|
on Heterodox Microeconomics |
| By: | Silver, Gregory Mead |
| Abstract: | In 1948, the United States Supreme Court declared the operations of eight of the nation’s largest motion picture studios in violation of the 1890 Sherman Antitrust Act. The decision ordered them to disintegrate their producer-distributor roles from cinemas. The Court believed this would promote competitive practices in a hitherto uncompetitive industry. However, these desired benefits were not entirely reached. Instead, by leading the Hollywood studio system to collapse, the Court also distorted the supplychain for motion pictures. This work utilizes Coasian analyses of transaction costs to show that institutional integration was an efficient structure for the motion picture industry. It explores the motives to integrate and the benefits it garnered. Having laid this groundwork, it then assesses the effects theatre divorcement had on the industry and offers plausible counterfactuals had the studios remained intact after 1948. |
| JEL: | N0 L82 |
| Date: | 2010–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:wpaper:30043&r=hme |
| By: | Leung, Danny; Secrieru, Oana |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, the authors provide a detailed social accounting matrix (SAM), which incorporates the income and financial flows into the standard input-output matrix, for the Canadian economy for 2004. Second, they use the SAM to assess the strength of the real-financial linkages by calculating and comparing real SAM multipliers and financial social accounting matrix (FSAM) multipliers. For FSAM multipliers, financial flows are endogenous, whereas for real SAM multipliers they are not. The results show that taking into account financial flows increases the impact of a final demand shock on Canadian output. Financial flows also play an important role in determining the cumulative effect of an income shock or the availability of investment funds. Between 2008 and the first half of 2009, financial institutions shifted their investments toward government bonds, short-term paper, and foreign investments. This shift together with the fact that non-financial institutions were unwilling or unable to increase their financial liabilities, led to estimated declines in all GDP multipliers between 2008 and the first half of 2009 (2009H1). The main advantage of using the extended input-output analysis is that it provides a simple framework, with very few assumptions, which allows the assessment of the strength of real-financial linkages by means of multipliers. However, the methodology is subject to the Lucas critique, that as shocks shift prices, agents cannot adjust. Such a framework is, nevertheless, appropriate in short-term impact analysis such as this study. |
| Keywords: | Business performance and ownership, Economic accounts, Financial statements and performance, Input-output accounts |
| Date: | 2011–05–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:stc:stcp5e:2010065e&r=hme |
| By: | Leung, Danny; Secrieru, Oana |
| Abstract: | Le but du présent article est double. En premier lieu, les auteurs fournissent une matrice de comptabilité sociale (MCS) détaillée pour l'économie canadienne en 2004. Cette matrice permet d'intégrer les flux financiers et les flux de revenus dans la matrice d'entrées-sorties usuelle. Deuxièmement, ils utilisent cette MCS pour évaluer la force des liens entre l'économie réelle et le secteur financier, en calculant les multiplicateurs réels de la MCS et les multiplicateurs financiers de la MCS et en les comparant. Pour les multiplicateurs financiers de la MCS, les flux financiers sont endogènes, tandis que pour les multiplicateurs réels de la MCS, ils ne le sont pas. Les résultats montrent que si l'on tient compte des flux financiers, l'effet d'un choc de la demande finale sur la production du Canada augmente. Les flux financiers jouent aussi un rôle important dans l'effet cumulatif d'un choc du revenu ou de la disponibilité de capitaux pour l'investissement. Entre 2008 et la première moitié de 2009, les institutions financières ont plutôt investi dans des actifs financiers (obligations d'État, effets à court terme et investissements étrangers). Ce changement, conjugué au fait que les institutions non-financières n'étaient pas disposées à accroître leur passif financier ou n'étaient pas capables de le faire, s'est traduit par une diminution estimée de tous les multiplicateurs du produit intérieur brut (PIB) entre 2008 et la première moitié de 2009 (2009M1). L'avantage principal d'effectuer une analyse à l'aide d'un modèle d'entrées-sorties élargi est que celui-ci fournit un cadre de travail simple, qui comprend peu d'hypothèses et permet l'évaluation de la force des liens entre l'éc |
| Keywords: | Rendement des entreprises et appartenance, Comptes économiques, États financiers et rendement, Comptes d'entrées-sorties |
| Date: | 2011–05–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:stc:stcp5f:2010065f&r=hme |
| By: | Kohn, Karsten (KfW Bankengruppe); Antonczyk, Dirk (University of Freiburg) |
