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on Demographic Economics |
| By: | Deborah A. Cobb-Clark (Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, University of Melbourne); Julie Moschion (Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne; and Brotherhood of St Laurence) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the source of the gender gap in third grade numeracy and reading. We adopt an Oaxaca-Blinder approach and decompose the gender gap in educational achievement into endowment and response components. Our estimation relies on unusually rich panel data from the Longitudinal Survey of Australian Children in which information on child development reported by parents and teachers is linked to each child’s results on a national, standardized achievement test. We find that girls in low- and middle-SES families have an advantage in reading, while boys in highSES families have an advantage in numeracy. Girls score higher on their third grade reading tests in large part because they were more ready for school at age four and had better teacher-assessed literacy skills in kindergarten. Boys’ advantage in numeracy occurs because they achieve higher numeracy test scores than girls with the same education-related characteristics. Classification-J16, I21, I24 |
| Keywords: | Gender gaps, educational achievement, education, Australia |
| Date: | 2015–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iae:iaewps:wp2015n23&r=dem |
| By: | Claude Diebolt; Tapas Mishra; Faustine Perrin |
| Abstract: | Recent theoretical developments of growth models, especially on unified theories of growth, suggest that the child quantity-quality trade-off has been a central element of the transition from Malthusian stagnation to sustained growth. Using an original censusbased dataset, this paper explores the role of gender on the trade-off between education and fertility across 86 French counties during the nineteenth century, as an empirical extension of Diebolt-Perrin (2013). We first test the existence of the child quantity-quality trade-off in 1851. Second, we explore the long-run effect of education on fertility from a gendered approach. Two important results emerge: (i) significant and negative association between education and fertility is found, and (ii) such a relationship is non-unique over the distribution of education/fertility. While our results suggest the existence of a negative and significant effect of the female endowments in human capital on the fertility transition, the effects of negative endowment almost disappear at low level of fertility. |
| Keywords: | Cliometrics, Education, Fertility, Demographic Transition, Unified growth theory, Nineteenth century France. |
| JEL: | C22 C26 C32 C36 C81 C82 I20 J13 N01 N33 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ulp:sbbeta:2015-28&r=dem |
| By: | Adrian Hille |
| Abstract: | It is still widely debated how non-cognitive skills can be affected by policy intervention. For example, universal music education programs are becoming increasingly popular among policy makers in Germany and other developed countries. These are intended to give children from poor families the opportunity to learn a musical instrument. Moreover, policymakers present these programs as innovative policies that are important for the personality development of young children. However, the effects of universal music education on such outcomes are not yet sufficiently studied. This paper analyses the Jedem Kind ein Instrument (an instrument for every child) program in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. To do so, data from the German household panel studies SOEP and FiD are combined with regional data on primary and music schools. Using a difference-in-differences estimator, I show that the program successfully increases music participation among disadvantaged children. It does so more effectively than the alternative policy of reducing fees at public music schools. I further find that participation reduces conduct problems and improves student teacher relationships, especially among boys. |
| Keywords: | Music, non-cognitive skills, inequality, SOEP, policy evaluation, non-formal education |
| JEL: | I21 J24 Z18 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp810&r=dem |
| By: | Alfonso Arellano; Noelia Camara; David Tuesta |
| Abstract: | Economic literature identifies a gender gap in financial literacy. This paper tests to what extent the gender gap is due to a misspecification problem or whether it exists because boys and girls do indeed have differing ways of acquiring financial literacy. |
| Keywords: | Economic Analysis , Financial Inclusion , Spain , Working Paper |
| JEL: | I00 D83 C81 |
| Date: | 2015–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bbv:wpaper:1532&r=dem |
| By: | Gobillon, Laurent; Solignac, Matthieu |
| Abstract: | We investigate the difference in homeownership rates between natives and first-generation immigrants in France, and how this difference evolves over the 1975-1999 period, by using a large longitudinal dataset. We find that the homeownership gap is large and has increased. Entries into the territory have a large negative effect on the evolution of homeownership rates for immigrants. Although entrants have on average better education than people staying in the territory for the entire period (i.e. stayers), they are younger and thus at an earlier stage in the wealth accumulation process. They are also located in large cities, where the homeownership rate is lower, and the returns to their characteristics are lower than those for stayers. Leavers have a positive effect on the evolution of homeownership rates for immigrants because they have a low access to homeownership and they exit the country. But this effect is only one-third that of entrants. For stayers, we show that returns to characteristics change in favor of immigrants, which is consistent with assimilation theories. However, among stayers who access homeownership, immigrants end up in owned dwellings that are of lesser quality than natives. |
| Keywords: | homeownership; immigrants; longitudinal data |
| JEL: | J15 R21 |
| Date: | 2015–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:10975&r=dem |