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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Nico Pestel |
| Abstract: | This paper examines to what extent marital sorting affects cross-sectional earnings inequality in Germany over the past three decades, while explicitly taking into account labor supply choices. Using rich micro data, the observed distribution of couples' earnings is compared to a counterfactual of randomly matched spouses. Hypothetical earnings are predicted based on a structural model of household labor supply. For West Germany, a positive effect of marital sorting on inequality is found after adjusting for labor supply behavior, while the effect is limited when earnings are taken as given. This means that there is positive sorting in earnings potential which is veiled by relatively low female labor force participation. In East Germany, the impact of marital sorting on inequality is highly disequalizing irrespective of adjusting for labor supply choices. This is mainly due to the fact that East German women are much more attached to the labor market. |
| Keywords: | Earnings inequality, marital sorting, labor supply, Germany |
| JEL: | D31 D63 J12 J22 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp786&r=all |
| By: | Campante, Filipe (Harvard University); Yanagizawa-Drott, David (Harvard University) |
| Abstract: | We study whether war service by one generation affects service by the next generation in later wars, in the context of the major US theaters of the 20th century. To identify a causal effect, we exploit the fact that general suitability for service implies that how close to age 21 an individual's father happened to be at a time of war is a key determinant of the father's likelihood of participation. We find that a father's war service experience has a positive and significant effect on his son's likelihood of service. We estimate an intergenerational transmission parameter of approximately 0.1, across all wars, and that each individual war had a substantial impact on service in those that followed. We find evidence consistent with cultural transmission of war service from fathers to sons, and with the presence of substitutability between this direct transmission and oblique transmission (from society at large). In contrast, father's war service increases sons' educational achievement and actually reduces the likelihood of military service outside of wartime, suggesting that the results cannot be explained by material incentives or broader occupational choice. Taken together, our results indicate that a history of wars helps countries overcome the collective action problem of getting citizens to volunteer for war service. |
| JEL: | D74 D90 I20 J12 J13 O15 Z10 |
| Date: | 2015–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecl:harjfk:rwp15-039&r=all |
| By: | Karabarbounis, Loukas (Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis); Chodorow-Reich, Gabriel (Harvard University) |
| Abstract: | The flow opportunity cost of moving from unemployment to employment consists of foregone public benefits and the foregone value of non-working time in units of consumption. We construct a time series of the opportunity cost of employment using detailed microdata and administrative or national accounts data to estimate benefit levels, eligibility and take-up of benefits, consumption by labor force status, hours per worker, taxes, and preference parameters. Our estimated opportunity cost is procyclical and volatile over the business cycle. The estimated cyclicality implies far less unemployment volatility in many leading models of the labor market than that observed in the data, irrespective of the level of the opportunity cost. |
| Keywords: | Opportunity cost of employment; Unemployment fluctuations |
| JEL: | E24 E32 J64 |
| Date: | 2015–08–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedmsr:514&r=all |
| By: | Matias Busso (Inter-American Development Bank); Dario Romero Fonseca (Inter-American Development Bank) |
| Abstract: | Female labor force participation has increased 10 percentage points between 1990 and 2010. This paper analyzes the possible determinants of this increase. Among those determinants are changes in education, family structure, fertility, as well as changes in socioeconomic environment including wages, returns to working at home, preferences, and technology, among others. We discuss the mechanisms behind those determinants by organizing the very large theoretical and empirical literature on the subject. We then assess the relative importance of the determinants in two ways. We compute treatment effects estimated in the literature and combine them with information about the changes in the causing variables. We also use data from household surveys and combine them with a dataset of determinants to find correlations in the data that reinforce or reject the analysis of the literature review. |
| JEL: | J22 J16 N3 |
| Date: | 2015–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dls:wpaper:0187&r=all |
| By: | Bailey, James (Creighton University); Webber, Douglas A. (Temple University) |
| Abstract: | By 2010, the average US state had passed 37 health insurance benefit mandates (laws requiring health insurance plans to cover certain additional services). Previous work has shown that these mandates likely increase health insurance premiums, which in turn could make it more costly for firms to compensate employees. Using 1996–2010 data from the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages and a novel instrumental variables strategy, we show that there is limited evidence that mandates reduce employment. However, we find that mandates lead to a distortion in firm size, benefiting larger firms that are able to self-insure and thus exempt themselves from these state-level health insurance regulations. This distortion in firm size away from small businesses may lead to substantial decreases in productivity and economic growth. |
| Keywords: | health insurance, benefit mandates, self-insurance, interest groups, employment, firm size |
| JEL: | L51 I13 I18 J32 |
| Date: | 2015–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9292&r=all |
| By: | Aydemir, Abdurrahman (Sabanci University); Kirdar, Murat G. (Bogazici University) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we estimate the returns on schooling for young men and women in Turkey using the exogenous and substantial variation in schooling across birth-cohorts brought about by the 1997 reform of compulsory schooling. We estimate that among 18- to 26-year-olds, the return from an extra year of schooling is almost zero for men and 3.8 percent for women. The low level of these estimates contrasts starkly with those estimated for other developing countries. We identify several reasons why the returns on schooling are low and why they are higher for women in our context. In particular, the policy alters the schooling distributions of men and women differently, thus the average causal effect we estimate puts a higher weight on the causal effect of schooling at higher grade levels for women than for men. |
