nep-dem New Economics Papers
on Demographic Economics
Issue of 2016‒09‒18
four papers chosen by
Michele Battisti
ifo Institut

  1. Trajectories of Neighborhood Change: Spatial Patterns of Increasing Ethnic Diversity By Zwiers, Merle; van Ham, Maarten; Manley, David
  2. Intergenerational contact across marriage and cohabitation in Italy. Something new? By Pirani Elena
  3. The Effect of Low-Income Housing on Neighborhood Mobility: Evidence from Linked Micro-Data By Brummet, Quentin O.; Bartalotti, Otávio C.
  4. Older Women’s Labor Market Attachment, Retirement Planning, and Household Debt By Annamaria Lusardi; Olivia S. Mitchell

  1. By: Zwiers, Merle (Delft University of Technology); van Ham, Maarten (Delft University of Technology); Manley, David (University of Bristol)
    Abstract: Western cities are increasingly ethnically diverse and in most cities the share of ethnic minorities is growing. Studies analyzing changing ethnic geographies often limit their analysis to changes in ethnic concentrations in neighborhoods between two points in time. Such a static approach limits our understanding of pathways of ethnic neighborhood change, and of the underlying factors contributing to change. This paper analyzes full trajectories of neighborhood change in the four largest cities in the Netherlands between 1999 and 2013. Our modelling strategy categorizes neighborhoods based on their unique growth trajectories of the ethnic population composition, providing a longitudinal view of ethnic segregation. Our results show that the ethnic composition in neighborhoods remains relatively stable over time. We find evidence for a slow trend towards deconcentration of ethnic minorities and increased (spatial) population mixing in most neighborhoods. We show how residential mobility decreases segregation, while natural population growth tends to reinforce segregation. While the ethnic minority presence in cities grows, there is a substantial share of neighborhoods which can be identified as white citadels; characterized by a stable large native population, with high incomes and high house values. These neighborhoods seem to be inaccessible to ethnic minorities, which illustrates the spatial manifestation of exclusionary elitism in increasingly ethnically diverse cities.
    Keywords: ethnic segregation, neighborhood trajectories, population dynamics, latent class growth modelling, longitudinal study
    JEL: J15 O18 R23
    Date: 2016–09
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10216&r=dem
  2. By: Pirani Elena (Dipartimento di Statistica, Informatica, Applicazioni "G. Parenti", Università di Firenze)
    Abstract: As far as cohabitation became increasingly popular as a form of union beside marriage, scholars started to question if this alternative way to form a romantic union shapes differently intergenerational ties. Empirical literature generally offered proofs that the type of union is negatively associated with intergenerational contacts, especially in traditional societies. Past research for the Italian context was in line with this assumption. We intend to assess the effects of choosing cohabitation relative to marriage on the frequency of contact with mother in contemporary Italy, a country where the strong family system is still exercising a main role within the society, but where the force of change in family behaviours is increasing year after year. Using data from a large, nationally representative survey, we study the frequency of contact mother-adult child across marriage and cohabitation, considering three measures of contact: face-to-face contact, telephone contact and mixed contact. In order to overcome endogeneity and selectivity problems, we adopt a simultaneous equation approach. Our findings prove that adult Italians cohabitors of the end of 2000s have a lower probability to meet personally their mother on daily basis relative to marrieds, but they are more likely to have frequent phone calls with her; no differences across marrieds and cohabitors appear when considering a composite indicator of mixed contact. We advance that when face-to-face contact is blocked for some reasons, for instance geographical distance, it is replaced by telephone contact, suggesting a potential compensation among children who live further away from parents. Cohabitors may have a non-traditional vision of the family and of family roles; nevertheless, they stay in touch with their family of origin changing the method of contact. In conclusion, our results do not lead to the indication of deteriorated contacts mother-child for cohabitors. This paper expands and updates previous findings on this issue, illustrating the association between union type and various indicators of contact mother-child in contemporary Italy. We interpret the novelty of these results suggesting that the slow yet incessant diffusion of cohabitation in 2000s has probably contributed to open the route to an increasing acceptance by the old generations, relaxing the parental negative attitude towards their children’s cohabitation decisions.
    Keywords: cohabitation; intergenerational ties; Italy; contact
    Date: 2016–09
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fir:econom:wp2016_07&r=dem
  3. By: Brummet, Quentin O.; Bartalotti, Otávio C.
    Abstract: While subsidized low-income housing construction provides affordable living conditions for poor households, many observers worry that building low-income housing in poor communities induces individuals to move to poor neighborhoods. We examine this issue using detailed, nationally representative microdata constructed from linked decennial censuses. Our analysis exploits exogenous variation in low-income housing supply induced by program eligibility rules for Low-Income Housing Tax Credits to estimate the effect of subsidized housing on neighborhood mobility patterns. The results indicate little evidence to suggest a causal effect of additional low-income housing construction on the characteristics of neighborhoods to which households move. This result is true for households across the income distribution, and supports the hypothesis that subsidized housing provides affordable living conditions without encouraging households to move to less-affluent neighborhoods than they would have otherwise.
    Date: 2016–05–13
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:isu:genstf:3395&r=dem
  4. By: Annamaria Lusardi; Olivia S. Mitchell
    Abstract: The goal of this paper is to ascertain whether older women’s current and anticipated future labor force patterns have changed over time, and if so, to evaluate the factors associated with longer work lives and plans to continue work at older ages. Using data from both the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) and the National Financial Capability Study (NFCS), we show that older women’s current and intended future labor force attachment patterns are changing over time. Specifically, compared to our 1992 HRS baseline, more recent cohorts of women in their 50’s and 60s’s are more likely to plan to work longer. When we explore the reasons for delayed retirement among older women, factors include education, more marital disruption, and fewer children than prior cohorts. But household finances also play a key role, in that older women today have more debt than previously and are more financially fragile than in the past. The NFCS data show that factors associated with retirement planning include having more education and greater financial literacy. Those who report excessive amounts of debt and are financially fragile are the least financially literate, had more dependent children, and experienced income shocks. Thus shocks do play a role in older women’s debt status, but it is not enough to have resources: people also need the capacity to manage those resources if they are to stay out of debt as they head into retirement.
    JEL: D91 J14
    Date: 2016–09
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:22606&r=dem

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