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on Demographic Economics |
| By: | David Card; Ana Rute Cardoso; Patrick Kline |
| Abstract: | There is growing evidence that firm-specific pay premiums are an important source of wage inequality. These premiums will contribute to the gender wage gap if women are less likely to work at high-paying firms or if women negotiate (or are offered) worse wage bargains with their employers than men. Using longitudinal data on the hourly wages of Portuguese workers matched with income statement information for firms, we show that the wages of both men and women contain firm-specific premiums that are strongly correlated with simple measures of the potential bargaining surplus at each firm. We then show how the impact of these firm-specific pay differentials on the gender wage gap can be decomposed into a combination of sorting and bargaining effects. We find that women are less likely to work at firms that pay higher premiums to either gender, with sorting effects being most important for low- and middle-skilled workers. We also find that women receive only 90% of the firm-specific pay premiums earned by men. Importantly, we find the same gender gap in the responses of wages to changes in potential surplus over time. Taken together, the combination of sorting and bargaining effects explain about one-fifth of the cross-sectional gender wage gap in Portugal. |
| JEL: | J16 J31 J71 |
| Date: | 2015–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:21403&r=dem |
| By: | K?rdar,Murat G.; Day?o?lu,Meltem; Koç,?smet |
| Abstract: | This study examines the effects of the extension of compulsory schooling from 5 to 8 years in Turkey in 1997?which involved substantial investment in school infrastructure?on schooling outcomes and, in particular, on the equality of these outcomes between men and women, and urban and rural residents using the Turkish Demographic and Health Surveys. This policy is peculiar because it also changes the sheepskin effects (signaling effects) of schooling, through its redefinition of the schooling tiers. The policy is also interesting due to its large spillover effects on post-compulsory schooling as well as its remarkable overall effect; for instance, we find that the completed years of schooling by age 17 increases by 1.5 years for rural women. The policy equalizes the educational attainment of urban and rural children substantially. The urban-rural gap in the completed years of schooling at age 17 falls by 0.5 years for men and by 0.7 to 0.8 years for women. However, there is no evidence of a narrowing gender gap with the policy. On the contrary, the gender gap in urban areas in post-compulsory schooling widens. |
| Keywords: | Education For All,Population Policies,Regional Economic Development,Secondary Education,Primary Education |
| Date: | 2015–07–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:7377&r=dem |
| By: | Angela Parenti; Cristina Tealdi |
| Abstract: | In this paper we study how the determinants of regional commuting in Italy have evolved in the past fifteen years. Using labour force data from 1992 to 2008 we estimate a model where the probability of commuting is regressed on a wide set of individual, job, firm and regional characteristics. Specifically, we focus on understanding how the increased flexibility of the labour market in the late nineties/early twenties have affected the individual decision to commute across regions. Consistent with the previous literature, we identify specific types of individual working in firms with well-defined features who are more keen to commute. However, even though temporary employ-ees tend to commute more than permanent employees, the increased utilization of temporary contracts did not have a strong impact on the commuting decisions of Italian workers. |
| Keywords: | Migration, Labour Mobility, Labour Flexibility, Italian regions |
| JEL: | C25 J41 J61 R23 |
| Date: | 2015–07–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pie:dsedps:2015/203&r=dem |
| By: | Matt Dickson (University of Bath); Fabien Postel-Vinay (Departement d'Economie de Sciences Po); Hélène Turon (Department of Economics (University of Bristol)) |
| Abstract: | n a context of widespread concern about budget deficits, it is important to assess whether public sector pay is in line with the private sector. Our paper proposes an estimation of differences in lifetime values of employment between public and private sectors for five European countries. We use data from the European Community Household Panel over the period 1994–2001 for Germany, the Netherlands, France, Italy and Spain. We look at lifetime values instead of wage levels because, as we show in our results, differences in earnings mobility, earnings volatility and job loss risk across sectors occur in many instances and these will matter to forward-looking individuals. When aggregated into a measure of lifetime value of employment in either sector, these differences yield estimates of the lifetime premium in the public sector for these five countries. We also present differences in the institutional and labour market structures in these countries and find that countries for which we estimate a positive lifetime premium in the public sector, i.e. France and Spain, are also the countries where access to the public sector requires costly entry procedures. This paper is to the best of our knowledge the first to use this dynamic approach applied to Europe, which we are able to do with a common dataset, time-period and model. |
