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on Demographic Economics |
| By: | Kazumasa Oguro (Faculty of Economics, Hosei University); Masaya Yasuoka (School of Economics, Kwansei Gakuin University) |
| Abstract: | In economically developed countries, an aging society with fewer children is progressing. Especially, Japan’s aging society is rapidly progressing. There, child care policies are actively provided to mitigate effects of the rapidly aging society. Child care services have increased. Female labor participation has also increased. As the empirical data show, female labor participation is positively correlated with fertility, as shown also by results from OECD countries. However, our analyses show that the fertility rate cannot always be raised by child care service improvement, although child care services can raise the female labor participation rate. Additionally, our analyses consider work balance and the fertility rate. A fixed working time for the father reduces female labor participation and increases child care time of the mother. |
| Keywords: | Child care service, Endogenous fertility, Stress, Work life balance |
| JEL: | J13 J22 |
| Date: | 2017–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kgu:wpaper:153&r=dem |
| By: | Mark E. McGovern; Slawa Rokicki |
| Abstract: | Early life investments in children promote skills and capabilities, and subsequently influence a variety of health, social, and economic outcomes in later life. In this paper, we examine heterogeneity in children’s time use using diary data from two waves of a nationally representative longitudinal cohort study. Children from disadvantaged households spend significantly less time reading and engaging in sport than their counterparts, and more time in unstructured activities and using media. Though gaps are relatively small at age 9, they widen considerably over time. At age 13, girls in households with low maternal education spend on average 6 minutes per day reading (95% CI 6-14), and 12 minutes per day in sport (95% CI 23-31), while girls in households with high maternal education spend 14 minutes reading (95% CI 11-17) and 27 minutes in sport (95% CI 27-31). Similar differences were found for boys. Using a decomposition analysis, we find that resources, preferences, initial endowments, and differential costs all play a role in explaining time use concentration across households, indicating that disadvantaged families may be constrained in how they choose their preferred time use options. Given the important role of extra-curricular activities in promoting cognitive and non-cognitive skill development, the systematic differences in time use we document in this paper are likely to contribute to cumulative disadvantage and widening skill gaps over adolescence and into adulthood. |
| Keywords: | Time Use; Socioeconomic Disparities; Early Life Conditions; Skill Development |
| JEL: | I30 J10 J22 |
| Date: | 2017–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qub:charms:1702&r=dem |
| By: | Massimiliano, Bratti; Simona, Fiore; Mariapia, Mendola; |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the causal effects of family size and demographic structure on offspring’s international migration. We use rich survey data from Mexico to estimate the impact of sibship size, birth order and sibling composition on teenagers’ and young adults’ migration outcomes. We find no empirical support for the hypothesis that high fertility drives migration. The positive correlation between sibship size and migration disappears when endogeneity of family size is addressed using biological fertility (miscarriages) and infertility shocks. Yet, the chances to migrate are not equally distributed across children within the family. Older siblings, especially firstborn males, are more likely to migrate, while having more sisters than brothers may increase the chances of migration, particularly among girls. |
| Keywords: | International Migration, Mexico, Family Size, Birth Order, Sibling Rivalry |
| JEL: | J13 F22 O15 |
| Date: | 2017–01–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mib:wpaper:358&r=dem |
| By: | Mark E. McGovern (CHaRMS – Centre for Health Research at the Management School, Queen’s University Belfast; Centre of Excellence for Public Health (Northern Ireland)); Slawa Rokicki (Geary Institute for Public Policy, University College Dublin) |
| Abstract: | Early life investments in children promote skills and capabilities, and subsequently influence a variety of health, social, and economic outcomes in later life. In this paper, we examine heterogeneity in children’s time use using diary data from two waves of a nationally representative longitudinal cohort study. Children from disadvantaged households spend significantly less time reading and engaging in sport than their counterparts, and more time in unstructured activities and using media. Though gaps are relatively small at age 9, they widen considerably over time. At age 13, girls in households with low maternal education spend on average 6 minutes per day reading (95% CI 3-10) and 12 minutes per day in sport (95% CI 8-16), while girls in households with high maternal education spend 14 minutes reading (95% CI 11-17) and 27 minutes in sport (95% CI 23-31). Similar differences were found for boys. Using a decomposition analysis, we find that resources, preferences, initial endowments, and differential costs all play a role in explaining time use concentration across households, indicating that disadvantaged families may be constrained in how they choose their preferred time use options. Given the important role of extra-curricular activities in promoting cognitive and non-cognitive skill development, the systematic differences in time use we document in this paper are likely to contribute to cumulative disadvantage and widening skill gaps over adolescence and into adulthood. |
