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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Joanna Venator (Boston College) |
| Abstract: | Dual-earner couples’ decisions of where to live and work often result in one spouse – the trailing spouse – experiencing earnings losses at the time of a move. This paper examines how married couples’ migration decisions differentially impact men’s and women’s earnings and the role that policy can play in improving post-move outcomes for trailing spouses. I use panel data from the NLSY97 and a generalized difference- in-differences design to show that access to unemployment insurance (UI) for trailing spouses increases long-distance migration rates by 1.9–2.3 percentage points (38–46%) for married couples. I find that women are the primary beneficiaries of this policy, with higher UI uptake following a move and higher annual earnings of $4,500–$12,000 three years post-move. I then build and estimate a structural model of dual-earner couples’ migration decisions to evaluate the effects of a series of counterfactual policies. I show that increasing the likelihood of joint distant offers substantively increases migration rates, increases women’s post-move employment rates, and improves both men and women’s earnings growth at the time of a move. However, unconditional subsidies for migration that are not linked to having an offer in hand at the time of the move reduce post-move earnings for both men and women, with stronger effects for women. |
| Keywords: | unemployment insurance, migration, economic geography, household behavior and family economics |
| JEL: | D1 J1 J16 J61 J65 R5 |
| Date: | 2022–09–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:boc:bocoec:1052&r= |
| By: | Garrett Anstreicher (University of Wisconsin-Madison); Joanna Venator (Boston College) |
| Abstract: | Women in the United States frequently rely on childcare from extended family but can only do so if they live in the same location as them. This paper studies how child care costs, the location of extended family, and fertility events influence both the labor force attachment and labor mobility of women in the United States. We begin by empirically documenting strong patterns of women returning to their home locations in anticipation of fertility events, indicating that the desire for intergenerational time transfers is an important motivator of home migration. Moreover, women who reside in their parent’s location experience a substantial long-run reduction in their child earnings penalty. Next, we build a dynamic model of labor force participation and migration to assess the incidence of counterfactual scenarios and childcare policies. We find that childcare subsidies increase lifetime earnings and labor mobility for women, with particularly strong effects for women who are ever single mothers and Blacks. Ignoring migration can understate the welfare benefits of these policies by a meaningful extent. |
| Keywords: | Migration, childcare, female labor supply, human capital |
| JEL: | J13 J22 J61 |
| Date: | 2022–09–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:boc:bocoec:1051&r= |
| By: | Andrea Albanesea; Bart Cockx; Muriel Dejemeppe (-) |
| Abstract: | We use (donut) regression discontinuity design and difference-in-differences estimators to estimate the impact of a one-shot hiring subsidy targeted at low-educated unemployed youths during the Great Recession recovery in Belgium. The subsidy increases job-finding in the private sector by 10 percentage points within one year of unemployment. Six years later, high school graduates accumulated 2.8 quarters more private employment. However, because they substitute private for public and self-employment, overall employment does not increase but is still better paid. For high school dropouts, no persistent gains emerge. Moreover, the neighboring attraction pole of Luxembourg induces a complete deadweight near the border. |
| Keywords: | Hiring subsidies, youth unemployment, cross-border employment, regression, discontinuity design, difference-in-differences, spillover effects, displacement |
| JEL: | C21 J08 J23 J24 J64 J68 J61 |
| Date: | 2022–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rug:rugwps:22/1053&r= |
| By: | Corradini, Viola (Massachusetts Institute of Technology); Lagos, Lorenzo (Brown University); Sharma, Garima (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) |
| Abstract: | Why aren't workplaces better designed for women? We show that changing the priorities of those who set workplace policies can create female-friendly jobs. Starting in 2015, Brazil's largest trade union federation made women central to its bargaining agenda. Neither establishments nor workers choose their union, permitting a difference-in-differences design to study causal effects. We find that "bargaining for women" increases female-centric amenities in collective bargaining agreements, which are then reflected in practice (e.g., more female managers, longer maternity leaves, longer job protection). These changes cause women to queue for jobs at treated establishments and separate from them less—both revealed preference measures of firm value. We find no evidence that these gains come at the expense of employment, workers' wages, or firm profits. Hence, prioritizing women's preferences in decision-making can lower within-firm gender inequality through more efficient bargaining. |