| Abstract: | Using a large administrative data set, this paper studies the evolution of the East German wage structure throughout the transition period 1992-2001. Wage dispersion has generally been rising. The increase occurred predominantly in the lower part of the wage distribution for women and in the upper part for men. Sectoral transition affected women to a much larger extent than men. A sequential decomposition analysis using quantile regressions reveals that changes in industry-specific remuneration schemes contributed strongly to the rise in wage inequality in the lower part of the distribution for female workers. On the other hand, inter-industry trends away from the manufacturing sector towards service sectors contribute to the smaller increase of inequality in the upper part of the distribution, while causing wage dispersion in the lower part of the distribution to decline. Changes in the industry composition alone would have led to a polarization of wages for female workers. For men, changes in individual characteristics and a general time trend contribute the largest part to the increasing wage dispersion. These gender differences result from employment segregation across industries right after German reunification, and a particularly strong concentration of females in the public sector. |
| Keywords: | wage distribution, transition, gender, decomposition, quantile regression, polarization, East Germany |
| JEL: | J31 C21 |
| Date: | 2011–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5708&r=hme |
| By: | Owolabi, Oluwarotimi (Brunel University); Pal, Sarmistha (Brunel University) |
| Abstract: | The paper argues that networked firms are likely to have an advantage in securing external finance in countries with weak legal and judicial institutions since it helps financial institutions to minimize the underlying agency costs of lending. An analysis of recent BEEPS data from fifteen Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries lends some support to this hypothesis. Even after controlling for other factors, firms affiliated to business associations are more likely to secure bank finance. Importance of being associated with business networks is particularly evident among firms who borrow from private domestic and foreign banks, as these new banks attempt to minimize costs of adverse selection. Networking however discriminates against the small and medium sized firms' access to bank loans in the CEE regions. Results are robust in both single cross-section and panel data analyses. |
| Keywords: | business networks, agency costs, external firm financing, bank loans, transition economies, endogeneity |
| JEL: | G21 G30 L14 M20 P21 |
| Date: | 2011–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5738&r=hme |
| By: | Nopo, Hugo (Inter-American Development Bank); Daza, Nancy (National Planning Department, Colombia); Ramos, Johanna (National Planning Department, Colombia) |
| Abstract: | This paper documents gender disparities in labor earnings for sixty-four countries around the world. Disparities are partially attributed to gender differences in observable socio-demographic and job characteristics. These characteristics are used to match males and females such that gender earnings disparities are computed only among individuals with the same characteristics, as in Ñopo (2008). After comparing males and females with the same characteristics we found that the earnings gap falls within a range between 8% and 48% of average females' earnings, being more pronounced in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. The unexplained earnings gaps are more pronounced among part-time workers and those with low education. |
| Keywords: | gender, wage gaps, matching |
| JEL: | C14 D31 J16 O57 |
| Date: | 2011–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5736&r=hme |
| By: | Bandiera, Oriana (London School of Economics); Barankay, Iwan (University of Pennsylvania); Rasul, Imran (University College London) |
| Abstract: | We discuss how the use of field experiments sheds light on long standing research questions relating to firm behavior. We present insights from two classes of experiments: within and across firms, and draw common lessons from both sets. Field experiments within firms generally aim to shed light on the nature of agency problems. Along these lines, we discuss how field experiments have provided new insights on shirking behavior, and the provision of monetary and non-monetary incentives. Field experiments across firms generally aim to uncover firms' binding constraints by exogenously varying the availability of key inputs such as labor, physical capital, and managerial capital. We conclude by discussing some of the practical issues researchers face when designing experiments and by highlighting areas for further research. |
| Keywords: | field experiments, firms, organizations |
| JEL: | C9 M5 |
| Date: | 2011–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5723&r=hme |
| By: | Massimo Baldini; Marta Federici |
| Abstract: | This paper aims to provide an overview of practice and policies in social housing sector in the European Union. In order to establish meaningful comparisons between Member States – that are characterized by a great heterogeneity in housing systems – first of all we present a definition of social housing, according to its distinctive elements. After a brief historical review, the paper analyses: the role of social housing, the al location criteria, the providers and the sources of financing. Then, some recent social and economics trends are examined: on the one hand these have determined an important need of houses at affordable prices, and on the other hand have induced providers – both public and private – to diversify and broaden their areas of intervention. Finally the paper focus on some relevant EU countries: France, UK, Netherlands and Sweden |
