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on Demographic Economics |
| By: | Thang Dang; Mika Haapanen; Tuomo Suhonen |
| Abstract: | Exploiting the geographical expansion of the Finnish university system, we study the causal effects of education on family health. We find that education has positive im-pacts not only on individuals’ health but also on their parents’ health later in life. An additional year of education decreases the probability of mental health-related hospi-talizations and drug use by 3–4 percentage points while having less significant impacts on early mortality. As for the spillover effects, it increases a mother’s probability of old age survival by 2–3 percentage points, whereas the estimated effects on parents’ mental health and a father’s survival are less significant. |
| Keywords: | returns to education, intergenerational returns to education, higher education, family health, mental health, mortality, Finland |
| JEL: | I15 I23 I26 J14 J24 |
| Date: | 2024–10–23 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pst:wpaper:347 |
| By: | Hu, Sijie |
| Abstract: | In unified growth models, the evolving nexus between population dynamics and technological change is key to achieving sustained economic growth. This paper uses genealogical records of 23, 449 males and their spouses to investigate this interplay-the intergenerational transmission of reproduction and human capital-within six Chinese lineages from 1300 to 1920. Examining the relationship between reproduction and long-run reproductive success, the empirical results reveal an optimal level of reproduction, demonstrating a strong Darwinian trade-off: high reproduction in each generation did not consistently lead to long-term reproductive success. Further analysis of the mechanisms is consistent with a Beckerian trade-off, highlighting the potential costs of excessive reproduction through contrasting outcomes in sons' quality: having more brothers exhibited little apparent impact on marriageability but may have been associated with lower human capital. Together, these findings contribute to a deeper understanding of micro-demographic dynamics in pre-modern China and the persistence of Malthusian constraints. |
| Keywords: | Reproduction, Long-run reproductive success, Child quantity-quality trade-off, Ming-Qing China |
| JEL: | I25 J13 N35 O15 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:1572 |
| By: | Rebecca Jack (University of Nebraska-Lincoln); Daniel Tannenbaum (University of Nebraska-Lincoln); Brenden Timpe (University of Nebraska-Lincoln) |
| Abstract: | We document the dynamics of career paths around parenthood, capturing worker advancement within firms and across firms with differing pay rates. Using a new linkage between administrative data on U.S. workers’ fertility and labor market histories, we show that the parental earnings gap is partly explained by mothers transitioning to lower-paying firms. Firm downgrading is driven by parents who take an extended absence from the labor force. Mothers who move to lower-paying firms see improved job amenities but less generous fringe benefits. The firm’s contribution to the parental earnings gap rises over time and reaches one-third by the child’s 11th birthday. |
| Keywords: | Parental earnings gap, employer-employee, fertility, lower-paying firms, reallocation |
| JEL: | J13 J16 J22 J31 |
| Date: | 2025–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:upj:weupjo:25-412 |
| By: | Abdellaoui, Abdel; Martin, Hilary C.; Rutherford, Adam; Kolk, Martin; Muthukrishna, Michael; Tropf, Felix; Mills, Melinda C.; Zietsch, Brendan; Verweij, Karin J.H.; Visscher, Peter M. |
| Abstract: | In civilizations, individuals are born or sorted into different levels of socio-economic status (SES) through social stratification. SES clusters both in families and geographically, and has been associated with detectable genetic effects. Here, we first review the history of scientific research on the relationship between social stratification and heredity. We then discuss recent findings in genomics research in light of the hypothesis that SES is a dynamic social construct that reflects genetically influenced traits that help in achieving or retaining a certain socio-economic position, and can exert selection pressures on genes associated with such traits. Social stratification results in people with varying talents being placed into strata with different environmental exposures, which could result in evolutionary selection pressures through differences in mortality, reproduction, and non-random mating. Recent cultural developments may have influenced these selection pressures in ways that increase social inequality. Novel tools in genomics research are revealing previously concealed genetic consequences of the way society is organized, yielding insights that should be approached with caution in search for a fair and functional society. |
| JEL: | J1 |
| Date: | 2025–03–26 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:127662 |