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on Demographic Economics |
| By: | Kugler, Adriana (Georgetown University); Tinsley, Catherine H. (Georgetown University); Ukhaneva, Olga (Georgetown University) |
| Abstract: | Recent work suggests that women are more responsive to negative feedback than men in certain environments. We examine whether negative feedback in the form of relatively low grades in major-related classes explains gender differences in the final majors undergraduates choose. We use unique administrative data from a large private university on the East Coast from 2009-2016 to test whether women are more sensitive to grades than men, and whether the gender composition of major-related classes affects major changes. We also control for other factors that may affect a student's final major including: high school student performance, gender of faculty, and economic returns of majors. Finally, we examine how students' decisions are affected by external cues that signal STEM fields as masculine. The results show that high school academic preparation, faculty gender composition, and major returns have little effect on major switching behaviors, and that women and men are equally likely to change their major in response to poor grades in major-related courses. Moreover, women in male-dominated majors do not exhibit different patterns of switching behaviors relative to their male colleagues. Women are, however, more likely to switch out of male-dominated STEM majors in response to poor performance compared to men. Therefore, we find that it takes multiple signals of lack of fit into a major (low grades, gender composition of class, and external stereotyping signals) to impel female students to switch majors. |
| Keywords: | education gender gap, major choice, STEM field |
| JEL: | I23 I24 J16 |
| Date: | 2017–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10947&r=dem |
| By: | Bhalotra, Sonia (University of Essex); Karlsson, Martin (University of Duisburg-Essen); Nilsson, Therese (Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN)); 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 fies and tax records to generate longitudinal microdata that track individuals through fie 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: | H41 I15 I18 |
| Date: | 2017–08–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:1177&r=dem |
| By: | Boschini, Anne (SOFI, Stockholm University); Gunnarsson, Kristin (Uppsala University); Roine, Jesper (Stockholm Institute of Transition Economics) |
| Abstract: | Using a large, register-based panel data set we study gender differences in top incomes in Sweden over the period 1974–2013. We find that, while women are still a minority of the top decile group, and make up a smaller share the higher up in the distribution we move, their presence has steadily increased in all top groups over the past four decades. Top income women are wealthier and rely more on capital incomes, but the difference, relative to men, has decreased since the 1970s. Over this period capital incomes have in general become more important in the top, but the share of working-rich women has gone up, while the opposite is true for men. Realized capital gains are more important for top income women but turn out to be of a more transitory nature than for men. Mobility is generally higher for top income women compared to top income men but the trend since the 1990s is toward increased gender equality in this respect too. Finally, we find important differences between top income women and men in terms of marital status and family composition. Overall, our results suggest that many of the findings in the top income literature have a clear gender component and that understanding gender equality in the top of the distribution requires studying not only earnings and labour market outcomes but also incomes from other sources. |
| Keywords: | income inequality, income distribution, gender inequality, top incomes, capital incomes, realized capital gains |
| JEL: | D13 D31 H20 J16 J31 |
| Date: | 2017–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10979&r=dem |
| By: | Redmond, Paul (ESRI, Dublin); McGuinness, Seamus (Economic and Social Research Institute, Dublin) |
| Abstract: | The gender wage gap has declined in magnitude over time; however, the gap that remains is largely unexplained due to gender convergence in key wage determining characteristics. In this paper we show that the degree of gender convergence differs across countries in Europe. Most, if not all, of the wage gap is unexplained in some countries, predominantly in Eastern Europe, while in some central and peripheral countries, differences between the characteristics of males and females can still explain a relatively large proportion of the wage gap. We investigate whether gender differences relating to job preferences play a role in explaining the gender wage gap. We find that females are more motivated than males to find a job that is closer to home and offers job security, whereas males are motivated by financial gain. The average gender wage differential in Europe is 12.2 percent and gender differences in job preferences are associated with a 1.3 percentage point increase in the wage gap. We find that preferences explain more of the gender wage gap than the individual components relating to age, tenure and previous employment status. A quantile decomposition reveals that job preferences play a greater role in explaining the wage gap at the top of the wage distribution. |
| Keywords: | gender wage gap, job motives, Oaxaca, quantile decomposition |
| JEL: | J16 J24 J31 J71 |
| Date: | 2017–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10933&r=dem |
| By: | Barth, Erling (Institute for Social Research, Oslo); Pekkala Kerr, Sari (Wellesley College); Olivetti, Claudia (Boston College) |
| Abstract: | We use a unique match between the 2000 Decennial Census of the United States and the Longitudinal Employer Household Dynamics (LEHD) data to analyze how much of the increase in the gender earnings gap over the lifecycle comes from shifts in the sorting of men and women across high- and low-pay establishments and how much is due to differential earnings growth within establishments. We find that for the college educated the increase is substantial and, for the most part, due to differential earnings growth within establishment by gender. The between component is also important. Differential mobility between establishments by gender can explain 27 percent of the widening of the pay gap for this group. For those with no college the relatively small increase of the gender gap over the lifecycle can be fully explained by differential moves by gender across establishments. The evidence suggests that, for both education groups, the between-establishment component of the increasing wage gap is due almost entirely to those who are married. |
