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on Demographic Economics |
| By: | Shintaro Yamaguchi; Yukiko Asai; Ryo Kambayashi |
| Abstract: | We estimate the effects of childcare enrollment on child outcomes by exploiting a staggered childcare expansion across regions in Japan. We find that childcare improves language development among boys and reduces aggression and the symptoms of ADHD among the children of low-education mothers. Estimates show that the improved child behavior is strongly associated with better parenting quality and maternal wellbeing. Evidence also suggests that promoting positive parenting practices is an important element of an effective childcare program. Our estimates for marginal treatment effects indicate that children who would benefit most from childcare are less likely to attend, implying inefficient allocation. |
| JEL: | J13 |
| Date: | 2017–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mcm:deptwp:2017-05&r=dem |
| By: | Yamaguchi, Shintaro; Asai, Yukiko; Kambayashi, Ryo |
| Abstract: | We estimate the effects of childcare enrollment on child outcomes by exploiting a staggered childcare expansion across regions in Japan. We find that childcare improves language development among boys and reduces aggression and the symptoms of ADHD among the children of low-education mothers. Estimates show that the improved child behavior is strongly associated with better parenting quality and maternal wellbeing. Evidence also suggests that promoting positive parenting practices is an important element of an effective childcare program. Our estimates for marginal treatment effects indicate that children who would benefit most from childcare are less likely to attend, implying inefficient allocation. |
| Date: | 2017–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hit:hituec:656&r=dem |
| By: | Bart Golsteyn (Maastricht University and SOFI); Cécile A. J. Magnée (Maastricht University) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the causal effect of birth spacing (i.e., the age difference between siblings) on personality traits. We use longitudinal data from a large British cohort which has been followed from birth until age 42. Following earlier studies, we employ miscarriages between the first and second child as an instrument for birth spacing. The results show that a larger age gap between siblings negatively affects personality traits of the youngest child in two-child households. This result sheds a first light on the causal effects of birth spacing on personality traits. |
| Keywords: | birth spacing, family structure, personality traits |
| JEL: | J12 J13 J24 |
| Date: | 2017–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hka:wpaper:2017-023&r=dem |
| By: | Sonia R. Bhalotra; Alberto Diaz-Cayeros; Grant Miller; Alfonso Miranda; Atheendar S. Venkataramani |
| Abstract: | Historically, improvements in the quality of municipal drinking water made important contributions to mortality decline in wealthy countries. However, water disinfection often does not produce equivalent benefits in developing countries today. We investigate this puzzle by analyzing an abrupt, large-scale municipal water disinfection program in Mexico in 1991 that increased the share of Mexico’s population receiving chlorinated water from 55% to 85% within six months. We find that on average, the program was associated with a 37 to 48% decline in diarrheal disease deaths among children (over 23,000 averted deaths per year) and was highly cost-effective (about $1,310 per life year saved). However, we also find evidence that age (degradation) of water pipes and lack of complementary sanitation infrastructure play important roles in attenuating these benefits. Countervailing behavioral responses, although present, appear to be less important. |
| JEL: | H41 I18 J11 |
| Date: | 2017–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:23239&r=dem |
| By: | Marco Le Moglie; Letizia Mencarini; Chiara Rapallini (Dipartimento di Scienze per l'Economia e l'Impresa) |
| Abstract: | We investigate the role of individual labor income as a moderator of parental subjective well-being trajectories before and after the first childbirth in Germany, a very low fertility country. Analyzing German Socioeconomic Panel Survey data, we found that income matters negatively for parental subjective well-being after childbirth, though with important differences by education and gender. In particular, among better educated parents, the richer see the arrival of a child more negatively. These findings contribute to the debate on the relationship between income and fertility adding information on how parents perceive the birth of a child beyond the strict financial cost of childbearing and raising. Results are discussed in terms of preferences among different groups of parents, costs of children, and work and family balance. Results are robust to potential endogeneity between income and childbirth, as well as for alternative measures of income. |
| Keywords: | First child, subjective well-being, individual income, Germany |
| JEL: | J1 J13 D1 I31 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:frz:wpaper:wp2017_08.rdf&r=dem |
| By: | TENIKUE Michel; TEQUAME Miron |
| Abstract: | Sex and birth order of siblings are important determinants of an adolescent's risky behaviour and economic outcomes in later age. Both parental choices and "peer-effect" are the two possible mechanisms investigated in the literature. This paper studies the "peer-effect" to show how gender of preceding siblings shape risky sexual behavior of teen girls in Nigeria, a context characterized by age and gender based hierarchy. Using individual data from the DHS surveys it shows that women born in families with a male firstborn are significantly less likely to have a premarital teen pregnancy. Such reduction is assessed to be as high as 33% when compared to their counterparts in female firstborn families. Additionally, the effect of a male firstborn is a function of age difference and his survival status, as well as the presence of the father in the household. The study underlines how gender roles and the birth order of siblings affect adolescents' risky behaviour. |
| Keywords: | birth order; risky behaviour; Nigeria |
| JEL: | I12 |
| Date: | 2017–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:irs:cepswp:2017-04&r=dem |