|
on Demographic Economics |
| By: | Chicoine, Luke E. (DePaul University) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the causal relationship between women's education and fertility by exploiting variation generated by the removal of school fees in Ethiopia. The increase in schooling caused by this reform is identified using both geographic variation in the intensity of the reform's impact and the temporal variation generated by the implementation of the reform. The model finds that the removal of school fees in Ethiopia led to an increase of over 1.5 years of schooling for women affected by the reform. A two-stage least squares approach is used to measure the impact of the exogenous increase in schooling on fertility. Each additional year of schooling led to a reduction in fertility, a delay in sexual activity, marriage, and the timing of at least their first, second, and third births. There is also evidence that the increase in schooling led to improved labor market outcomes, and a reduction in the desired number of children. Additionally, there is evidence of strategic use of hidden forms of contraception, only after family size becomes sufficiently large or after two sons have been born. |
| Keywords: | free primary education, Ethiopia, schooling, fertility |
| JEL: | O55 J13 I25 I26 |
| Date: | 2016–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10387&r=dem |
| By: | Lepinteur, Anthony (Paris School of Economics); Flèche, Sarah (CEP, London School of Economics); Powdthavee, Nattavudh (University of Warwick) |
| Abstract: | The current study argues that women's decision to leave the labor force at the point where their income exceeds their husbands' income may have less to do with gender identity norm (Bertrand et al., 2015) and more to do with what women think is a fair distribution of relative working hours within the household. Using three nationally-representative data, we show that life satisfaction is significantly lower among women whose work hours exceed their partners, holding the share of wife's income constant. Men, by contrast, are not affected by working longer or fewer hours than their wives. |
| Keywords: | fairness, gender identity, life satisfaction, relative income, working hours, labor supply |
| JEL: | I31 J12 J22 |
| Date: | 2016–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10382&r=dem |
| By: | Luca Flabbi; Mario Macis; Andrea Moro; Fabiano Schivardi |
| Abstract: | We investigate the effects of female executives on gender-specific wage distributions and firm performance. We find that female leadership has a positive impact at the top of the female wage distribution and a negative impact at the bottom. Moreover, the impact of female leadership on firm performance increases with the share of female workers. Our empirical strategy accounts for the endogeneity induced by the non-random assignment of executives to firms by including in the regressions firm fixed effects, by generating controls from a two-way fixed effects regression, and by building instruments based on regional trends. The empirical findings are consistent with a model of statistical discrimination where female executives are better equipped at interpreting signals of productivity from female workers. The evidence suggests substantial costs of under-representation of women at the top of the corporate hierarchy |
| JEL: | J7 M12 M5 |
| Date: | 2016–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:22877&r=dem |
| By: | Campus, Daniela (University of Florence); Giannelli, Gianna Claudia (University of Florence) |
| Abstract: | Dramatic spikes in food prices, like those observed over the last years, represent a real threat to food security in developing countries with severe consequences for many aspects of human life. Price instability can also affect the intra-household allocation of time, thus changing the labour supply of women, who traditionally play the role of 'shock absorbers'. This paper explores the nature of time poverty by examining how changes in the prices of the two major staples consumed, matooke and cassava, have affected the paid and unpaid labour time allocation in Ugandan households. We exploit the panel nature of the Uganda National Household Survey by adopting a Tobit-hybrid model. Our results show that gender differentials in the intra-household allocation of labour actually occur in correspondence with changes in food prices. We find that, overall, women work significantly more, since the additional hours women work in the labour market are not counterbalanced by a relevant reduction in their other labour activities. For men, we do not find any significant effect of price changes on hours of work. |
| Keywords: | food prices, labour supply, gender, Uganda |
| JEL: | J16 J22 J43 Q11 |
| Date: | 2016–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10376&r=dem |
| By: | Cobb-Clark, Deborah A. (University of Sydney) |
| Abstract: | Can biology help us to better understand gender differences in labor market behavior and outcomes? This chapter reviews the emerging literature which sheds light on this question, considering research in four broad areas: i) behavioral endocrinology; ii) human genetics; iii) neuroeconomics; and iv) sensory functioning and time-space perceptions. |
| Keywords: | gender wage gap, labor market outcomes, human biology, neuroeconomics, behavioral genetics |
| JEL: | J31 A12 Z0 |
| Date: | 2016–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10386&r=dem |
| By: | Niimi, Yoko; Horioka, Charles Yuji |
| Abstract: | To help shed light on the implications of intergenerational transfers for wealth inequality, this paper examines whether or not individuals who receive intergenerational transfers from their parents are more likely to leave bequests to their children than those who do not using data for Japan and the United States. The estimation results show that the receipt of intergenerational transfers from parents and/or parents-in-law increases the likelihood of individuals’ leaving bequests to their own children in both Japan and the United States, which in turn is likely to contribute to the persistence or widening of wealth disparities. However, such a tendency is found to be stronger among less better-off households in both countries, and this may help alleviate the disequalizing effect of intergenerational transfers on the distribution of wealth, at least to some extent. |
| Keywords: | bequests, education, inheritances, intergenerational transfers, inter vivos transfers, wealth distribution, wealth inequality, bequests, education, inheritances, intergenerational transfers, inter vivos transfers, wealth distribution, wealth inequality, D10, D31, D64, E21, I24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:agi:wpaper:00000117&r=dem |
| By: | Fischer, Justina A.V.; Pastore, Francesco |
| Abstract: | This study analyzes whether the role of religion for employment of women in Europe has changed over time and along women’s life cycles. Using information on 44’000 married European women from the World Values Survey, spanning more than thirty years (1981-2013), we find that over time the impact of religion on female employment has been changing. In Western Europe, behavioral differences across denominations seem to have disappeared since roughly 1997. In contrast, for Eastern Europe, we find that differences by religion have reemerged again particularly among young women. However, for women in Eastern Europe who are older than 40 years, religion plays no role – a finding that we attribute to an upbringing under secular communist regimes that strongly promoted gender equality in the labor market. Only Muslim women show a lower employment probability that persists across time, across regions, and across life cycles. |
| Keywords: | religion; labor market participation; secularization; modernization; gender; Europe; transition countries; Eastern Europe; OECD; World Values Survey |
| JEL: | J16 J22 N34 Z12 Z13 |
| Date: | 2016–11–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:75464&r=dem |
| By: | Jeffrey Penney (Pontificia Universidad Javeriana); Erin Tolley (University of Toronto); Elizabeth Goodyear-Grant (Queen's University) |
| Abstract: | We analyze the results of a large-scale experiment wherein subjects participate in a hypothetical primary election and must choose between two fictional candidates who vary by sex and race. We find evidence of affinities along these dimensions in voting behaviour. A number of phenomena regarding these affinities and their interactions are detailed and explored. We find that they compete with each other on the basis of race and gender. Neuroeconomic metrics suggest that people who vote for own race candidates tend to rely more on heuristics than those who do not. |
| Keywords: | Gender, Prejudice, Race, Voting |
| JEL: | D72 C90 J15 J16 |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qed:wpaper:1370&r=dem |