| Keywords: | gender pay gap, establishment wage differentials, earnings growth |
| JEL: | J16 J31 |
| Date: | 2017–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10974&r=dem |
| By: | Angelov, Nikolay (UCLS – Uppsala Center for Labour Studies); Johansson, Per (Uppsala universitet, IFAU, IZA); Lee, Myoung-jae (Department of Economics, Korea University) |
| Abstract: | We provide a framework for the estimation of the impact of fertility timing on female long-term labor supply, measured as labor market work duration. We show that the genuine treatment is waiting time to birth rather than birth per se. In the application we control for the joint decision of fertility and labor supply by using the ‘same-sex’ instrument in a control function setting. We find that having a third child will in general reduce the labor market work duration. The magnitude of the effect depends to a large extent on the mothers’ age at second birth but also on the waiting time to the third child and the education level. |
| Keywords: | Labor supply; Parenthood; Retirement; Dynamic treatment assignment; Censored regression |
| JEL: | C24 C26 C51 J22 |
| Date: | 2017–08–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2017_013&r=dem |
| By: | Songül Tolan |
| Abstract: | This paper develops a structural dynamic retirement model to investigate effects and corresponding underlying mechanisms of a partial retirement program on labor supply, fiscal balances, and the pension income distribution. The structural approach allows for disentangling the two counteracting mechanisms that drive the employment effects of partial retirement: 1) the crowding-out from full-time employment, and 2) the movement from early retirement or unemployment to partial retirement. It also allows for investigating the role of financial compensations in a partial retirement program. Based on a unique German administrative dataset, I perform counterfactual policy simulations that analyze the role of partial retirement combined with financial subsidies and an increased normal retirement age. The results show that partial retirement extends working lives but reduces the overall employment volume. The fiscal consequences of partial retirement are negative but substantially less so when wages and pensions in partial retirement remain uncompensated. Partial retirement decreases inequality in pension income and provides a way to smooth consumption especially for retirees in lower income deciles in the context of an increased normal retirement age. |
| Keywords: | Retirement, Partial Retirement, Social Security and Public Pensions, Structural estimation, Dynamic Discrete Choice |
| JEL: | C61 J26 H55 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp1679&r=dem |
| By: | Sin, Isabelle (Motu Economic and Public Policy Research Trust); Stillman, Steven (Free University of Bozen/Bolzano); Fabling, Richard (Independent Researcher) |
| Abstract: | As in other OECD countries, women in New Zealand earn substantially less than men with similar observable characteristics. In this paper, we use a decade of annual wage and productivity data from New Zealand's Linked Employer-Employee Database to examine different explanations for this gender wage gap. Sorting by gender at either the industry or firm level explains less than one-fifth of the overall wage gap. Gender differences in productivity within firms also explain little of the difference seen in wages. The relationships between the gender wage-productivity gap and both age and tenure are inconsistent with statistical discrimination being an important explanatory factor for the remaining differences in wages. Relating across industry and over time variation in the gender wage-productivity gap to industry-year variation in worker skills, and product market and labor market competition, we find evidence that is consistent with taste discrimination being important for explaining the overall gender wage gap. Explanations based on gender differences in bargaining power are less consistent with our findings. |
| Keywords: | gender wage gap, discrimination, sorting, productivity, competition |
| JEL: | J16 J31 J71 |
| Date: | 2017–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10975&r=dem |
| By: | Eder, Christoph (University of Innsbruck); Halla, Martin (University of Innsbruck) |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the historical origins of the cultural norm regarding illegitimacy (formerly known as bastardy). We test the hypothesis that traditional agricultural production structures influenced the historical illegitimacy ratio, and have had a lasting effect until today. Based on data from the Austro-Hungarian Empire and modern Austria, we show that regions that focused on animal husbandry (as compared to crop farming) had significantly higher illegitimacy ratios in the past, and female descendants of these societies are still more likely to approve illegitimacy and give birth outside of marriage today. To establish causality, we exploit, within an IV approach, variation in the local agricultural suitability, which determined the historical dominance of animal husbandry. Since differences in the agricultural production structure are completely obsolete in today's economy, we suggest interpreting the persistence in revealed and stated preferences as a cultural norm. Complementary evidence from an 'epidemiological approach' suggests that this norm is passed down through generations, and the family is the most important transmission channel. Our findings point to a more general phenomenon that cultural norms can be shaped by economic conditions, and may persist, even if economic conditions become irrelevant. |
| Keywords: | cultural norms, persistence, animal husbandry, illegitimacy |
| JEL: | Z1 A13 J12 J13 J43 N33 |
| Date: | 2017–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10969&r=dem |
| By: | Smith, Trenton G. (University of Otago); Stillman, Steven (Free University of Bozen/Bolzano); Craig, Stuart (University of Pennsylvania) |
| Abstract: | Obesity rates have risen dramatically in the US since the 1980s, but well-identified studies have struggled to explain the magnitude of the observed changes. In this paper, we estimate the causal impact of economic insecurity on obesity rates. Specifically, we construct a synthetic panel of demographic groups over the period 1988 to 2012 by combining the newly developed Economic Security Index (ESI) with data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES). According to our estimates, increased economic insecurity over this time period explains 50% of the overall population-level increase in obesity. |
| Keywords: | obesity, economic insecurity, economic security index |
| JEL: | D10 I12 I18 J60 |
| Date: | 2017–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10954&r=dem |