nep-dem New Economics Papers
on Demographic Economics
Issue of 2021‒04‒05
five papers chosen by
Héctor Pifarré i Arolas
Universitat Pompeu Fabra

  1. The welfare implications of climate change-related mortality: Inequality and population ethics By Marc Fleurbaey; Aurélie Méjean; Antonin Pottier; Stéphane Zuber
  2. A Unified Model of Cohort Mortality for Economic Analysis By Flavien Moreau; Adriana Lleras-Muney
  3. On the Distribution of Estates and the Distribution of Wealth: Evidence from the Dead By Berman, Yonatan; Morelli, Salvatore
  4. Baby bust in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic? First results from the new STFF data series By Sobotka, Tomas; Jasilioniene, Aiva; Galarza, Ainhoa Alustiza; Zeman, Kryštof; Nemeth, Laszlo; Jdanov, Dmitri
  5. Diversity in Schools: Immigrants and the Educational Performance of U.S. Born Students By David N. Figlio; Paola Giuliano; Riccardo Marchingiglio; Umut Özek; Paola Sapienza

  1. By: Marc Fleurbaey (PSE - Paris School of Economics - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - ENS Paris - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris sciences et lettres - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Aurélie Méjean (CIRED - Centre International de Recherche sur l'Environnement et le Développement - Université Paris-Saclay - AgroParisTech - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - Cirad - Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Antonin Pottier (CIRED - Centre International de Recherche sur l'Environnement et le Développement - Université Paris-Saclay - AgroParisTech - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - Cirad - Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Stéphane Zuber (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, PSE - Paris School of Economics - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - ENS Paris - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris sciences et lettres - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)
    Abstract: Climate change-related mortality may strongly affect human well-being. By reducing life expectancy, it reduces the well-being of some infividuals. This may exacerbate existing inequalities: ex-ante inequality among people in different groups or regions of the world; ex-post inequality in experienced well-being by people in the same generation. But mortality may also reduce total population size by preventing some individuals from having children. This raises the population-ethical problem of how total population size should be valued. This paper proposes a methodology to measure te welfare effects of climate change through population and inequality change. We illustrate the methodology using a climate-economy integrated assessment model involving endogenous population change due to climate change-related mortality.
    Keywords: Climate change-related mortality,fairness,inequality,population ethics
    Date: 2020–03
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-03048370&r=all
  2. By: Flavien Moreau; Adriana Lleras-Muney
    Abstract: We propose a dynamic production function of population health and mortality from birth onwards. Our parsimonious model provides an excellent fit for the mortality and survival curves for both primate and human populations since 1816. The model sheds light on the dynamics behind many phenomena documented in the literature, including (i) the existence and evolution of mortality gradients across socio-economic statuses, (ii) non-monotonic dynamic effects of in-utero shocks, (iii) persistent or “scarring” effects of wars and (iv) mortality displacement after large temporary shocks such as extreme weather.
    Keywords: Health;Aging;Population and demographics;Women;Environment;Mortality,In-utero shocks,Selection,Scarring,WP,health stock,health distribution,investment schedule,log mortality rates,health shock
    Date: 2021–02–12
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imf:imfwpa:2021/037&r=all
  3. By: Berman, Yonatan; Morelli, Salvatore
    Abstract: Detailed information about the distribution of estates left at death has commonly served as the basis for the estimation of wealth distributions among the living via the mortality multiplier method. The application of detailed mortality rates by demographics and other determinants of mortality is crucial for obtaining an unbiased representation of the wealth distribution of the living. Yet, in this paper we suggest that a simplified mortality multiplier method, derived using average mortality rates and aggregate tabulations by estate size, may be sufficient to derive compelling estimates of wealth concentration. We show that the application of homogeneous multipliers leads to estimates that are close in level and trend to the concentration of wealth derived in the existing literature with the detailed mortality multiplier method for a variety of countries. The use of mortality rates graduated by estate size does not confute this finding. We also derive the general formal conditions for the similarity between the distributions of wealth of the living and estates at death and discuss the main caveats. These findings may unlock a wide array of aggregate estate tabulations, previously thought to be unusable, for estimating historical trends of wealth concentration. (Stone Center on Socio-Economic Inequality Working Paper Series)
    Date: 2021–03–22
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:n5rvc&r=all
  4. By: Sobotka, Tomas; Jasilioniene, Aiva; Galarza, Ainhoa Alustiza; Zeman, Kryštof; Nemeth, Laszlo; Jdanov, Dmitri
    Abstract: Past evidence on fertility responses to external shocks, including economic recessions and the outbreaks of infectious diseases, show that people often put their childbearing plans on hold in uncertain times. We study the most recent data on monthly birth trends to analyse the initial fertility responses to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our research, based on new Short-Term Fertility Fluctuations (STFF) data series (https://www.humanfertility.org/cgi-bin/stff.php), embedded in the Human Fertility Database (HFD), shows the initial signs of the expected “birth recession”. Monthly number of births in many countries fell sharply between October 2020 and the most recent month observed, often bringing about a clear reversal of the previous trend. Across 17 countries with lower fluctuations in births, the number of births fell on average by 5.1% in November 2020, 6.5% in December 2020 and 8.9% in January 2021 when compared with the same month of the previous year. Spain sustained the sharpest drop in the number of births among the analysed countries, with the number of births plummeting by 20% in December 2020 and January 2021. The combined effect of rising mortality and falling birth rates is disrupting the balance of births and deaths in many countries, pushing natural population increase to record low levels in 2020 and 2021.
    Date: 2021–03–24
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:mvy62&r=all
  5. By: David N. Figlio; Paola Giuliano; Riccardo Marchingiglio; Umut Özek; Paola Sapienza
    Abstract: We study the effect of exposure to immigrants on the educational outcomes of US-born students, using a unique dataset combining population-level birth and school records from Florida. This research question is complicated by substantial school selection of US-born students, especially among White and comparatively affluent students, in response to the presence of immigrant students in the school. We propose a new identification strategy to partial out the unobserved non-random selection into schools, and find that the presence of immigrant students has a positive effect on the academic achievement of US-born students, especially for students from disadvantaged backgrounds. Moreover, the presence of immigrants does not affect negatively the performance of affluent US-born students, who typically show a higher academic achievement compared to immigrant students. We provide suggestive evidence on potential channels.
    JEL: I21 I24 J15
    Date: 2021–03
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:28596&r=all

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