| Keywords: | gender disparities, amenities, collective bargaining, unions |
| JEL: | J31 J33 J51 J52 |
| Date: | 2022–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15552&r= |
| By: | Yahong Zhang (Department of Economics, University of Windsor) |
| Abstract: | To mitigate the job and income loss due to COVID-19, the Canadian government implemented a variety of programs. Among them, the most significant initiatives include the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) and Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS). In this paper, I use a dynamic general equilibrium model with labour market frictions to examine the effect of these two programs. In the model, a pandemic shock is captured by a combination of an exogenous rise in the separation rate and a decline in matching efficiency. I show that the shock generates a large rise in the unemployment rate and a steep decline in employment, output and consumption. I then use the model to quantify the effect of the two programs, showing that compared to the CERB program, the CEWS program is more effective in mitigating the loss of employment, output and consumption. |
| Keywords: | unemployment, labour market, pandemic |
| JEL: | J65 J68 H2 |
| Date: | 2022–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wis:wpaper:2203&r= |
| By: | Martins, Pedro S. (Nova School of Business and Economics); Thomas, Jonathan P. (University of Edinburgh) |
| Abstract: | This paper presents a new model of firms' decisions on training in a context of potential worker mobility. Such worker mobility can be influenced by employers coordination, namely through the operation of no-poach agreements and employers' associations (EAs). We then present supporting evidence from rich matched panel data, including firms' EA affiliation and workers' training levels. We find that workers' mobility between firms in the same EA is considerably lower than mobility between equivalent firms not in the same EA. We also find that training provision by EA firms is considerably higher. |
| Keywords: | employers organisations, no-poach agreements, worker mobility |
| JEL: | J53 J62 L40 |
| Date: | 2022–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15488&r= |
| By: | Freund, Richard (University of Oxford); Favara, Marta (University of Oxford); Porter, Catherine (Lancaster University); Scott, Douglas (University of Oxford); Thuc, Duc Le (Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences) |
| Abstract: | We exploit the extensive job loss associated with the devastating fourth wave of COVID-19 in Vietnam to examine the impact of unemployment on young people's experiences of anxiety and depression. Using data from a longitudinal study with individual and survey-wave fixed effects, we show that job loss significantly increases levels of anxiety, but not depression. Specifically, job loss leads to a 5.9 percentage point increase in the probability of experiencing symptoms consistent with either mild or severe anxiety, almost doubling the pre-wave baseline. This effect is driven by individuals in the top earnings tercile who no longer live in their natal household - suggesting that the impact of job loss on anxiety is most acute among young people who are under pressure as the primary earners in their household. Perceived financial strain and food insecurity explain up to 22% of the estimated increase in anxiety. Our results support expanding mental health programmes to explicitly target young adults who have lost their job. |
| Keywords: | mental health, job loss, Vietnam, COVID-19 |
| JEL: | J6 I1 I3 |
| Date: | 2022–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15522&r= |
| By: | Manudeep Bhuller; Karl O. Moene; Magne Mogstad; Ola L. Vestad |
| Abstract: | In this article, we document and discuss salient features of collective bargaining systems in the OECD countries, with the goal of debunking some misconceptions and myths and revitalizing the general interest in wage setting and collective bargaining. We hope that such an interest may help close the gap between how economists tend to model wage setting and how wages are actually set. Canonical models of competitive labor markets, monopsony, and search and matching all assume a decentralized wage setting where individual firms and workers determine wages. In most advanced economies, however, it is common that firms or employer associations bargain with unions over wages, producing collective bargaining systems. We show that the characteristics of these systems vary in important ways across advanced economies, with regards to both the scope and the structure of collective bargaining. |
| JEL: | J31 J51 J52 |
| Date: | 2022–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30437&r= |
| By: | Matzat, Johannes; Schmeißer, Aiko |
