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on Demographic Economics |
| By: | Barbara Engels; Johannes Geyer; Peter Haan |
| Abstract: | In this paper we exploit a cohort-specific pension reform to estimate the causal labour market effects of changes in the financial incentives to retire. In particular, we analyze the effects of the introduction of cohort-specific deductions for early retirement on female retirement, employment and unemployment. For the empirical analysis we use high-quality administrative data from the German pension insurance. We present evidence for sizable labour market effects. In addition to direct effects on women older than 60 we find important anticipation effects before reaching the pension eligibility age. Overall we document that the pension reform leads to a postponement of retirement, an increase in employment and a shifting in unemployment over age rather than a substitution into unemployment. |
| Keywords: | Retirement age, pension reform, labour supply, actuarial deductions, cohort-specific pension reform, labour market effects |
| JEL: | J14 J18 J22 J26 H21 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp1617&r=dem |
| By: | Bhalotra, Sonia R. (University of Essex); Karlsson, Martin (University of Duisburg-Essen); Nilsson, Therese (Lund University); Schwarz, Nina (University of Duisburg-Essen) |
| Abstract: | We estimate impacts of exposure to an infant health intervention trialled in Sweden in the early 1930s using purposively digitised birth registers linked to school catalogues, census files and tax records to generate longitudinal microdata that track individuals through five stages of the life-course, from birth to age 71. This allows us to measure impacts on childhood health and cognitive skills at ages 7 and 10, educational and occupational choice at age 16-20, employment, earnings and occupation at age 36-40, and pension income at age 71. Leveraging quasi-random variation in eligibility by birth date and birth parish, we estimate that an additional year of exposure was associated with improved reading and writing skills in primary school, and increased enrolment in university and apprenticeship in late adolescence. These changes are larger and more robust for men, but we find increases in secondary school completion which are unique to women. In the longer run, we find very substantial increases in employment (especially in the public sector) and income among women, alongside absolutely no impacts among men. We suggest that this may be, at least in part, because these cohorts were exposed to a massive expansion of the Swedish welfare state, which created more jobs for women than for men. |
| Keywords: | infant health, early life interventions, cognitive skills, education, earnings, occupational choice, programme evaluation, Sweden |
| JEL: | I15 I18 H41 |
| Date: | 2016–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10339&r=dem |
| By: | Gray Kimbrough |
| Abstract: | A wealth of research has shown that the commutes of American women are shorter, both in time and distance, than those of American men. This study takes advantage of a large, nationally representative dataset, the American Time Use Survey (ATUS), to examine gender differences in commute character and time. A method of calculating commuting time that accounts for stops along the journey is applied to ATUS data; analysis of gender differences in the number, type, and length of stops demonstrates the need for this commuting measure. Explanations for womenâs shorter commutes are reviewed and tested alongside predicted relationships from a simple labor supply model. Controlling for marital status and the presence of children, women are more likely to be accompanied by children for their commute, and women tend to make longer stops than men. Multivariate regression results support two previously proposed explanations for the gender commuting time gap, based on gender differences in wages and types of jobs held. Contrary to the previously proposed Household Responsibility Hypothesis, this analysis provides evidence that greater household responsibility does not explain womenâs shorter commutes. |
| JEL: | J22 R41 J16 |
| Date: | 2016–11–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jmp:jm2016:pki275&r=dem |
| By: | Bertoni, Marco (university of padova); Brunello, Giorgio (university of padova); Mazzarella, Gianluca (university of padova) |
| Abstract: | By increasing the residual working horizon of employed individuals, pension reforms that raise minimum retirement age are likely to affect the returns to investments in healthpromoting behaviours before retirement, with consequences for individual health. Using the exogenous variation in minimum retirement age induced by a sequence of Italian pension reforms during the 1990s and 2000s, we show that Italian males aged 40 to 49 reacted to the longer time to retirement by raising regular exercise and by reducing smoking and regular alcohol consumption. Dietary habits were also affected, with positive consequences on obesity and self-reported satisfaction with health. |
| Keywords: | retirement, working horizon, healthy behaviours, pension reforms |
| JEL: | H55 I12 J26 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:umaror:2016007&r=dem |
| By: | Thomas Buser (University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands); Huaiping Yuan (University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands) |
| Abstract: | We conduct three lab experiments and use field data from the Dutch Math Olympiad to study how the gender gap in willingness to compete evolves in response to experience. The main result is that women are more likely than men to stop competing if they lose. In the Dutch Math Olympiad, this means that girls who do not make the top 1000, and therefore do not advance to the next round, are less likely to compete again one year later while there is no effect on boys. In an additional experiment, we show that men are more likely than women to start and keep competing after receiving positive feedback. In a third experiment, we show that the gender difference in the reaction to losing is not present when winning and losing are random rather than the outcome of competition. The fact that women are more likely to give up competing after a setback may help to explain why fewer women make it to the top in business and academia. |
| Keywords: | willingness to compete; gender; feedback; career decisions; laboratory experiment |
| JEL: | C91 D03 J01 J16 |
| Date: | 2016–11–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tin:wpaper:20160096&r=dem |
| By: | Ljunge, Martin (Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN)) |
