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on Demographic Economics |
| By: | Hannes Schwandt; Janet Currie; Marlies Bär; James Banks; Paola Bertoli; Aline Bütikofer; Sarah Cattan; Beatrice Zong-Ying Chao; Claudia Costa; Libertad Gonzalez; Veronica Grembi; Kristiina Huttunen; René Karadakic; Lucy Kraftman; Sonya Krutikova; Stefano Lombardi; Peter Redler; Carlos Riumallo-Herl; Ana Rodríguez-González; Kjell Salvanes; Paula Santana; Josselin Thuilliez; Eddy van Doorslaer; Tom Van Ourti; Joachim Winter; Bram Wouterse; Amelie Wuppermann |
| Abstract: | Although there is a large gap between Black and White American life expectancies, the gap fell 48.9% between 1990-2018, mainly due to mortality declines among Black Americans. We examine age-specific mortality trends and racial gaps in life expectancy in rich and poor U.S. areas and with reference to six European countries. Inequalities in life expectancy are starker in the U.S. than in Europe. In 1990 White Americans and Europeans in rich areas had similar overall life expectancy, while life expectancy for White Americans in poor areas was lower. But since then even rich White Americans have lost ground relative to Europeans. Meanwhile, the gap in life expectancy between Black Americans and Europeans decreased by 8.3%. Black life expectancy increased more than White life expectancy in all U.S. areas, but improvements in poorer areas had the greatest impact on the racial life expectancy gap. The causes that contributed the most to Black mortality reductions included: Cancer, homicide, HIV, and causes originating in the fetal or infant period. Life expectancy for both Black and White Americans plateaued or slightly declined after 2012, but this stalling was most evident among Black Americans even prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. If improvements had continued at the 1990-2012 rate, the racial gap in life expectancy would have closed by 2036. European life expectancy also stalled after 2014. Still, the comparison with Europe suggests that mortality rates of both Black and White Americans could fall much further across all ages and in both rich and poor areas. |
| JEL: | E21 I1 J1 |
| Date: | 2021–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:29203&r= |
| By: | Simon Rabaté (CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis); Externe auteur: Sara Rellstab (Universit a della Svizzera Italiana, Lugano, Switzerland) |
| Abstract: | Having children can result in large earnings penalties for mothers. Using extensive administrative data from the Netherlands, we assess the magnitude and drivers of the effects of first childbirth on parents' earnings trajectories in the Netherlands. We show that mothers' earnings are 46% lower compared to their pre-birth earnings trajectory, whereas fathers' earnings are unaffected by child birth. We examine the role of two potential determinants of the unequal distribution of parents' labour market costs by gender: childcare policies and gender norms. We find that while child care availability is correlated with lower child penalty, the immediate short-term causal effect of increasing child care availability on the earnings penalty of becoming a mother is small. By taking advantage of variation in gender norms in different population groups, we show that gender norms are strongly correlated with child penalty for mothers. Having children can result in large earnings penalties for mothers. Using extensive administrative data from the Netherlands, we assess the magnitude and drivers of the effects of first childbirth on parents' earnings trajectories in the Netherlands. We show that mothers' earnings are 46% lower compared to their pre-birth earnings trajectory, whereas fathers' earnings are unaffected by child birth. We examine the role of two potential determinants of the unequal distribution of parents' labour market costs by gender: childcare policies and gender norms. We find that while child care availability is correlated with lower child penalty, the immediate short-term causal effect of increasing child care availability on the earnings penalty of becoming a mother is small. By taking advantage of variation in gender norms in different population groups, we show that gender norms are strongly correlated with child penalty for mothers. |
| JEL: | I26 I32 J13 |
| Date: | 2021–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpb:discus:424&r= |
| By: | Kyeongkuk Kim (Ministry of Finance, South Korea); Sang-Hyop Lee (University of Hawaii at Manoa); Timothy J. Halliday (University of Hawai‘i) |
| Abstract: | We consider the effects of a paid childcare leave subsidy on maternal behavior in South Korea. We employ both difference-in-difference and regression kink techniques. The subsidies had very large behavioral effects. Regression kink estimates indicate that an extra dollar of the monthly subsidy (on annual basis) increased conceptions by 0.06-0.08 percentage points. Difference-in-difference estimates indicate that paid leave subsidies also increased permanent working arrangements by ten percentage points for lower earning women and four percentage points for higher earning women. In a country with the lowest total fertility rate in the world and that often performs middling in rankings of gender inequality, we conclude that paid childcare leave for working women confers positive benefits. |
| Keywords: | intergenerational health mobility; mental health; physical health; United Kingdom |
| JEL: | J18 J13 |
| Date: | 2021–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hai:wpaper:202104&r= |
| By: | Jain, Neha; Goli, Srinivas |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we assess the economic benefits of demographic changes in India by employing econometric models and robustness checks based on panel data gathered over a period of more than three decades. Our analysis highlights four key points. First, the contribution of India’s demographic dividend is estimated to be around 1.9 percentage points out of 12% average annual growth rate in per capita income during 1981–2015. Second, India’s demographic window of opportunity began in 2005, significantly improved after 2011, and will continue till 2061. Third, our empirical analysis supports the argument that the realisation of the demographic dividend is conditional on a conducive policy environment with enabling aspects such as quality education, good healthcare, decent employment opportunities, good infrastructure, and gender empowerment. Fourth, the working-age population in India contributes around one-fourth of the inequality in per capita income across states. Thus, to reap the maximum dividends from the available demographic window of opportunity, India needs to work towards enhancing the quality of education and healthcare in addition to providing good infrastructure, gender empowerment, and decent employment opportunities for the growing working-age population. |
| Keywords: | Demographic Dividend, Economic Growth, Population Growth, Working-Age Population, Health, Education, Employment |
| JEL: | J10 J11 O1 O15 |
| Date: | 2021–02–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:109560&r= |
| By: | Bharati, Tushar (University of Western Australia Business School); Chang, Simon (University of Western Australia); Li, Qing (Shanghai University) |
| Abstract: | We draw attention to two identification issues with previous studies that utilized tertiary education expansion to estimate the causal effect of education on fertility: (i) the mis-categorization of women past the usual college-entry age as "unexposed" to the expansion, and (ii) a possible violation of the exclusion restriction when using the expansion as an instrument for female education. We exploit the tertiary education expansion in Taiwan starting in 1996, with a novel focus on women past college-entry age, to document significant negative effects on the fertility of women as old as 30 at the onset of the expansion. We also show that the expansion lowered the fertility of women both with and without tertiary education, suggesting that the effect did not operate through education alone. |
| Keywords: | college expansion, marriage market, fertility, Taiwan |
| JEL: | I23 J13 |
| Date: | 2021–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14672&r= |