| Keywords: | Social housing; housing policies; European Union |
| JEL: | R31 I38 |
| Date: | 2011–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mod:depeco:0652&r=hme |
| By: | Paola Bertolini; Francesco Pagliacci; Serena Giannuzzi |
| Abstract: | Foreign people face increasing housing problems in Italy. The goal of the paper is the analysis of these difficulties through an empirical investigation, based on data of a direct survey on estate agencies, which in Italy represent the main brokers in the housing market. The results highlight the relevance of discrimination against foreign people both in leasing and in buying an house. Those difficulties are observed even if the typologies of dwellings required by foreigners are usually different from those demanded by the local population. In particular foreigners require dwellings of lower quality (e.g., smaller or older flats in low value neighbourhoods) |
| Keywords: | foreign migration, housing, discrimination |
| JEL: | R21 R23 R31 |
| Date: | 2011–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mod:depeco:0653&r=hme |
| By: | Marta Federici; Giuseppe Fiorani |
| Abstract: | This paper provide a review of housing policies implemented in the Municipality of Modena for those tenants living in unaffordable housing. In the first part of the paper we analyze demand and supply for each of these policies, our sources being microdata from the Municipality: we find that immigrants represent about half of the demand, but that a relevant part of this demand remains unanswered. Then, in the second part we use survey data ICESmo2 in order to detect potential demand for a new housing policy, offering housing at affordable rents – higher than in the public sector but lower than in the private controlled sector. Our results show that this potential demand counts about 2,000 families: in particular, these are one-earner families, under 40, small and foreign families |
| Keywords: | rental housing market; immigration; Modena |
| JEL: | I38 J15 R21 R31 |
| Date: | 2011–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mod:depeco:0651&r=hme |
| By: | Ramirez, Miguel D. (Trinity College, Hartford, CT) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines Marx's views on globalization and its supposed inevitability, and contends that they underwent a substantial evolution and revision after the publication of the Communist Manifesto. In the case of China, a prime example of the Asiatic mode of production, Marx even doubted whether globalization (capitalism) would ever be able to accomplish its historical mission of developing the forces of production and creating the material conditions for a higher mode of production, viz., Communism. While in the Russian case, he seriously entertained the notion that it could bypass the hardships and vicissitudes of capitalism and forge its own unique path to socialism. If accepted, this interpretation represents a serious challenge to the universality and validity of Marx's materialist conception of history. |
| JEL: | B10 B14 B24 |
| Date: | 2011–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecl:yaleco:89&r=hme |
| By: | Ganguli, Ina (Harvard University); Hausmann, Ricardo (Harvard University); Viarengo, Martina (Harvard University) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we examine several dimensions of gender disparity for a sample of 40 countries using micro-level data. We start by documenting the reversal of the gender education gap and ranking countries by the year in which it reversed. Then we turn to an analysis of the state of other gaps facing women: we compare men and women's labor force participation (the labor force participation gap), married and single women's labor force participation (the marriage gap), and mothers' and non-mother's labor force participation (the motherhood gap). We show that gaps still exist in these spheres in many countries, though there is significant heterogeneity among countries in terms of the size of and the speed at which these gaps are changing. We also show the relationship between the gaps and ask how much the participation gap would be reduced if the gaps in other spheres were eliminated. In general, we show that while there seems to be a relationship between the decline of the education gap and the reduction of the other gaps, the link is rather weak and highly heterogeneous across countries. |
| JEL: | J16 O12 |
| Date: | 2011–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecl:harjfk:rwp11-021&r=hme |
| By: | Leheyda, Nina; Beschorner, Patrick; Hüschelrath, Kai |
