|
on Demographic Economics |
| By: | Barbara Petrongolo |
| Abstract: | The influx of women into the workplace during the 20th century has been one of the most remarkable changes in the world of work. But in general, women are less likely to be employed than men, they are less likely to hold senior positions and they are paid less. Economists research the reasons for these gender-based inequalities and evaluate which policies can help to close the gaps. The Insights series is an introduction to the work of the Centre for Economic Performance. While the centre's roots are in labour economics, it has been an interdisciplinary research centre, since it was set up in 1990. Each Insight explains how economists go about investigating the big questions in each topic, the contribution CEP researchers have made to both academic understanding and policy-making - and the questions that are still to be answered. |
| Keywords: | gender, inequality, Wages |
| Date: | 2021–08–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepins:05&r= |
| By: | Kim, Kyeongkuk (University of Hawaii at Manoa); Lee, Sang-Hyop (University of Hawaii at Manoa); Halliday, Timothy J. (University of Hawaii at Manoa) |
| Abstract: | We consider the effects of a paid childcare leave subsidy on maternal behavior in South Korea using a difference-in-difference design and a fertility survey with information on conception, contraception, and labor supply arrangements. Childcare subsidies increased conception and decreased contraception. The arc elasticities of the responses of conception and contraception to the childcare subsidy are 0.65 and -0.10, respectively. However, we do not find effects on employment arrangements. 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 some positive benefits. |
| Keywords: | childcare leave, fertility, labor supply, Korea |
| JEL: | J18 J13 |
| Date: | 2022–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15223&r= |
| By: | Guo, Rufei (Wuhan University); Yi, Junjian (Peking University); Zhang, Junsen (Chinese University of Hong Kong) |
| Abstract: | This chapter reviews the growing literature on the child quantity–quality (QQ) trade-off. During the transition from the traditional agricultural economy to modern economic growth, household real income increases, fertility decreases, and human capital investment per child increases. Motivated by this observation, economists started to develop theoretical models of the child QQ trade-off in the 1970s. Macroeconomic models that theoretically incorporate the QQ trade-off flourish. As a parallel development, empirical studies exploit multiple sources of exogenous variations in family size, such as twin births, child sex composition, and family planning policies, to identify the causal effect of fertility on child quality. Dialogues between theoretical and empirical analyses should empower future research on the child QQ trade-off. |
| Keywords: | demographic transition, fertility, child human capital investment, child quantity-quality trade-off |
| JEL: | D10 J13 |
| Date: | 2022–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15233&r= |
| By: | Mika Akesaka; Nobuyoshi Kikuchi |
| Abstract: | We examine the effects of local labor market conditions during early pregnancy on birth and later outcomes. Using a longitudinal survey of newborns in Japan, we find that improvements in employment opportunities increase the probability of low birth weight, attributable to shortened gestation. This negative effect is mainly driven by the impact of economic shocks on the female labor market. However, we do not find a lasting effect of economic shocks during early pregnancy on severe health conditions or developmental delays in early childhood. Using prefecture-level panel data, we confirm that improvements in female employment opportunities are significantly negatively associated with infant birth weight, but not with the fertility and infant mortality rate. |
| Date: | 2021–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dpr:wpaper:1153r&r= |
| By: | Cummins, Neil; Clark, Gregory |
| Abstract: | Using a new database of 1.7 million marriage records for England 1837-2021 we estimate assortment by occupational status in marriage, and the intergenerational correlation of occupational status. We find the underlying correlations of status groom-bride, and father-son, are remarkably high: 0.8 and 0.9 respectively. These correlations are unchanged 1837-2021. There is evidence this strong matching extends back to at least 1754. Even before formal education and occupations for women, grooms and brides matched tightly on educational and occupational abilities. We show further that women contributed as much as men to important child outcomes. This implies strong marital sorting substantially increased the variance of social abilities in England. Pre-industrial marital systems typically involved much less marital sorting. Thus the development of assortative marriage may play a role in the location and timing of the Industrial Revolution, through its effect on the supply of those with upper-tail abilities. |
| JEL: | N0 B1 O52 |
| Date: | 2022–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:wpaper:115008&r= |
| By: | Kotschy, Rainer (Harvard School of Public Health); Bloom, David E. (Harvard University) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates challenges of aging for long-term care. Our analysis proceeds in three steps. In the first step, we estimate the prospective care demand for 30 developed countries based on projected aging and disabilities among the elderly. In the second step, we outline challenges for care systems with respect to shortages of care workers, increasing skill requirements for care workers, barriers to universal and equitable access to care, and cost containment subject to adequate care quality. In the third step, we identify solutions for these challenges by comparing the care systems of Germany, Israel, Japan, the Netherlands, and South Korea. |
| Keywords: | long-term care insurance, population aging, care demand, ADL, IADL |
| JEL: | I18 I38 H51 H75 |
| Date: | 2022–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15228&r= |