| Keywords: | returns to education, compulsory schooling laws, wages, gender |
| JEL: | J18 J31 I21 I28 |
| Date: | 2015–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9274&r=all |
| By: | Fradkin, Andrey (National Bureau of Economic Research); Panier, Frédéric (McKinsey&Co); Tojerow, Ilan (Free University of Brussels) |
| Abstract: | Young adults entering the labor force typically have little access to unemployment insurance or other formal insurance mechanisms. Instead, they rely on family insurance in the form of parental support to smooth consumption. We study the labor market response of Belgian young adults to decreases in parental support caused by parental job displacements. Our estimates correct for unobserved heterogeneity by using the timing of parental shocks before and after labor market entry. We find that a child whose parents lose a job prior to the child's labor market entry is, on average, induced to work 6% more in the 3 years following labor market entry than a child whose parents lose a job after the child's entry (where labor market entry is defined as the end of the child's full-time education). This effect is concentrated on the extensive margin, meaning that the child finds a job faster, and disappears within four years of entry. We find no evidence that parental support affects the quality of the initial job that entrants find. |
| Keywords: | labor supply, unemployment insurance, first-time job seekers, job quality, family insurance |
| JEL: | J13 J22 J64 J65 |
| Date: | 2015–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9304&r=all |
| By: | Andrew Eyles; Stephen Machin |
| Abstract: | We study the origins of what has become one of the most radical and encompassing programmes of school reform seen in the recent past amongst advanced countries - the introduction of academy schools to English secondary education. Academies are state schools that are allowed to run in an autonomous manner which is free from local authority control. Almost all academies are conversions from already existent state schools and so are school takeovers that enable more autonomy. Our analysis shows that this first round of academy conversions that took place in the 2000s generated significant improvements in the quality of pupil intake and in pupil performance. There is evidence of heterogeneity as improvements only occur for schools experiencing the largest increase in their school autonomy relative to their predecessor state. Analysis of mechanisms points to changes in head teachers and management structure as key factors underpinning these improvements in pupil outcomes. |
| Keywords: | Academies, pupil intake, pupil performance |
| JEL: | I20 I21 I28 |
| Date: | 2015–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp1368&r=all |
| By: | Siwan Anderson; Debraj Ray |
| Abstract: | We provide estimates of excess female mortality among adult unmarried women in developing regions. We find that more than 40% of adult “missing women” can be attributed to not being married. In India and other parts of South Asia, 55% of the missing adult women are due to not having a husband. For sub-Saharan Africa and China, the estimates are smaller: 35% and 13% respectively. We show that 70% of missing unmarried women are of reproductive age and that it is the relatively high mortality rates of these young unmarried women (compared to their married counterparts) that drive this phenomenon. |
| JEL: | J16 O15 |
| Date: | 2015–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:21511&r=all |
| By: | Card, David; Kluve, Jochen; Weber, Andrea |
| Abstract: | We present a meta-analysis of impact estimates from over 200 recent econometric evaluations of active labor market programs from around the world. We classify estimates by program type and participant group, and distinguish between three different post-program time horizons. Using meta-analytic models for the effect size of a given estimate (for studies that model the probability of employment) and for the sign and significance of the estimate (for all the studies in our sample) we conclude that: (1) average impacts are close to zero in the short run, but become more positive 2-3 years after completion of the program; (2) the time profile of impacts varies by type of program, with larger gains for programs that emphasize human capital accumulation; (3) there is systematic heterogeneity across participant groups, with larger impacts for females and participants who enter from long term unemployment; (4) active labor market programs are more likely to show positive impacts in a recession. |
| Abstract: | Diese Studie präsentiert eine Meta-Analyse von Effektschätzungen aus mehr als 200 ökonometrischen Evaluationen von Maßnahmen der aktiven Arbeitsmarktpolitik (AAMP) weltweit. Wir kategorisieren die Effektschätzungen nach Maßnahmetyp, Teilnahmegruppe und Zeithorizont (kurz-, mittel- und langfristige Schätzung der Programwirkungen). Auf Basis meta-analytischer Modelle für die Effektgröße (für jene Studien, welche die Beschäftigungswahrscheinlichkeit als Ergebnisgröße modellieren) sowie für die Richtung und Signifikanz der Effektschätzung (für alle Studien unserer Stichprobe) ergeben sich folgende Erkenntnisse: (1) Die durchschnittlichen Maßnahmeneffekte sind kurzfristig nahe Null, werden allerdings positiv 2-3 Jahre nach Beendigung der Maßnahme; (2) das zeitliche Profil der Effekte hängt vom Maßnahmetyp ab, mit stärkeren Zuwächsen für Maßnahmen, die Humankapitalbildung betonen; (3) es zeigt sich systematische Heterogenität nach Teilnahmegruppe, mit größeren Effekten für Frauen und Langzeitarbeitslose; (4) AAMP-Maßnahmen haben während einer Rezession eine höhere Wahrscheinlichkeit, positive Effekte aufzuweisen. |
| Keywords: | active labor market policy,program evaluation,meta-analysis |
| JEL: | J00 J68 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:rwirep:572&r=all |
| By: | Robert Clark; Annamaria Lusardi; Olivia S. Mitchell |
| Abstract: | This paper uses administrative data on all active employees of the Federal Reserve System to examine participation in and contributions to the Thrift Saving Plan, the system’s defined contribution (DC) plan. We have appended to the administrative records a unique employee survey of economic/demographic factors including a set of financial literacy questions. Not surprisingly, Federal Reserve employees are more financially literate than the general population; furthermore, the most financially savvy are also most likely to participate in and contribute the most to their plan. Sophisticated workers contribute three percentage points more of their earnings to the DC plan than do the less knowledgeable, and they hold more equity in their pension accounts. Finally, we examine changes in employee plan behavior a year after the financial literacy survey and compare it to the baseline. We find that employees who completed an educational module were more likely to start contributing and less likely to have stopped contributing to the DC plan post-survey. |
| JEL: | D91 J26 J32 J33 |
| Date: | 2015–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:21461&r=all |