| Abstract: | In 2002, the Swiss Competition Commission (COMCO) introduced a Notice on the Competitive Treatment of Vertical Restraints in Automobile Trade ('Car Notice'). The objective of the Car Notice has been to strengthen competition in the Swiss car market, in particular by avoiding price-fixing practices and market foreclosure and stimulating intrabrand competition in the market for new car sales and competition in the service market. Based on a survey conducted among Swiss car market players, we find that the Car Notice only had a slight impact on competition in the Swiss car market. Although some changes have been identified, they typically cannot solely be explained by the impact of the Car Notice but rather result from general market developments that have led to stronger competition in Switzerland. -- |
| Keywords: | vertical agreements,automobile market,multibranding,intrabrand competition,interbrand competition,ex-post evaluation of competition policy |
| JEL: | K21 L42 L62 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:11034&r=hme |
| By: | Leheyda, Nina; Beschorner, Patrick; Hüschelrath, Kai |
| Abstract: | The paper studies the effects of the Pfizer and Pharmacia (2003) merger on competition in the Swiss pharmaceutical market and compares the assessment of the Swiss Competition Commission (COMCO) with the post-merger market developments. We find that the merger has had a miniscule impact on the Swiss pharmaceutical market. This has primarily to do with the fact that the product portfolios of both companies have shown no or only slight overlaps. In both cases of potential anticompetitive effects, the companies successfully proposed to divest some of their assets in order to prevent a further strengthening of their dominant position. The remedies included products in the development phase which were not available on the market at the time of the decision. In other markets in which either an overlapping of businesses of both companies existed or in which one of the merging entities held a dominant market position, no significant effects of the merger were noticed. This might have to do with both, existing price regulation in the Swiss drug industry and changes in Pfizer's product portfolio following the merger. Furthermore, with respect to other potentially interesting market characteristics such as investment behaviour, R&D, sales or employment, available data on global company level does not allow an isolation of the possible effects of the merger. -- |
| Keywords: | mergers,ex-post evaluation,pharmaceutical markets |
| JEL: | K21 L42 L62 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:11035&r=hme |
| By: | Muchlinski, Elke |
| Abstract: | This paper provides textual evidence of Keynes's writing and composing on issues which are linked to philosophy, moral science and economics. As a philosopher Keynes was concerned with contemporary discussion on knowledge, probability, judgment and methods of reasoning. He participated in the Bloomsbury Group. He developed a distinct view on ethics, egoism, individual and conventional judgment, animal spirits and responsibility. He denied that expectations can be reduced to mathematical calculation. He developed ways to theorize about uncertainty, confidence and the future. The project Keynes as a philosopher is of great importance in English-and French-speaking discourses. Unfortunately it has not been received and recognized in German discourses. -- |
| Keywords: | philosophy,ethics,theory of probability,theory of knowledge,animal spirits,Bloomsbury Group,uncertainty versus risk,economic methodology and language |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:fubsbe:20117&r=hme |
| By: | ten Brink, Tobias |
| Abstract: | This paper shows that a more accurate depiction of the development of China's private sector is gained by considering the complex interaction between bottom-up and topdown processes. First, the paper analyzes the general characteristics of Chinese capitalism to help understand and classify the gradual institutional change in the enterprise sector. Second, it draws on insights from comparative political economy and new approaches in political science to introduce the strategy of 'wearing a red hat,' an empirical phenomenon that provides a framework for the emergence from the 1980s of China's private sector. This section also examines the closely interwoven relationships between private companies and the party-state that have taken place since the 1990s. Third, the paper indicates that focusing on state/capital relationships at different administrational levels contributes to a better understanding of China's private sector. It concludes that the development and success of the new private enterprises, which remained closely linked to the state, enabled the ruling elite to form and consolidate a hegemonic project that provided relative societal coherence on the often bumpy road to reform. -- Dieser Artikel zeigt auf, dass ein Blick auf die komplexen Interaktionen zwischen 'Bottom- up'- und 'Top-down'-Prozessen ein präziseres Bild der Entwicklung des Privatsektors in China liefert. Dabei hilft erstens eine Analyse von grundlegenden Merkmalen des chinesischen Kapitalismus, um den graduellen institutionellen Wandel im Unternehmenssektor verstehen beziehungsweise einordnen zu können. Unter Bezugnahme auf die Vergleichende Politische Ökonomie und neuere politikwissenschaftliche Ansätze werden, zweitens, die empirischen Phänomene des 'wearing a red hat' in der Entstehungsphase des Privatsektors ab den 1980ern sowie der seitdem eng verknüpften Beziehungen zwischen Privatunternehmen und dem Parteistaat eingeführt. Drittens wird erörtert, dass ein Fokus auf die engen Beziehungen zwischen Staat und Kapital auf verschiedenen administrativen Ebenen zu einem besseren Verständnis des chinesischen Privatsektors beiträgt. Wie abschließend festgehalten wird, ermöglichte die Entwicklung und der Erfolg der neuen privaten, jedoch weiterhin eng mit dem Staat verbundenen Unternehmen es der Machtelite, ein hegemoniales Projekt zu formieren und aufrechtzuerhalten, das dem holprigen Reformweg eine relative gesellschaftliche Stabilität verlieh. |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:mpifgd:112&r=hme |
