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on Demographic Economics |
| By: | Chaparro, Juan (University of Minnesota); Sojourner, Aaron J. (University of Minnesota) |
| Abstract: | The Infant Health and Development Program (IHDP) was designed to promote the development of low-birth weight (up to 2,500 grams) and premature (up to 37 weeks gestational age) infants. There is evidence that the IHDP intervention, a randomly-assigned bundle of services including primarily free, high-quality child care from 12 to 36 months, boosted cognitive and behavioral outcomes by the time participants at the end of the intervention. The literature has established that the intervention was more effective among the subsample of heavier low birth weight (2,000-2,500 grams) than among those born lighter. Among the heavier group, it was more effective for children from lower-income families. Families who participated in the intervention were diverse in key observable characteristics like income, race or ethnicity. In addition, families reallocated their time in different ways when then had the opportunity to use the free services provided by the IHDP. The goal of this paper is to understand the economic decisions and constraints faced by households who gained access to the IHDP and explain their differential behavior. In order to do so, we propose an economic model, construct measures of theoretically-relevant drivers of postnatal investment decisions, and explore patterns of heterogeneity in parental response and child development along these dimensions. |
| Keywords: | human capital, early childhood, experiment |
| JEL: | J13 J24 O15 |
| Date: | 2015–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9552&r=dem |
| By: | Alicia Adsera (Woodrow Wilson School of International and Public Affairs, Princeton University); Ana Ferrer (Department of Economics, University of Waterloo) |
| Abstract: | We use the confidential files of the 1991-2006 Canadian Census, combined with information from O*NET on the skill requirements of jobs, to explore whether immigrant women behave as secondary workers, remaining marginally attached to the labour market and experiencing little career progression over time. Our results show that the labour market patterns of female immigrants to Canada do not fit this profile, but rather conform to patterns recently exhibited by married native women elsewhere, with rising participation and wage progression. At best, only relatively uneducated immigrant women in unskilled occupations may fit the profile of secondary workers, with slow skill mobility and low-status job-traps. Educated immigrant women, on the other hand, experience skill assimilation over time: a reduction in physical strength and an increase in analytical skills required in their jobs relative to those of natives. |
| JEL: | J01 J61 F22 |
| Date: | 2015–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wat:wpaper:1504&r=dem |
| By: | Aysit Tansel (Middle East Technical University, Department of Economics) |
| Abstract: | This paper aims to provide information on intergenerational educational mobility in Turkey over the last century (at least over the last 65 years). This is the first study explicitly on providing the association between parents’ and children’s education in Turkey over time unlike the previous studies of one point in time. Given the absence of longitudinal data, we make use of a unique data set on educational outcomes based on children recall of parental education. The data used is the result of Adult Education Survey of 2007. Several findings emerge from the analysis. First of all, children’s and parents’ educational outcomes are correlated. The intergenerational educational coefficient of the mothers is somewhat larger than that of the fathers. The intergenerational educational coefficients of both the mothers and the fathers decrease over the cohorts implying that intergenerational educational mobility increased significantly for the younger generations of children in Turkey. The chances of attaining a university degree for the children increases as fathers’ completed schooling level increases. Men’s chances of attaining high school or university education are substantially higher than that of women’s. The association between parent and child education is stronger when parent educational background is poor. The results imply that the policy makes should focus on children with poor parental educational background and on women. |
| Keywords: | intergenerational mobility, educational transmission, Turkey. |
| JEL: | I21 I28 J11 J62 |
| Date: | 2015–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:koc:wpaper:1528&r=dem |
