nep-dem New Economics Papers
on Demographic Economics
Issue of 2016‒10‒02
nine papers chosen by
Michele Battisti
ifo Institut

  1. The Economics of Fertility Timing: An Euler Equation Approach By David Canning; Declan French; Michael Moore
  2. Women ask for less (only from men): Evidence from alternating-offer bargaining in the field By Hernandez-Arenaz, Iñigo; Iriberri, Nagore
  3. Effect of a micro entrepreneur-based community health delivery program on under-five mortality in Uganda: a cluster-randomized controlled trial By Björkman Nyqvist, Martina; Guariso, Andrea; Svensson, Jakob; Yanagizawa-Drott, David
  4. Inequality of opportunity for healthy aging in Europe By Bora Kim
  5. Why Family Matters: The Impact of Family Resources on Immigrant Entrepreneurs’ Exit from Entrepreneurship By Bird, Miriam; Wennberg, Karl
  6. The Gender Wealth Gap Across European Countries By Alyssa Schneebaum; Miriam Rehm; Katharina Mader; Katarina Hollan
  7. LATE for the meeting: Gender, peer advising, and college success By Jimmy R. Ellis; Seth Gershenson
  8. More Female Manager Hires through More Female Managers? Evidence from Germany By Mario Bossler; Alexander Mosthaf; Thorsten Schank
  9. Is an Increase in the Minimum Retirement Age Always Desirable? The Case of Notional Defined Contribution Systems By Riccardo Magnani