| By: | Beckert, Jens |
| Abstract: | The article provides an overview of the state of the art of sociological research on price formation. The dominant trait of the sociological approach to prices is to understand price formation not as the outcome of individual preferences but as the result of the social and political forces operating within the market field. The article proceeds from the concept of market fields and is organized around the three dominant approaches in economic sociology: the network approach, the institutional approach, and the cultural approach. -- Der Artikel gibt einen Überblick über den Forschungsstand zum Thema Preisbildung in der Soziologie. Ausgangspunkt der Betrachtung von Preisen aus soziologischer Perspektive ist, diese nicht als das Resultat individueller Präferenzen zu verstehen, sondern als Ausdruck der sozialen und politischen Kräfte in Märkten. Der Artikel orientiert sich an dem Konzept der Marktfelder und ist anhand der drei Hauptrichtungen der Wirtschaftssoziologie strukturiert: des Netzwerkansatzes, des institutionellen Ansatzes und des kulturellen Ansatzes. |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:mpifgd:113&r=hme |
| By: | Paster, Thomas |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the attitudes of industrial employers during the German Empire and the Weimar Republic towards the adoption of public unemployment insurance. While employers initially opposed unemployment insurance, they eventually endorsed it. What explains this shift in attitude? The paper tests two alternative theses: the conventional power resource thesis and the newer skills interest thesis. While the power resource thesis explains social protection as the result of distributive conflicts between employers and labor, the skills interest thesis sees it as an outcome of joint interests in skills investment by capital and labor. The study concludes that the power resource thesis has the greater explanatory power. Employers' support of unemployment insurance was an attempt to defeat other policy options on the agenda rather than an effort to promote skills investment. An unfavorable policy legacy and a sustained change in political majorities are the main factors that explain the change in positions. Fear of rising labor costs and the erosion of work incentives shaped employers' preferences rather than an interest in protecting skills investments. On a more general level, the results show the significant impact of political constraints on the positions actors take and the importance of short-term considerations in processes of preference formation. -- Dieses Papier untersucht die Haltung industrieller Arbeitgeber zur Einführung einer staatlichen Arbeitslosenversicherung in Deutschland zur Zeit des Kaiserreichs und der Weimarer Republik. Arbeitgeber lehnten ursprünglich eine staatliche Arbeitslosenversicherung ab, stimmten ihr jedoch am Ende zu. Was erklärt diesen Positionswandel? Das Papier testet zwei alternative Erklärungsansätze: die konventionelle Machtressourcenthese (power resource thesis) und die neuere Qualifi kationsinteressensthese (skills interest thesis). Die erste These erklärt den Umfang sozialer Sicherung durch Verteilungskonflikte zwischen Arbeitnehmern und Arbeitgebern, die zweite durch gemeinsame Interessen von Arbeitgebern und Arbeitnehmern an Ausbildungsinvestitionen. Die Studie kommt zu dem Schluss, dass die Machtressourcenthese den Haltungswandel besser erklärt als die Qualifikationsinteressensthese. Die empirische Analyse zeigt, dass Arbeitgeber die Einführung einer staatlichen Arbeitslosenversicherung unterstützten, um andere Optionen abzuwehren, nicht um höhere Qualifikationsniveaus zu fördern. Die Studie identifiziert die Überwindung eines als problematisch bewerteten Politikerbes sowie den Wandel politischer Mehrheitsverhältnisse als die wichtigsten Erklärungsfaktoren. Die wirtschaftlichen Auswirkungen einer Arbeitslosenversicherung sahen Arbeitgeber kritisch: Sie erwarteten primär höhere Lohnkosten und geringere Arbeitsanreize, nicht jedoch eine höhere Bereitschaft zu Ausbildungsinvestitionen. Die Studie verdeutlicht den Einfluss sich wandelnder politischer Zwänge auf die inhaltliche Positionierung politischer Akteure sowie ihre oft kurzfristige Orientierung bei der Präferenzbildung. |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:mpifgd:115&r=hme |
| By: | Galina Hale |