| Abstract: | This paper presents evidence of how attitudes toward gender roles in the home and market are shaped by Hofstede’s six cultural dimensions. Children of immigrants in a broad set of European countries with ancestry from across the world are studied. Individuals are examined within country of residence using variation in cultural dimensions across countries of ancestry. The approach focuses attention on how gender roles are shaped across generations within families. Both influences on the father’s and mother’s side are studied. Ancestry from more masculine cultures shape more traditional gender roles on both parents’ sides. On the father side more pragmatic cultures foster gender equality on the mother’s side power distance promote equality attitudes, although this influence differs markedly between daughters and sons. Pragmatism is in several circumstances the strongest influence on gender norms. |
| Keywords: | Gender roles; intergenerational transmission; Hofstede cultural dimensions; Gender |
| JEL: | D13 D83 J16 Z13 |
| Date: | 2016–11–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:1137&r=dem |
| By: | Elina Pradhan (Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health); David Canning (Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Department of Global Health and Population) |
| Abstract: | We investigate the effect of female schooling on teenage fertility using an education reform in Ethiopia in 1994 as a natural experiment that led to a jump in female school enrollment and about 0.74 years of additional schooling for the first two exposed cohorts. Using a regression discontinuity approach we find that each additional year of schooling lowers the probability of both teenage marriage and teenage childbearing by about six percentage points. This casual estimate is consistent with the steep gradient of teenage marriage and fertility with education observed in the data. JEL Codes: |
| Keywords: | Ethiopia; Education Policy; Fertility; Female Education; Age at Marriage; Regression Discontinuity. |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gdm:wpaper:12816&r=dem |
| By: | Sahn, David E. (Cornell University); Villa, Kira M. (University of New Mexico) |
| Abstract: | There is growing evidence that noncognitive skills affect economic, behavioral, and demographic outcomes in the developed world. However, little such evidence exists from developing countries. This paper estimates the joint effect of five specific personality traits and cognition on a sequence of labor market outcomes for a sample of Malagasy individuals as they transition from adolescence to young adulthood. Specifically we model these individuals' age of entry into the labor market, labor market sectoral selection, and within sector earnings. The personality traits we examine are the Big Five Personality Traits: Openness to Experience, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism. Additionally, we look at how these traits interact with household-level shocks in determining their labor market entry decisions. We find that personality, as well as cognitive test scores, affect these outcomes of interest, and that their impact on labor supply is, in part, a function of how individuals respond to exogenous shocks. |
| Keywords: | personality, cognitive, noncognitive, returns to skills, informal sector, formal sector, labor market entry, shocks, Madagascar |
| JEL: | O15 O17 J16 J24 J22 |
| Date: | 2016–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10359&r=dem |
| By: | Bertocchi, Graziella (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia); Bozzano, Monica (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia) |
| Abstract: | In this study we review the literature on the origins and implications of family structure in historical perspective with a focus on Italian provinces. Furthermore we present newly-collected data on three of the main features of family structure: female mean age at marriage, the female celibacy rate, and the fraction of illegitimate births. The data are collected at the provincial level for 1871, the year of Italy's political unification. The analysis of the data allows us to confirm and quantify the geographic differentiation in family patterns across the country. We also illustrate the links between family structure and a set of socio-economic outcomes, in the short, medium, and long run. |
| Keywords: | family structure, Italian provinces, institutions, culture, development |
| JEL: | J12 N33 O1 Z1 |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10327&r=dem |
| By: | Disney, Richard; Gathergood, John |
| Abstract: | We examine the impact of house prices on labour supply decisions using UK micro data. We combine household survey data with local level house price measures and controls for local labour demand. Our micro data also allows us to control for individual level income expectations. We find significant house price effects on labour supply, consistent with leisure being a normal good. Labour supply responses to house prices are concentrated among young married female owners and older owners. This finding suggests house prices affect the decisions of marginal workers in the economy. Our estimates imply house prices are economically important for the participation decisions for these workers. |
| Keywords: | Labour supply,Wealth effects,House prices |
| JEL: | D12 E21 J22 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:cfswop:556&r=dem |
| By: | Furtner, Nadja C. (University of Munich, Munich, Germany); Kocher, Martin G. (University of Munich, Munich, Germany); Martinsson, Peter (Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University); Matzat, Dominik (University of Munich, Munich, Germany); Wollbrant, Conny (Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University) |
| Abstract: | Evidence of gender differences in cooperation in social dilemmas is inconclusive. This paper experimentally elicits unconditional contributions, a contribution vector (cooperative preferences), and beliefs about the level of others’ contributions in variants of the public goods game. We show that existing inconclusive results can be understood and completely explained when controlling for beliefs and underlying cooperative preferences. Robustness checks based on data from around 450 additional independent observations around the world confirm our main empirical results: Women are significantly more often classified as conditionally cooperative than men, while men are more likely to be free riders. Beliefs play an important role in shaping unconditional contributions, and they seem to be more malleable or sensitive to subtle cues for women than for men. |
| Keywords: | Public goods; conditional cooperation; gender; experiment |
| JEL: | C91 D64 H41 |
| Date: | 2016–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:gunwpe:0677&r=dem |