  1. By: David Canning; Declan French; Michael Moore
    Abstract: We develop a dynamic model of fertility, female labour supply and consumption to explain birth timing, particularly why more educated women delay fertility. We express the birth timing decision in an Euler equation framework by treating the probability of fertility in each period as a continuous choice variable, with actual fertility a random outcome given this probability. Within this framework, it is easy to see the effects of economic forces on fertility timing decisions. Using US data we show that women with higher levels of education delay fertility because they can accrue greater benefits from work experience.
    Keywords: Births; Female labour supply; Optimisation
    JEL: J13 J31
    Date: 2016–06
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qub:charms:1603&r=dem
  2. By: Hernandez-Arenaz, Iñigo; Iriberri, Nagore
    Abstract: We study gender differences and gender interaction effects in bargaining. Data from a TV show offer a unique opportunity to observe both bargaining outcomes and behavior, with sizable stakes. The matching between male proposers (strong position) and female responders (weak position) is different from all other matchings. No differences are observed in opening offers, but women demand less from men than from women. This differential behavior yields bargaining outcomes that are more favorable for men and less favorable for women when male proposers encounter female responders.
    Keywords: Alternating-offer bargaining; field data.; gender differences; gender interaction effects
    JEL: C72 J16 J31
    Date: 2016–09
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:11514&r=dem
  3. By: Björkman Nyqvist, Martina; Guariso, Andrea; Svensson, Jakob; Yanagizawa-Drott, David
    Abstract: Systematic reviews of existing evidence show promising effects of community health worker (CHW) programs as a strategy to improve child survival, but also highlight challenges faced by CHW programs, including insufficient incentives to deliver timely and appropriate services. We assessed the effect of an incentivized community health delivery program in Uganda on all-cause under-five mortality. A cluster-randomized controlled trial, embedded within the scale-up of a new community health delivery program, was undertaken in 214 clusters in 10 districts in Uganda. In the intervention clusters micro entrepreneur-based community health promoters (CHPs) were deployed over a three-year period (2011-2013). On average 38 households were surveyed in each cluster at the end of 2013, for a total sample size of 8,119 households. The primary study outcome was all-cause under-five mortality (U5MR). U5MR was reduced by 27% (adjusted RR 0.73, 95% CI 0.58-0.93).
    Keywords: child mortality; infant mortality; social entrepreneurship; Living Goods; community health worker
    Date: 2016–09
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:11515&r=dem
  4. By: Bora Kim
    Abstract: This study quantifies the inequality of opportunity (IOp) for healthy aging in Europe. Unlike earlier studies, an objective health indicator, grip strength, is used as an outcome. Using the longitudinal data from the Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe (Wave 1-5), I introduce a general model where explanatory variables portray individual lifetime trajectory. All predictors are disentangled into illegitimate and legitimate components. The Hausman-Taylor (1981) estimator is employed to deal with the presence of unobserved heterogeneity and endogeneity of time-variant lifestyle. Both upper and lower bounds of IOp are considered by incorporating different sets of illegitimate factors under six scenarios. Parallel results based on self-reported health are provided. We find that IOp in a subjective measure is less sensitive to age, but more to unobserved factors. Finally, the magnitude of IOp is compared between men and women as well as across ten states Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain and Italy. Overall, the results are sensitive to the choice in health indicator.
    Date: 2016–09
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ete:ceswps:549636&r=dem
  5. By: Bird, Miriam (Center for Family Business, University of St. Gallen); Wennberg, Karl (Stockholm School of Economics, Institute of Analytical Sociology (IAS) and the Ratio Institute)
    Abstract: We integrate insights from the social embeddedness perspective with research on immigrant entrepreneurship to theorize on how family resources influence exit from entrepreneurship among previously unemployed immigrant entrepreneurs. Results from a cohort study of immigrant entrepreneurs in Sweden reveal that family resources are important for immigrants to integrate economically into a country. We find that having family members in geographical proximity increases immigrant entrepreneurs’ likelihood of remaining in entrepreneurship. Further, family financial capital enhances immigrant entrepreneurs’ likelihood of remaining in entrepreneurship as well as their likelihood of exiting to paid employment. Although often neglected in immigrant entrepreneurship studies, resources accruing from spousal relationships with natives influence entrepreneurs’ exit behavior. We discuss contributions for research on entrepreneurial exit, entrepreneurs’ social embeddedness, and immigrant entrepreneurship.
    Keywords: Immigrant entrepreneurship; entrepreneurial exit; family resources; social embeddedness; relational embeddedness
    JEL: J60 L26
    Date: 2016–09–26
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ratioi:0274&r=dem
  6. By: Alyssa Schneebaum (Department of Economics, Vienna University of Economics and Business); Miriam Rehm (Department of Economics and Statistics, Federal Chamber of Labour Vienna (AK Wien)); Katharina Mader (Department of Economics, Vienna University of Economics and Business); Katarina Hollan (European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research)
    Abstract: This paper studies the gap in wealth between male and female single households using 2010 Household Finance and Consumption Survey data for eight European countries. In the raw data, a large gap emerges at the upper end of the unconditional distribution. While OLS estimates show no difference in average net wealth levels, quantile regressions at the 95th percentile yield mixed evidence for the gender wealth gap in different specifications. Labour market characteristics and participation in asset and debt categories largely explain the differences between male and female single households. We show that the gender gap in net wealth is driven by gender gaps in gross wealth and its components, but is attenuated in four countries by gender gaps in (collateralized) debt. In the full specification, the unexplained gap in gross wealth amounts to 27% in Slovakia, 33% in France, 44% in Austria, 45% in Germany, and 48% in Greece. A robustness check using person-level pension wealth confirms the presence of a gender gap for the full population.
    Keywords: Gender, Wealth, Wealth Gap, Distribution
    JEL: D31 J16 E21
    Date: 2016–09
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwwuw:wuwp232&r=dem
  7. By: Jimmy R. Ellis (American Un iversity); Seth Gershenson (American University)
    Abstract: Many male and first-generation college-goers struggle in their first year of postsecondary education. Mentoring programs have been touted as a potential solution to help such students acclimate to college life, yet causal evidence on the impact of such programs, and the factors that influence participation in them, is scant. This study leverages a natural experiment in which peer advisors (PAs) were quasi-randomly assigned to first-year university students to show that 1) male students were significantly more likely to voluntarily meet with their assigned PA when the PA was also male and 2) these compliers were significantly more likely to persist into the second year of postsecondary schooling. We find no effect of being assigned to a same-sex PA on female students’ use of the PA program, nor do we find any evidence that the PA program affected subsequent academic performance (GPAs).
    Keywords: higher education, peer advising, mentoring, gender gap, demographic mismatch, retention
    JEL: I21 I23 I28
    Date: 2016–09
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:upj:weupjo:16-262&r=dem
  8. By: Mario Bossler (Institute for Employment Research; LASER); Alexander Mosthaf (Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz); Thorsten Schank (Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz)
    Abstract: This paper investigates if there is state dependence in the gender composition of managers in German establishments. We analyze whether the number of hired female managers (respectively the share of females within hired managers) depends on the past hiring decisions of an establishment. Using administrative data, we apply dynamic linear models and dynamic tobit models accounting for unobserved heterogeneity and the endogeneity of lagged dependent variables. We ?nd that an increase of female manager hires in present leads to more female hired managers in the future. Similarly, the number of male manager hires also exhibits state dependence.
    Keywords: female managers; gender discrimination; state dependence; dynamic panel data models
    JEL: C23 J16 J71 M12
    Date: 2016–09–21
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jgu:wpaper:11618&r=dem
  9. By: Riccardo Magnani (CEPN - Centre d'Economie de l'Université Paris Nord - Université Paris 13 - USPC - Université Sorbonne Paris Cité - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)
    Abstract: Several countries have recently introduced reforms that aim to increase the neutrality of their pension system by introducing an incentives-disincentives mechanism or by replacing their traditional defined-benefit system with a Notional Defined Contribution method. This paper evaluates the financial effects of an increase in the minimum retirement age in countries where a Notional Defined Contribution system exists. We show that such a reform produces a positive effect on the financial situation of the pension system (by generating surpluses or by reducing deficits) in the short and in the medium run, but it becomes completely ineffective in the long run. This result implies that in countries where the pension system is sufficiently neutral such a reform is not appropriate to solve the problem of population ageing which is a long-run problem.
    Keywords: Pension finance,Retirement policies,Notional Defined Contribution systems,Minimum retirement age,Population ageing ,Pension economics
    Date: 2016
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-01362459&r=dem

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