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on Demographic Economics |
| By: | Steffen Mueller; Regina T. Riphahn; Caroline Schwientek |
| Abstract: | Using long-running data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (1984-2012) we investigate the impact of paternal unemployment on child labor market and education outcomes. We first describe correlation patterns and then use sibling fixed effects and the Gottschalk (1996) method to identify the causal effects of paternal unemployment. We find different patterns for sons and daughters. Paternal unemployment does not seem to causally affect the outcomes of sons. In contrast, it increases both daughters' worklessness and educational attainment. We test the robustness of the results and explore potential explanations. |
| Keywords: | youth unemployment, educational attainment, intergenerational mobility, causal effect, Gottschalk method, sibling fixed effects |
| JEL: | J62 C21 C26 |
| Date: | 2014–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bav:wpaper:157_muellerriphahnschwientek&r=dem |
| By: | Daniela Del Boca; Chiara Pronzato; Giuseppe Sorrenti |
| Abstract: | Our study analyses the costs and benefits of early child care for mothers’ labour supply and child development in Italy, exploring the role of the selection criteria used by local governments to assign child care slots. In Italy, only around 13% of the demand for public child care coverage is met, and the number of applications exceeds the number of places in child care services in all regions. In conditions of excess demand, municipalities introduce selection criteria to give priority to families for whom access to public child care appears to be more valuable. We analyse, through simulations, the consequences of introducing different selection criteria for children, for their mothers, and also for municipalities, using a sample of households with children under three years of age (EU-SILC), and the selection criteria used by six representative Italian municipalities. Our results have some potentially interesting policy implications. The benefits in terms of child outcomes and mothers’ labour supply are stronger in contexts where selection criteria give priority to more disadvantaged households. However, in these contexts the selected households contribute less to the costs of child care, which reduces the municipalities’ monetary revenues. |
| Keywords: | Child care, mothers’ employment, child development. |
| JEL: | J13 I2 H75 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cca:wpaper:399&r=dem |
| By: | Sara Randall; Ernestina Coast |
| Abstract: | BACKGROUND Developing appropriate and equitable policies for older people in Africa requires accurate and reliable data. It is unclear whether existing data can accurately assess older African population structures, let alone provide the detailed information needed to inform policy decision making. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the quality of nationally representative data on older Africans through examining the accuracy of age data collected from different sources. METHODS To measure the accuracy of age reporting overall we calculate Whipple’s Index, and a modified Whipple’s Index for older adults, using the single year age-sex distributions from (a) the household roster of 17 Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) (b) the censuses of 12 of these countries and (c) the Living Standards Measurement Study (LSMS) for Ethiopia and Niger. We compare reported sex ratios by age. RESULTS The quality of age data is very poor for most countries outside Southern Africa, especially for older adults. In some Sahelian countries DHS surveys appear to omit a considerable proportion of older women. Data on population structure of older people by age and sex produced by the DHS and the census are inconsistent and contradictory. CONCLUSIONS Different field methodological approaches generate contradictory data on older Africans. With the exception of Southern Africa, it is impossible to assess accurately the basic demographic structure of the older population. The data available are so problematic that any conclusions about age-related health and welfare and their evolution over time and space are potentially compromised. This has ramifications for policy makers and practitioners who demand, fund and depend on large scale demographic data sources. |
| JEL: | C1 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:64834&r=dem |
| By: | Aliprantis, Dionissi (Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland); Carroll, Daniel (Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland) |
| Abstract: | Wilson (1987) argued that policies ending racial discrimination would not equalize opportunity without addressing residential sorting and neighborhood externalities. This paper studies related counterfactual policies using an overlapping-generations dynamic general equilibrium model of residential sorting and intergenerational human capital accumulation. In the model, households choose where to live and how much to invest toward the production of their child’s human capital. The return on parents’ investment is determined in part by the child’s ability and in part by an externality determined by the human capital in their neighborhood. We calibrate the model with two neighborhoods and neighborhood-specific production technologies to data from Chicago when mobility was restricted by race. We then conduct three numerical experiments by eliminating the restriction on neighborhood choice, equalizing production technologies, or both. We find that allowing residential mobility generates persistent income inequality, even when technologies are equalized across neighborhoods. Equalizing technologies only equalizes opportunity for residents in the originally segregated neighborhood when high-income households reside there. Our findings suggest that policies aimed at improving outcomes in impoverished areas should feature incentives for high-income households to stay or migrate into the neighborhood. |