| Abstract: | Recent literature argues that the structure of a banking network is important for its stability. We use network analysis to formally describe bank relationships in the global banking network between 1980 and 2009 and analyze the effects of recessions and banking crises on these relationships. We construct a novel data set that builds a bank-level global network from loan-level data on syndicated loans to financial institutions. Our network consists of 7938 banking institutions from 141 countries. We find that the network became more interconnected and more asymmetric, and therefore potentially more fragile, prior to 2008, and that its expansion slowed in recent years, dramatically so during the 2008-09 crisis. We use a stylized model to describe potential effects of banking crises and recessions on bank relationships. Empirically, we find that the structure of a global banking network is not invariant to banking crises nor to recessions, especially those in the United States. While recessions appear to encourage banks to make new connections, especially on the periphery of the network, the global financial crisis of 2008-09 made banks very cautious in their lending, meaning that almost no new connections were made during the crisis, particularly in 2009. We also find that during country-specific recessions or banking crises past relationships become more important as few new relationships are formed. |
| Keywords: | Banks and banking ; Financial crises |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedfwp:2011-13:x:1&r=hme |
| By: | Weeranan Kamnungwut; Frederick Guy |
| Abstract: | In the study of industrial clusters, the relative importance, and possible interrelationship, of inter-firm cooperation in production and broad knowledge transfers (both unintentional spillovers and intentional sharing) have long been disputed. To shed light on this we study ceramic tableware manufacturers in the city of Lampang, Thailand. Data consist of face-to-face interviews with principals in thirty-four manufacturers, and with representatives of supporting institutions. We find that an unwillingness to share knowledge with potential competitors retards the development of specialization in production; the outcome of efforts by various government actors and some manufacturers to change this situation is uncertain. |
| Keywords: | ceramic manufacturing, knowledge, Lampang, networks, secrecy, Thailand |
| JEL: | D85 |
| Date: | 2011–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:1108&r=hme |
| By: | Rania Antonopoulos; and Kijong Kim |
| Abstract: | This paper demonstrates the strong impacts that public job creation in social care provisioning has on employment creation. Furthermore, it shows that mobilizing underutilized domestic labor resources and targeting them to bridge gaps in community-based services yield strong pro-poor income growth patterns that extend throughout the economy. Social care provision also contributes to promoting gender equality, as women—especially from low-income households-constitute a major workforce in the care sector. We present the ex-ante policy simulation results from two country case studies: South Africa and the United States. Both social accounting matrix–based multiplier analysis and propensity ranking–based microsimulation provide evidence of the pro-poor impacts of the social care expansion. |
| Keywords: | Social Care; Job Creation; Gender Equality; Pro-Poor Growth |
| JEL: | C15 C67 D33 E24 J48 |
| Date: | 2011–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lev:wrkpap:wp_671&r=hme |
| By: | Annamaria Lusardi; Daniel J. Schneider; Peter Tufano |
| Abstract: | This paper examines households’ financial fragility by looking at their capacity to come up with $2,000 in 30 days. Using data from the 2009 TNS Global Economic Crisis survey, we document widespread financial weakness in the United States: Approximately one quarter of Americans report that they would certainly not be able to come up with such funds, and an additional 19% would do so by relying at least in part on pawning or selling possessions or taking payday loans. If we consider the respondents who report being certain or probably not able to cope with an ordinary financial shock of this size, we find that nearly half of Americans are financially fragile. While financial fragility is more severe among those with low educational attainment and no financial education, families with children, those who suffered large wealth losses, and those who are unemployed, a sizable fraction of seemingly “middle class” Americans also judge themselves to be financially fragile. We examine the coping methods people use to deal with shocks. While savings is used most often, relying on family and friends, using formal and alternative credit, increasing work hours, and selling items are also used frequently to deal with emergencies, especially for some subgroups. Household finance researchers must look beyond precautionary savings to understand how families cope with risk. We also find evidence of a “pecking order” of coping methods in which savings appears to be first in the ordering. Finally, the paper compares the levels of financial fragility and methods of coping among eight industrialized countries. While there are differences in coping ability across countries, there is general evidence of a consistent ordering of coping methods |
| JEL: | D14 D91 |
| Date: | 2011–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:17072&r=hme |