| Keywords: | Income Dynamics; Job Mobility; Public-private Inequality; Selection Effects; Institutions |
| JEL: | J45 J31 J62 |
| Date: | 2014–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/1frfnu9k0921o6s94ptnm0q4o&r=dem |
| By: | Ouedraogo, Aissatou |
| Abstract: | One of the features of the production system in many countries of West Africa is the coexistence of both collectively-managed and individually-managed ‘private’ plots within the same. Within these households, economic activities are influenced by socio-cultural norms, which impact agricultural input decisions. This paper uses a two-year panel data on Mali to investigate intrahousehold allocation of productive resources across collective plots and ‘private’ plots. A major contribution of this paper is the clear distinction it makes between collective plots and the head’s ‘private’ plots, which is vital in understanding whether the observed yield and input differentials across collective plots and ‘private’ plots are due to headship or to the attributes of the collective plots. We find that significantly higher yields are achieved on collective plots relative to ‘private’ plots and this yield differential persists after restricting the sample to heads that control the collective plots and their own private plots. The estimations of the intensity of labor use show that collective plots are more intensively farmed with male-labor and child labor whereas the opposite is observed for femalelabor. However, after isolating the gender effect by excluding female-controlled plots from the sample, we find that collective plots are more intensively farmed than male-controlled ‘private’ plots regardless of the labor source. We infer from these results the importance of taking the gender component into account when studying intrahousehold farm-labor allocation. Unlike previous similar studies that only focus on labor allocation, we also investigate chemical fertilizer application. We find that the probability of fertilizer application tends to be higher on ‘private’ plots while the intensity of its use is higher for collective plots. These contrasting findings highlight the importance to investigate not only the probability of the use of a given technology but also the intensity of its application, especially for inputs such as fertilizer that requires a certain amount in order to obtain a yield response. |
| Keywords: | Social norms, intrahousehold resource allocation, International Development, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea15:205772&r=dem |
| By: | Yang, Tongyang; Berning, Joshua; Colson, Greg; Smith, Travis A. |
| Abstract: | As immigrants settle and extend their stay in the U.S., they may be exposed to a food culture and lifestyle that impacts their food choice decisions and health outcomes. This paper focuses on the behavioral changes and acculturation level of different generations of Asian immigrants on food choice decisions employing the 2013 American Time Use Survey. Heckman two-step regression results indicate that the 1st generation immigrants participate or spend more time on eating and drinking, food preparation, and grocery shopping; and less in travel related eating and drinking compared with natives. The 1st generation is least likely to acculturate into American food culture. The 1.5 generation behaves more similarly to natives regarding the four food choice decisions, and appears to acculturate over time. The 2nd generation shows no significant difference to natives. Immigrants acculturate by food habit change from food at home to food away from home. |
| Keywords: | Asian immigrants, acculturation, food choice decisions, American Time Use Survey, Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea15:205323&r=dem |
