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on Demographic Economics |
| By: | Ewa Cukrowska-Torzewska (Interdisciplinary Centre for Labour Market and Family Dynamics (LabFam), Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw); Anna Matysiak (Interdisciplinary Centre for Labour Market and Family Dynamics (LabFam), Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw); Agnieszka Kasperska (Interdisciplinary Centre for Labour Market and Family Dynamics (LabFam), Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw); Gayle Kaufman (Davidson College) |
| Abstract: | This study provides causal evidence on the hiring and pay penalties associated with taking parental leave of varying lengths. We investigate how deviations from prevailing social norms, in the form of non-standard leave-taking behavior by mothers and fathers, affect their employment outcomes. We also compare the parental leave penalties with those linked to unemployment to disentangle the determinants of these penalties and to identify the mechanisms through which they operate. To this end, we conducted a discrete choice experiment with 997 managers, who evaluated hypothetical job candidates differing in the length of employment interruptions due to parental leave. Using a conditional logit model, we find that both mothers and fathers face disadvantages in hiring and remuneration when taking longer parental leave. Notably, fathers are penalized for taking any parental leave, though the penalties are more severe for longer leave. These poorer employability prospects stem from managers perceiving such fathers as less available for work. Meanwhile, mothers receive hiring and pay bonuses for taking shorter leaves, stemming from employer perceptions of such mothers as more available, competent, and motivated. |
| Keywords: | Energy parental leave, family policies, employment, wages, gender norms, ideal worker norms |
| JEL: | J13 J16 J22 J31 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:war:wpaper:2025-27 |
| By: | Janet Currie; Jessica Van Parys |
| Abstract: | The Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) Program is the largest federal affordable housing program in the U.S. Yet, little is known about its impacts on children and families. This paper shows how LIHTC exposure during childhood affects women’s health outcomes in early-adulthood, as well as the health of their infants. Using geocoded Florida Natality data for 1980-2024 and addresses for LIHTC units we study women born to mothers without any college education between 1980-1999. We use a matching model to compare women born into Census tracts that receive LIHTC during their childhoods to women born into Census tracts without LIHTC during their childhoods. These women and their infants are then observed in adulthood when they first give birth in Florida. We find that a standard deviation increase in childhood LIHTC exposure improves the maternal health index and the infant health index by a small but statistically significant 0.007 standard deviations, and improves an index of maternal SES by 0.005 standard deviations. Given that the average treated tract in our sample has only 0.023 LIHTC units per resident, there is considerable room for increasing exposure. LIHTC exposure during childhood improves outcomes the most for Black women, consistent with Black women being more likely to live in LIHTC units, and also more likely to live in Census tracts that receive LIHTC. |
| JEL: | I38 R29 |
| Date: | 2025–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34464 |
| By: | Oded Galor; Daniel C. Wainstock |
| Abstract: | Is income inequality in the United States primarily driven by disparities between ethnic groups or within them? Contrary to conventional wisdom, this study uncovers a striking and transformative empirical regularity: an overwhelming 96% of contemporary inequality arises from disparities within groups sharing a common ancestral origin, dwarfing the comparatively minor contribution of inequality between groups. This extraordinary pattern persists across time, educational attainment, demographic characteristics, and geographic regions. The findings represent a shift in the empirical understanding of inequality in the United States, revealing that the deepest and most persistent economic divides run within, rather than between, ethnic communities. |
| Keywords: | inequality, ethnicity, within group inequality, between group inequality |
| JEL: | O15 Z13 D63 J15 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12245 |
| By: | Steven F. Lehrer; Luke Rawling |
| Abstract: | Immigrant integration is a central issue in policy debates, with wage assimilation serving as a key indicator of immigrants’ economic success. Using matched employer–employee data from Canada, we study how access to higher-paying firms affects the economic assimilation of immigrants. Immigrants are disproportionately concentrated in lower-paying firms, accounting for much of the observed inequality. Nearly half of this sorting occurs across industries, and both firm- and industry-level wage gaps stagnate after eight years, suggesting that further assimilation reflects human capital accumulation rather than improved firm access. Importantly, these disparities persist after controlling for estimates of worker skill, indicating barriers to high-paying firms rather than differences in human capital. The analysis further shows that Canada’s post-2015 immigration policy reforms significantly improved immigrant outcomes: the initial wage gap narrowed by 25–35%, with roughly half of the improvement attributable to better allocation into higher-paying firms. Taken together, the findings highlight the critical role of firm sorting and its interaction with immigration policy in shaping the economic integration of immigrants. |
| JEL: | J31 J60 |
| Date: | 2025–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34462 |