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on Demographic Economics |
| By: | Hippolyte d'Albis (PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS Paris - École normale supérieure - Paris - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, PSE - Paris School of Economics); Carole Bonnet (INED - Institut national d'études démographiques); Xavier Chojnicki (EQUIPPE - Economie Quantitative, Intégration, Politiques Publiques et Econométrie - Université de Lille, Sciences et Technologies - Université de Lille, Sciences Humaines et Sociales - PRES Université Lille Nord de France - Université de Lille, Droit et Santé); Najat El Mekkaoui; Angela Greulich (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Jérôme Hubert (LEM - Lille économie management - LEM - UMR 9221 - Université de Lille - UCL - Université catholique de Lille - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Julien Navaux (uOttawa - University of Ottawa [Ottawa]) |
| Abstract: | A better understanding of the resource allocation across ages is fundamentalto put in place welfare reforms in the context of population ageing.In times of major demographic change, the redistribution of resourcesbetween age groups and the funding of the economically inactive aged remainsa recurring topic of public debate and a major public policy concern inOECD countries. Governments search for a policy mix that will improve thequality of life of the elderly, while at the same time investing in the futureof the young and reducing the fiscal burden on the working population.Life expectancy and education requirements are increasing while budgetconstraints are tightening. This potentially creates tension in the allocationof resources between age groups (Preston 1984; Lee and Mason 2011a).By applying the methodology of National Transfer Accounts (NTA),this article analyzes for France (1) how the funding of consumption (publicand private) is secured at each age; (2) how the funding of consumptionhas changed over recent decades; and (3) how the consumption is financedcompared to that of other countries (China, Germany, Japan, Sweden,United Kingdom, and United States). We consider three sources for financingconsumption: the State (net transfers and in-kind services), individualsthemselves (income and assets), and families (inter vivos transfers, excludingbequests, following the NTA methodology) (United Nations 2013b). |
| Keywords: | Private and Public Consumption,Inter-Generational Equity,Generational Economy,National Transfer Accounts |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:cesptp:halshs-02076546&r=all |
| By: | Braga, Breno (Urban Institute); Malkova, Olga (University of Kentucky) |
| Abstract: | We examine the effects of college costs on the labor supply of mothers. Exploiting changes in college costs after the roll-out of nine generous state merit aid programs from 1993 to 2004, we analyze the difference in the labor supply of mothers before and after these programs were implemented. Mothers of college-age children decreased their annual hours of work after the start of a generous merit aid program, while fathers did not adjust their labor supply. There is no strong evidence that mothers changed their employment status, as most of the decrease in hours of work happened among employed mothers. Mothers of college-going children are entirely responsible for the decline in hours of work, where mothers of children who did not go to college experienced no change in hours of work. A 10 percent increase in spending on merit aid programs per undergraduate student leads to a 1.3 percent decline in hours of work among mothers of college-going children. The decline in labor supply is mainly due to adjustments among married, highly educated, and white mothers. |
| Keywords: | college costs, maternal labor supply, state merit aid programs |
| JEL: | I22 J22 J13 |
| Date: | 2020–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp12958&r=all |
| By: | Siminski, Peter (University of Technology, Sydney); Yetsenga, Rhiannon (University of Technology, Sydney) |
| Abstract: | This paper aims to shed new light on explanations for the sexual division of labour, within a broader examination of within-household specialisation. We propose a set of indices which we believe are the first direct within-couple measures of specialisation. We use these to present a rich descriptive profile of specialisation. Absolute advantage in market work has only a small role in behaviour for heterosexual couples, and no role at all for same-sex couples. In contrast, sex-based specialisation is much greater. We consider whether the patterns in the data are consistent with a formal Beckerian model of comparative advantage. A woman would need to be 109 times more productive in market work than her male partner before reaching expected parity in domestic work, and this is likely biased downwards due to endogeneity of relative wages related to earlier time use decisions. |
| Keywords: | sexual division of labour, family economics, specialisation, gender, time use |
| JEL: | D13 J16 |
| Date: | 2020–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp12977&r=all |
| By: | Juan Carlos Cordoba (Iowa State University); Xiying Liu; Marla Ripoll (University of Pittsburgh) |
| Abstract: | We investigate what accounts for the observed international differences in schooling and fertility, in particular the role of TFP, age-dependent mortality rates and public education policies. We use a generalized version of the Barro-Becker model that: (i) includes accumulation of human capital; (ii) allows for separate roles for intertemporal substitution, intergenerational substitution, and mortality risk aversion; and (iii) considers intergenerational financial frictions. We calibrate the model to a cross-section of countries in 2013. We find that while differences in TFP account for a large fraction of the dispersion in schooling, fertility and income per capita, public education subsidies play a major role. Public education spending per pupil matters relatively more in explaining the dispersion of fertility, while both the amount spent per pupil and the duration (years) of the subsidy are important in accounting for the dispersion of schooling. Eliminating public education subsidies results in an increase in average fertility, a decrease in human capital and income per capita, and an increase in the dispersion of schooling, fertility and income. |
| Keywords: | public education subsidies, intergenerational financial frictions, fertility, mortality, schooling, parental altruism, TFP |
| JEL: | I25 J13 O50 |
| Date: | 2020–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hka:wpaper:2020-013&r=all |
| By: | Dessy, Sylvain; Marchetta, Francesca; Pongou, Roland; Tiberti, Luca |
| Abstract: | In communities highly dependent on rainfed agriculture for their livelihoods, the common occurrence of climatic shocks can lower the marginal cost of a child and raise fertility. We test this hypothesis using longitudinal data from Madagascar. Exploiting exogenous within-district year-to-year variation in rainfall deficits in combination with individual fixed effects, we find that drought occurring in the agricultural season increases the fertility of young women living in agricultural households. This effect is long-lasting, as it is not reversed within four years after the drought occurrence. Analyzing mechanisms, we find that drought does not affect common factors of high fertility such as marriage timing. It operates mainly through a reduction of female agricultural income. Indeed, agricultural drought reduces the number of hours worked by women in agriculture but not men. It has no effect on the fertility of young women living in non-agricultural households, or in non-agrarian communities. Moreover, it does not affect fertility if it occurs during the non-agricultural season. These findings validate the marginal cost hypothesis whereby drought, by reducing the value of women's agricultural labor, lowers the marginal cost of a child, thus raising fertility. |
| Keywords: | Climate shocks,Drought,Young Women’s Fertility,Rural areas,Opportunity Cost of Childbearing |
| JEL: | C12 C13 C14 J12 J13 O12 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:490&r=all |
| By: | Dany Bahar (Center for International Development at Harvard University); Hillel Rapoport; Riccardo Turati |
| Abstract: | We empirically investigate the relationship between a country’s economic complexity and the diversity in the birthplaces of its immigrants. Our cross-country analysis suggests that countries with higher birthplace diversity by one standard deviation are more economically complex by 0.1 to 0.18 standard deviations above the mean. This holds particularly for diversity among highly educated migrants and for countries at intermediate levels of economic complexity. We address endogeneity concerns by instrumenting diversity through predicted stocks from a pseudo-gravity model as well as from a standard shift-share approach. Finally, we provide evidence suggesting that birthplace diversity boosts economic complexity by increasing the diversification of the host country’s export basket. |
| Keywords: | economic complexity, birthplace diversity, immigration, growth |
| JEL: | F22 O31 O33 |
| Date: | 2020–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cid:wpfacu:125a&r=all |