nep-dem New Economics Papers
on Demographic Economics
Issue of 2018‒10‒29
four papers chosen by
Héctor Pifarré i Arolas
Universitat Pompeu Fabra

  1. Sanctioned to Death? The Impact of Economic Sanctions on Life Expectancy and its Gender Gap By Gutmann, Jerg; Neumeier, Florian; Neuenkirch, Matthias
  2. The Gender Gap in Citations: Lessons from Demographic Economics Journals By Shoshana Grossbard; Tansel Yilmazer; Lingrui Zhang
  3. Long-Term Changes in Married Couples' Labor Supply and Taxes: Evidence from the US and Europe since the 1980s By Bick, Alexander; Brüggemann, Bettina; Fuchs-Schündeln, Nicola; Paule-Paludkiewicz, Hannah
  4. Genes, Education, and Labor Market Outcomes: Evidence from the Health and Retirement Study By Nicholas W. Papageorge; Kevin Thom

  1. By: Gutmann, Jerg; Neumeier, Florian; Neuenkirch, Matthias
    Abstract: We empirically analyze the effect of UN and US economic sanctions on life expectancy and its gender gap in target countries. Our sample covers 98 less developed and newly industrialized countries over the period 1977–2012. We employ a matching approach to account for the endogeneity of sanctions. Our results indicate that an average episode of UN sanctions reduces life expectancy by about 1.2–1.4 years. The corresponding decrease of 0.4–0.5 years under an average episode of US sanctions is significantly smaller. In addition, we find evidence that women are affected more severely by the imposition of sanctions. Sanctions not being “gender‐blind” can be interpreted as evidence that they disproportionately affect (the life expectancy of) the more vulnerable members of society. We also detect some effect heterogeneity, as the reduction in life expectancy accumulates over time. Furthermore, countries with a better political environment are less severely affected by economic sanctions.
    Keywords: Gender Gap,Human Development,Life Expectancy,Sanctions,United Nations,United States
    JEL: F51 F52 F53 I15
    Date: 2018
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc18:181505&r=dem
  2. By: Shoshana Grossbard (San Diego State University); Tansel Yilmazer (Ohio State University); Lingrui Zhang (University of Waterloo)
    Abstract: This paper investigates gender differentials in citations of articles published in two journals specialized in Demographic Economics, a field that has traditionally attracted relatively large numbers of women researchers. In contrast to findings based on citations of top economics journals, we find a gender gap in citations favoring women among articles published in the Journal of Population Economics (JPOP) or the Review of Economics of the Household (REHO) between 2003 and 2014 . If the corresponding author is male, having at least one female co-author boosts citations. Across subfields of demographic economics, citations of female authors increase as female representation in the subfield increases. The gender gap in citations favoring women is not found for authors with limited experience past graduate school, which supports an explanation for the gender gap based on authors’ prior experience with economics journals of higher rank.
    Keywords: citations, gender gap
    JEL: A14 I23 D10 J10 J16
    Date: 2018–10
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hka:wpaper:2018-078&r=dem
  3. By: Bick, Alexander (Arizona State University); Brüggemann, Bettina (McMaster University); Fuchs-Schündeln, Nicola (Goethe University Frankfurt); Paule-Paludkiewicz, Hannah (Goethe University Frankfurt)
    Abstract: We document the time-series of employment rates and hours worked per employed by married couples in the US and seven European countries (Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, and the UK) from the early 1980s through 2016. Relying on a model of joint household labor supply decisions, we quantitatively analyze the role of non-linear labor income taxes for explaining the evolution of hours worked of married couples over time, using as inputs the full country- and year-specific statutory labor income tax codes. We further evaluate the role of consumption taxes, gender and educational wage premia, and the educational composition. The model is quite successful in replicating the time series behavior of hours worked per employed married woman, with labor income taxes being the key driving force. It does however capture only part of the secular increase in married women's employment rates in the 1980s and early 1990s, suggesting an important role for factors not considered in this paper. We will make the non-linear tax codes used as an input into the analysis available as a user-friendly and easily integrable set of Matlab codes.
    Keywords: taxation, two-earner households, hours worked
    JEL: E60 H20 H31 J22
    Date: 2018–09
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11824&r=dem
  4. By: Nicholas W. Papageorge (John Hopkins University); Kevin Thom (New York University)
    Abstract: Recent advances have led to the discovery of specific genetic variants that predict educational attainment. We study how these variants, summarized as a linear index — known as a polygenic score — are associated with human capital accumulation and labor market outcomes in the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). We present two main sets of results. First, we find evidence that the genetic factors measured by this score interact strongly with childhood socioeconomic status in determining educational outcomes. In particular, while the polygenic score predicts higher rates of college graduation on average, this relationship is substantially stronger for individuals who grew up in households with higher socioeconomic status relative to those who grew up in poorer households. Second, the polygenic score predicts labor earnings even after adjusting for completed education, with larger returns in more recent decades. These patterns suggest that the genetic traits that promote education might allow workers to better accommodate ongoing skill biased technological change. Consistent with this interpretation, we find a positive association between the polygenic score and non-routine analytic tasks that have benefited from the introduction of new technologies. Nonetheless, the college premium remains the dominant determinant of earnings differences at all levels of the polygenic score. Given the role of childhood SES in predicting college attainment, this raises concerns about wasted potential arising from limited household resources.
    Keywords: human capital, Inequality, education, genes
    JEL: I24 J24
    Date: 2018–10
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hka:wpaper:2018-076&r=dem

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