| By: | Effrosyni Adamopoulou (Bank of Italy); Roberta Zizza (Bank of Italy) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we use information on monthly wage increases set by collective agreements in Italy and exploit their variation across sectors and over time in order to examine how household consumption responds to different types of positive income shocks (regular tranches versus lump-sum payments). Focusing on single-earner households, we find that the Permanent-Income Hypothesis holds empirically, since total and food consumption do not exhibit excess sensitivity to anticipated income shocks. Consumption does not respond at the date of the announcement of income increases either, as these are known to compensate workers for the overall loss in their wages’ purchasing power. We also find, in line with the Permanent-Income Hypothesis, that consumption responds, but only a little, to transitory and less anticipated shocks, as the expenditures on clothing & shoes increase upon the receipt of the lump-sum payments. This finding can be interpreted as a "signaling-by-consuming" behaviour given that these goods represent conspicuous consumption. There is also some weak evidence of the existence of liquidity constraints regarding expenditures on strictly durables. |
| Keywords: | union contracts, consumption, permanent income hypothesis |
| JEL: | D12 E21 J51 |
| Date: | 2015–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdi:wptemi:td_1024_15&r=dem |
| By: | Robert A. Moffitt (Department of Economics, Johns Hopkins University); Brian J. Phelan (Department of Economics, DePaul University); Anne E. Winkler (Department of Economics, University of Missouri-St. Louis) |
| Abstract: | In this study we provide a new examination of the incentive effects of welfare rules on family structure. Focusing on the AFDC and TANF programs, we first emphasize that the literature, by and large, has assumed that the rules of those programs make a key distinction between married women and cohabiting women, but this is not a correct interpretation. In fact, it is the biological relationship between the children and any male in the household that primarily determines how the family is treated. In an empirical analysis conducted over the period 1996 to 2004 that correctly matches family structure outcomes to welfare rules, we find significant effects of several welfare policies on family structure, both work-related policies and family-oriented policies, effects that are stronger than in most past work. Many of our significant effects show that these rules led to a decrease in single motherhood and an increase in biological partnering. For all of our results, our findings indicate that the impact of welfare rules crucially hinges on the biological relationship of the male partner to the children in the household. |
| Keywords: | family structure, welfare, incentive effects. |
| JEL: | I38 J1 |
| Date: | 2015–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:msl:workng:1008&r=dem |
| By: | Asako Ohinata; Matteo Picchio |
| Abstract: | We analyse how the financial support for long-term elderly care affects the level of household savings. Using a difference-in-differences estimator, we investigate the 2002 Scottish reform, which introduced free formal personal care for all the elderly aged 65 and above residing in Scotland. Our semiparametric estimation technique allows the policy effects to be flexibly estimated across age groups. We find that the Scottish policy reduced the average household saving by about £7,200. Moreover, the estimated effects are heterogeneous across age groups of the head of household: these effects are particularly strong among those aged between 40 and 60. The largest effect is observed at age 49 with the reduction in the average household saving by £12,764. |
| Keywords: | Long-term elderly care; ageing; means tested financial support; saving; wealth; difference-in-differences. |
| JEL: | C21 D14 I18 J14 |
| Date: | 2015–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lec:leecon:15/17&r=dem |
| By: | Osea Giuntella (University of Oxford); Fabrizio Mazzonna (Università della Svizzera Italiana (USI)) |
| Abstract: | Sleep deprivation is increasingly recognized as a public health challenge. While several studies provided evidence of important associations between sleep deprivation and health outcomes, it is less clear whether sleep deprivation is a cause or a marker of poor health. This paper studies the causal effects of sleep on health status and obesity exploiting the relationship between sunset light and circadian rhythms and using time-zone boundaries as an exogenous source of variation in sleep duration and quality. Using data from the American Time Use Survey, we show that individuals living in counties on the eastern side of a time zone boundary go to bed later and sleep less than individuals on the opposite side of the time zone boundary. These findings are driven by individuals whose biological schedules and time use are constrained by social schedules (i.e., work schedules, school starting times). Exploit- ing these discontinuities, we find evidence that sleep deprivation increases the likelihood of reporting poor health status and the incidence of obesity. Our results suggest that the increase in obesity is explained by both changes in eating behavior and a decrease in physical activity. |
| Keywords: | Health, Obesity, Sleep Deprivation, Time Use, Regression Discontinuity |
| JEL: | I12 J22 C31 |
| Date: | 2015–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lug:wpidep:1505&r=dem |