| By: | Hansen, Hans (Rockwool Foundation Research Unit); Schultz-Nielsen, Marie Louise (Rockwool Foundation Research Unit) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we calculate the disposable incomes in 2012 of three selected family types receiving social assistance in five countries in north-western Europe. We also calculate the net replacement rates for families receiving social assistance, calculated on the basis of the disposable incomes of 'average workers' in the five countries, as reported by the OECD. The results show that the Danish social assistance benefits are the highest, or among the highest, of the five countries; Swedish benefits are the lowest or among the lowest, but very much in line with those in Germany. The benefits in the United Kingdom for families with children are in the middle of the group, whereas the UK's benefits for single persons without children are among the lowest. In the Netherlands the picture is more mixed; for single persons without children the benefits are among the highest, for lone parents they are around the middle, and for couples with children the benefits are comparatively low. |
| Keywords: | unemployment, net replacement rate, social assistance benefits |
| JEL: | J38 J65 I38 |
| Date: | 2015–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9547&r=dem |
| By: | de Vuijst, Elise (Delft University of Technology); van Ham, Maarten (Delft University of Technology); Kleinhans, Reinout (Delft University of Technology) |
| Abstract: | It is well-known that socioeconomic outcomes and (dis)advantage over the life course can be transmitted from parent to child. It is increasingly suggested that these intergenerational effects also have a spatial dimension, although empirical research into this topic remains scarce. Previous research from Sweden and the United States shows that children who grow up in disadvantaged neighbourhoods experience long-term exposure to such neighbourhoods in their adult lives. This study contributes to the literature by examining to what extent educational attainment can break the link between parental neighbourhood disadvantage and the neighbourhood experiences of children as adults up to 12 years after leaving the parental home. We use longitudinal register data from the Netherlands to study a complete cohort of parental home leavers, covering 119,167 individuals who were followed from 1999 to 2012. Using sequence analyses as a visualisation method, and multilevel logit models, we demonstrate that children who lived in deprived neighbourhoods with their parents are more likely to live in similar neighbourhoods later in life than children who grew up in more affluent neighbourhoods. We find that intergenerational neighbourhood patterns of disadvantage can be discontinued when individuals attain higher education over time. Discontinuation is however less prevalent among individuals from ethnic minority groups. |
| Keywords: | intergenerational inequality, neighbourhood effects, deprived neighbourhoods, neighbourhood histories, educational attainment, longitudinal data, sequence analysis, the Netherlands |
| JEL: | I30 J60 P46 R23 |
| Date: | 2015–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9557&r=dem |
| By: | Markussen, Simen (Ragnar Frisch Centre for Economic Research.); Strøm, Marte (Institute for Social Research and ESOP, University of Oslo) |
| Abstract: | We use miscarriage as a biological shock to fertility in order to estimate the causal impact of motherhood on labor market outcomes. The number of instruments is increased by exploiting the response-heterogeneity to miscarriage along three dimensions: time, age, and birth order. This allows us to separately identify the effect of the first, second and third child as well as the effects of pregnancy and caretaking for small children. We find each child reduces female earnings by around 18%, only part of it due to reduced work hours. We find no evidence of an adverse health effect of having children. |
| Keywords: | female labor supply; health; motherhood; fertility shock |
| JEL: | C26 I10 J13 J22 |
| Date: | 2015–11–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:osloec:2015_019&r=dem |
| By: | Ismir Mulalic (Technical University Denmark, Denmark); Ninette Pilegaard (Technical University Denmark, Denmark); Jan Rouwendal (VU University Amsterdam, the Netherlands) |
| Abstract: | Car ownership is lower in urban areas, which is probably related to the availability of better public transport. Better public transport thus may offer the possibility to relieve the many problems (congestion, health, and parking) associated with the presence of cars in urban areas. To investigate this issue, we develop and estimate a model for the simultaneous choice of a residential area and car ownership. The model is estimated on Danish register data for single-earner and dual-earners households in the greater Copenhagen metropolitan area. We pay special attention to accessibility of the metro network which offers particularly high quality public transport. Simulations based on the estimated model show that for the greater Copenhagen area a planned extension of the metro network decreases car ownership by 2-3%. Our results suggest also a substantial increase in t he interest for living in areas close to the metro network, that affects the demographic composition of neighbourhoods. |
| Keywords: | car ownership; public transport; residential sorting |
| JEL: | R4 R1 D1 |
| Date: | 2015–12–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tin:wpaper:20150139&r=dem |