusted convergence to almost native levels of higher education track attendance from the first to the second generation of immigrants. Second, we find that reduced fertility is associated with higher educational outcomes for immigrant children, possibly through a quantity-quality trade-off. Third, we show that between one third and the complete difference in family-size adjusted educational outcomes between immigrants from different source countries or immigrant generations can be explained by parental background. This latter holds true for various immigrant groups in both France and Germany, two major European economies with distinct immigration histories. |
| Keywords: | migration, integration, quantity-quality trade-off, decomposition |
| JEL: | J13 J15 J24 |
| Date: | 2015–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9106&r=dem |
| By: | Greulich,Angela; Dasre,Aurélien; Inan,Ceren |
| Abstract: | In Turkey, female employment and education are still relatively low, while fertility levels are high compared with other European countries. However, Turkey stands just at the edge of an important social transition. Increasing female education and employment come along with important decreases in fertility. By mobilizing census and survey data, this paper finds that fertility decreases are mainly caused by fewer transitions to a third birth. Graduate women participating in the formal labor market are most at risk of deciding against child arrival in comparison with inactive or unemployed women. The third rank is particularly concerned, as women?s income contribution seems to be crucial for many families that already have two children, and the arrival of a third child risks reducing or stopping women?s working activities in the absence of institutional childcare support. Policies enabling women to combine work and family life, which have been proven effective in other European countries, emerge as useful to avoid a further fertility decline below replacement level in Turkey. |
| Date: | 2015–06–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:7310&r=dem |
| By: | Filipe R. Campante (Harvard University); Ruben Durante (Département d'économie); Francesco Sobbrio (Catholic University of Milan) |
| Abstract: | We investigate the causal impact of broadband Internet on political participation using data from Italy. We show that this impact varies across different forms of political engagement and over time. Initially, broadband had a negative effect on turnout in national elections, driven by increased abstention of ideologically extreme voters. Meanwhile, however, broadband fostered other forms of online and offline participation. Over time, the negative effect was reverted due to the emergence of new political entrepreneurs who used the Internet to convert the initial “exit” back into “voice”. Overall, these nuanced effects underscore the general equilibrium dynamic induced by the Internet. |
| JEL: | D72 L82 L86 |
| Date: | 2013–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/5badiqjn5b8cc8g60jv8lvnanf&r=dem |
| By: | Naci H. Mocan; Luiza Pogorelova |
| Abstract: | We use micro data from the European Social Survey to investigate the impact of “culture of leisure” and taxes on labor force participation and hours worked of second-generation immigrants who reside in 26 European countries. These individuals are born in Europe, and they have been exposed to institutional, legal and labor market structures of their countries, including the tax rates. Fathers of these individuals are first-generation immigrants who migrated from 81 different countries. We construct measures of “taste for leisure” in the country of origin of each immigrant father. We employ average and marginal taxes for each country of residence, and control for a large set of individual characteristics, in addition to attributes of the country of residence and country of ancestry. The results show that for women, both taxes and culture of leisure impact participation and hours worked. For men, taxes influence labor supply both at the intensive and the extensive margins, but culture of leisure has no impact. |
| JEL: | H2 J22 J61 Z1 |
| Date: | 2015–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:21297&r=dem |
| By: | Luik, Marc-André; Steinhardt, Max Friedrich |
| Abstract: | This paper provides new evidence on native-migrant differences in financial behavior by analyzing the role of noncognitive and cognitive skills. We make use of data from the Health and Retirement Survey (HRS) which is a longitudinal household survey of the older U.S. population containing detailed information about demographic characteristics, financial assets and personality traits of household members. In line with previous studies, we find a substantial gap in stockholding between immigrant and native households. Estimates from a random effects model suggest that cognitive and non-cognitive skills, including personality concepts and economic preferences, are important drivers of stockholding and explain part of the differences between natives and immigrants. These findings are supported by results from a Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition analysis. Our paper therefore delivers first evidence that differences in non-cognitive and cognitive skills contribute to the explanation of the financial market participation gap between natives and immigrants. |
| Keywords: | Stockholding,Immigrants,Personality traits,Decomposition |
| JEL: | D14 G02 G11 J61 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:hwwirp:164&r=dem |