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on Demographic Economics |
| By: | Klasing, Mariko Jasmin; Klasing, Mariko J.; Milionis, Petros |
| Abstract: | We explore the impact of the international epidemiological transition on educational outcomes of males and females over the second half of the 20th century. We provide strong evidence that the large resulting declines in mortality rates from infectious diseases gave rise to differential life expectancy gains across genders, with females benefiting mostly from them due to their greater responsiveness to vaccination. We also document that these gender differences in life expectancy gains are subsequently reflected in similar differential increases in educational outcomes for males and females. Using an instrumental variables strategy that exploits pre-intervention variation in mortality rates across different infectious diseases we confirm the causal nature of these effects and show that the magnitude of the effects account for a large share of the reduction in the education gender gap that emerged over this period. |
| JEL: | I15 J16 O11 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc16:145771&r=dem |
| By: | Neubert, Milena; Bannier, Christina E. |
| Abstract: | This study examines the role of actual and perceived financial sophistication (i.e., financial literacy and confidence) for individuals' wealth accumulation. Using survey data from the German SAVE initiative, we find first of all strong gender- and education-related differences in the distribution of the two variables: Whereas financial literacy rises in formal education, confidence increases in education for men but decreases for women. As a consequence, highly-educated women become strongly underconfident, while men remain overconfident. We then show that these differences influence wealth accumulation: The positive effect of financial literacy is stronger for women than for men and is increasing in women's education but decreasing in men's. For highly-educated men, however, overconfidence closes this gap by increasing wealth via stronger financial engagement. Interestingly, female underconfidence does not reduce current wealth levels though it weakens future-oriented financial engagement and may thus impair future wealth accumulation. |
| JEL: | D91 G11 D83 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc16:145593&r=dem |
| By: | Aaronson, Daniel; Dehejia, Rajeev; Jordon, Andrew; Pop-Eleches, Cristian; Samii, Cyrus; Schultze, Karl |
| Abstract: | This paper documents the evolving impact of childbearing on the work activity of mothers between 1787 and 2014. It is based on a compiled data set of 429 censuses and surveys, representing 101 countries and 46.9 million mothers, using the International and U.S. IPUMS, the North Atlantic Population Project, and the Demographic and Health Surveys. Using twin births (Rosenzweig and Wolpin 1980) and same gendered children (Angrist and Evans 1998) as instrumental variables, we show three main findings: (1) the effect of fertility on labor supply is small and often indistinguishable from zero at low levels of income and large and negative at higher levels of income; (2) these effects are remarkably consistent both across time looking at the historical time series of currently developed countries and at a contemporary cross section of developing countries; and (3) the results are robust to other instrument variation, different demographic and educational groups, rescaling to account for changes in the base level of labor force participation, and a variety of specification and data decisions. We show that the negative gradient in female labor supply is consistent with a standard labor-leisure model augmented to include a taste for children. In particular, our results appear to be driven by a declining substitution effect to increasing wages that arises from changes in the sectoral and occupational structure of female jobs into formal nonagricultural wage employment as countries develop. |
| Keywords: | Labor Supply, Fertility, Mothers, Development, History |
| JEL: | F63 F66 J0 J01 J13 N0 N30 |
| Date: | 2017–02–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:76768&r=dem |
| By: | Eibich, Peter; Siedler, Thomas |
| Abstract: | Retirement increases the amount of leisure time. Retired parents might choose to invest some of their time into their adult children, e.g. by providing childcare. Such intergenerational time transfers can have important implications for retirement and family policies. This paper estimates the effects of parental retirement on their adult children’s fertility and labor supply. We use a representative household panel dataset from Germany to link observations on parents and adult children, and we exploit eligibility ages for early retirement using a regression discontinuity design for identification. The results show that early parental retirement induces a significant and considerable increase in (adult) children’s fertility. It also decreases labor supply of daughters. The analysis of time use data shows that retired parents provide childcare and assist their children with domestic duties. The findings suggest that early retirement policies can have important spillover effects on younger generations. |
| JEL: | J13 J22 J26 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc16:145746&r=dem |
| By: | Bratti, Massimiliano (University of Milan); Fiore, Simona (University of Bologna); Mendola, Mariapia (University of Milan Bicocca) |
| 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: | 2016–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10462&r=dem |
| By: | Genicot, Garance (Georgetown University); Mayda, Anna Maria (Georgetown University); Mendola, Mariapia (University of Milan Bicocca) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the impact of internal migration on child labor outcomes in Brazil. We develop a theoretical model and evaluate it on children aged 10 to 14 using two decades of Census data. In our model, migration impacts child labor through changes in the local labor market, which is made up of both adults and children. Thus we complement the individual-level child-labor analysis with an empirical study of the labor-market impact of internal migration within Brazil. We exploit variation in the concentration of both skilled and unskilled immigrants at the municipality level and employ an instrumental variable strategy that relies on the historical (1980) distribution of immigrants within the country. Our results show that internal migration of a given skill level has a negative impact on corresponding adults' labor market outcomes. We also find that unskilled (skilled) immigration has a negative (positive) and significant impact on child labor. Finally, unskilled immigration increases children school attendance and decreases their likelihood of being idle. |
| Keywords: | child labor, migration |
| JEL: | F22 J61 O12 |
| Date: | 2016–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10444&r=dem |