| Keywords: | Time Use, Socioeconomic Differences, Early Life Conditions; Skill Development |
| JEL: | I30 J10 J22 |
| Date: | 2017–01–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ucd:wpaper:201703&r=dem |
| By: | Bandiera, Oriana; Fischer, Greg; Prat, Andrea; Ytsma, Erina |
| Abstract: | Performance pay increases productivity but also earnings inequality. Can it widen the gender gap because women are less responsive? We provide answers by aggregating evidence from existing experiments on performance pay that have both male and female subjects, regardless of whether they test for gender differences. We develop a Bayesian hierarchical model (BHM) that allows us to estimate both the average effect and the heterogeneity across studies. We find that the gender response difference is close to zero and heterogeneity across studies is small. We also find that the average effect of performance pay is positive, increasing output by 0.28 standard deviations. The data are thus strongly supportive of agency theory for men and women alike. |
| Keywords: | econometrics; Gender; meta-analysis; wage differentials |
| JEL: | C11 J16 J31 |
| Date: | 2016–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:11724&r=dem |
| By: | Borella, Margherita; De Nardi, Mariacristina; Yang, Fang |
| Abstract: | Wages, labor market participation, hours worked, and savings differ by gender and marital status. In addition, women and married people make up for a large fraction of the population and of labor market participants, total hours worked, and total earnings. For the most part, macroeconomists have been ignoring women and marriage in setting up structural models and by calibrating them using data on males only. In this paper we ask whether ignoring gender and marriage in both models and data implies that the resulting calibration matches well the key economic aggregates. We find that it does not and we ask whether there are other calibration strategies or relatively simple models of marriage that can improve the fit of the model to aggregate data. |
| Keywords: | Aggregates; Gender; Macroeconomy; Marriage |
| JEL: | D1 E21 |
| Date: | 2016–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:11728&r=dem |
| By: | Seo-Young Cho (University of Marburg) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates empirically how and why men and women are different in their confidence levels. Using the data of the PISA test in math, confidence is decomposed into two dimensions: confidence in correct math knowledge and overconfidence in over-claiming false knowledge. The findings highlight that female students are not less confident than male students, but they are rather less overconfident. Furthermore, mathematical abilities have different effects on male and female students. While ability alone increases confidence and decreases overconfidence, the interaction effect of feminine gender and ability is negative. This means that the negative effect of ability on overconfidence is larger for female students than male ones, while the positive effect of ability on confidence is smaller for females. That being said, the negative gender gap in overconfidence against girls is greater for students in the higher quartiles of math scores than those in the lower quartiles. Also, the positive gender gap in confidence for girls is smaller for well-performing students than underperforming ones. The empirical evidence further reveals that such gender-asymmetric effects of ability can be explained by gender socialization that limits women’s roles and undermines their achievements. |
| Keywords: | gender differences in confidence and overconfidence; gender gaps in math; genderasymmetric effects of ability; gender equality; gender socialization effects |
| JEL: | C31 I21 I24 J16 J24 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mar:magkse:201701&r=dem |
| By: | Paolo Pinotti |
| Abstract: | Immigration enforcement has ambiguous implications for the crime rate of undocumented immigrants. On the one hand, expulsions reduce the pool of immigrants at risk of committing crimes, on the other they lower the opportunity cost of crime for those who are not expelled. We estimate the e?ect of expulsions on the crime rate of undocumented immigrants in Italy exploiting variation in enforcement toward immigrants of di?erent nationality, due to the existence of bilateral agreements for the control of illegal migration. We ?nd that stricter enforcement of migration policy reduces the crime rate of undocumented immigrants. |
| Keywords: | immigration, enforcement, crime |
| JEL: | K37 K42 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:baf:cbafwp:cbafwp1502&r=dem |
| By: | Cyron, Laura (Asian Development Bank Institute); Schwerdt, Guido (Asian Development Bank Institute); Viarengo, Martina (Asian Development Bank Institute) |
| Abstract: | We investigate the effect of having opposite sex siblings on cognitive and noncognitive skills of children in the United States at the onset of formal education. Our identification strategy rests on the assumption that, conditional on covariates, the sibling sex composition of the two firstborn children in a family is arguably exogenous. With regard to cognitive skills, learning skills, and self-control measured in kindergarten, we find that boys benefit from having a sister, while there is no effect for girls. We also find evidence for the effect fading out as early as first grade. |
| Keywords: | sibling gender effects; gender peer effects; education; cognitive skills; noncognitive skills; early childhood |
| JEL: | I20 J13 J16 |
| Date: | 2016–12–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:adbiwp:0627&r=dem |