| Keywords: | Neighborhood externality; Segregation; Human Capital |
| JEL: | D31 D58 E24 J24 R23 |
| Date: | 2015–10–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedcwp:1525&r=dem |
| By: | Carole Bonnet; Dominique Meurs; Benoît Rapoport |
| Abstract: | While the average gender gap in pensions is quite well documented, gender differences in the distribution of pensions have rarely been explored. We show in this paper that pension dispersion is very similar for men and women within the French pension system of a given sector (public or private). However, the determinants of these gender inequalities are not the same. Using a regression-based decomposition of the Gini coefficient, we find that pension dispersion is mainly due to dispersion of the reference wage. Gender differences are less marked among civil servants. For women, pension dispersion is also due to dispersion in contribution periods. We also decompose the Gini coefficient by source of income to measure the impact of institutional rules on the extent of pension inequality. Unexpectedly, we find that the impact of pension minima is limited, although slightly larger for civil servants than for private sector employees. |
| Keywords: | Pension, Private and Public sector, Gender gap, Gini coefficient, Decomposition. |
| JEL: | J14 J16 H55 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:drm:wpaper:2016-8&r=dem |
| By: | Warn N. Lekfuangfu; Nattavudh Powdthavee; Andrew E. Clark; George Ward |
| Abstract: | We analyse the relationship between early maternal employment and child emotional and behavioural outcomes in early childhood and adolescence. Using rich data from a cohort of children born in the UK in the early 1990s, we find little evidence of a strong statistical relationship between early maternal employment and any of the emotional outcomes. However, there is some evidence that children whose mother is in full-time employment at the 18th month have worse behavioural outcomes at ages 4, 7, and 12.We suggest that these largely insignificant results may in part be explained by mothers who return tofull-time work earlier being able to compensate their children: we highlight the role of fathers’ time investment and alternative childcare arrangements in this respect. |
| Keywords: | child outcomes; maternal employment; well-being; conduct; ALSPAC |
| JEL: | D1 I1 J6 |
| Date: | 2015–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:64990&r=dem |
| By: | Miriam Mäder; Steffen Müller; Regina T. Riphahn; Caroline Schwientek |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the association between the unemployment experience of fathers and their sons. Based on German survey data that cover the last decades we find significant positive correlations. Using instrumental variables estimation and the Gottschalk (1996) method we investigate to what extent fathers' unemployment is causal for offsprings' employment outcomes. In agreement with most of the small international literature we do not find a positive causal effect for intergenerational unemployment transmission. This outcome is robust to alternative data structures and to tests at the intensive and extensive margin of unemployment. |
| Keywords: | youth unemployment, non-employment, intergenerational mobility, causal effect, Gottschalk method |
| JEL: | J62 C21 C26 |
| Date: | 2014–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bav:wpaper:155_maedermuellerriphahnschwientek&r=dem |
| By: | Schmidt, Ulrich; Friedl, Andreas; Lima de Miranda, Katharina |
| Abstract: | The present paper contributes to the controversy regarding gender differences in risk taking by investigating the impact of social comparison. Social comparison is formalized by integrating a social reference point into the model of Köszegi and Rabin. Drawing on previous results from evolutionary biology, we hypothesize that men (women) focus more on relative (absolute) income, i.e., the relative weight of social gain-loss utility is higher for men than for women. Our model predicts that risk taking is higher for correlated than for uncorrelated risks and that this effect is stronger for men than for women. These predictions are confirmed by a simple classroom experiment. We conclude that social comparison and the correlation of risks play an important role in the discussion of gender differences in risk taking. |
| Keywords: | risk taking,gender differences,correlation of risks,social reference point |
| JEL: | C91 D81 J16 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ifwkwp:2011&r=dem |
| By: | Daniele Pacifico; Felix Poege |
| Abstract: | This paper describes the multidimensional poverty measures developed by Alkire and Foster (2011) and shows how they can be computed in Stata with the command mpi. |
| Keywords: | st0001, mpi, multidimensional poverty, Alkire Foster method |
| Date: | 2016–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mod:cappmo:0131&r=dem |
| By: | Elinder, Mikael (Uppsala Center for Fiscal Studies); Erixson, Oscar (Uppsala Center for Fiscal Studies); Waldenström, Daniel (Uppsala Center for Fiscal Studies) |
| Abstract: | This study estimates the effect of inheriting wealth on inequality and mobility in the wealth distribution. Using new population-wide register data on inheritances in Sweden, we find that inheritances reduce inequality and increase mobility among heirs. Richer heirs indeed inherit larger amounts, but less affluent heirs receive substantially larger inheritances relative to their pre-inheritance wealth than do richer heirs. The Swedish inheritance tax had a small overall impact but appears to have mitigated the equalizing effect of inheritances. We also investigate the potentially confounding role of pre-inheritance gifts and behavioral responses to expectations about future inheritances, but neither of them change the main finding that inheritances reduce wealth inequality. |
| Keywords: | bequest; estate; net worth; inheritance taxation; wealth distribution |
| JEL: | D63 E21 H24 |
| Date: | 2015–06–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:uufswp:2015_003&r=dem |