| Abstract: | Labor unions' largest potential for political influence likely arises from their direct connection to millions of individuals at the workplace. There they may change the political views of both unionizing workers as well as of their non-unionizing management which is arguably the most relevant out-group. In this paper, we analyze the impact of unionization on workers' and managers' campaign contributions at the workplace over the 1980-2016 period in the United States. Therefore, we combine establishment-level union election data with transaction-level campaign contributions to federal and local candidates. In stacked Difference-in-Differences models, we find that unionization results in a leftward shift of campaign contributions. Unionization increases the support for Democrats relative to Republicans not only among workers but also among managers. To test the validity of these findings, we perform Regression Discontinuity exercises which show that there are no differential trends along placebo vote share cutoffs and that the results hold when comparing increasingly close elections. Moreover, we provide evidence that our results are not driven by compositional changes of the workforce. |
| Date: | 2022–09–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:awi:wpaper:0719&r= |
| By: | Soumitra Shukla |
| Abstract: | This paper studies how socioeconomically biased screening practices impact access to elite firms and what policies might effectively reduce bias. Using administrative data on job search from an elite Indian college, I document large caste disparities in earnings. I show that these disparities arise primarily in the final round of screening, comprising non-technical personal interviews that inquire about characteristics correlated with socioeconomic status. Other job search stages do not explain disparities, including: job applications, application reading, written aptitude tests, large group debates that test for socio-emotional skills, and job choices. Through a novel model of the job placement process, I show that employer willingness to pay for an advantaged caste is as large as that for a full standard deviation increase in college GPA. A hiring subsidy that eliminates the caste penalty would be more cost-effective in diversifying elite hiring than other policies, such as those that equalize the caste distribution of pre-college test scores or enforce hiring quotas. |
| Date: | 2022–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2208.14972&r= |
| By: | Julia Hatamyar |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the effects of legislation mandating workplace breastfeeding amenities on various labor market outcomes. Using the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, I implement both a traditional fixed-effects event study framework and the Interaction-Weighted event study technique proposed by Sun & Abraham (2020). I find that workplace breastfeeding legislation increases the likelihood of female labor force participation by 4.2 percentage points in the two years directly following implementation. Female labor force participation remains higher than before implementation in subsequent years, but the significant effect does not persist. Using the CDC's Infant Feeding Practices Survey II, I then show that breastfeeding women who do not live in states with workplace breastfeeding supportive legislation are 3.9 percentage points less likely to work, supporting the PSID findings. The legislation mainly impacts white women. I find little effect on labor income or work intensity. |
| Date: | 2022–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2209.05916&r= |
| By: | Kevin A. Bryan; Mitchell Hoffman; Amir Sariri |
| Abstract: | Would workers apply to better firms if they were more informed about firm quality? Collaborating with 26 science-based startups, we create a custom job board and invite business school alumni to apply. The job board randomizes across applicants to show coarse expert ratings of all startups' science and/or business model quality. Making this information visible strongly reallocates applications toward better firms. This reallocation holds even when restricting to high-quality workers. The treatments operate in part by shifting worker beliefs about firms' right-tail outcomes. Despite these benefits, workers make post-treatment bets indicating highly overoptimistic beliefs about startup success, suggesting a problem of broader informational deficits. |
| JEL: | M50 M51 |
| Date: | 2022–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30449&r= |
| By: | José De Sousa; Muriel Niederle |
| Abstract: | The introduction of a quota in the French chess Club Championship in 1990, an activity many players engage in next to playing in individual tournaments, provides a quite unique environment to study its effects on three levels. We find that women selected by the quota improve their performance. We show large spillover and trickle-down effects: There are more and better qualified women. International comparisons confirm that the results are unique to France and that there are no substantial adverse effects on French male players. We discuss the properties of this quota and how to implement it in other environments. |
| JEL: | J16 |
| Date: | 2022–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30367&r= |
| By: | Alena Bicakova; Klara Kaliskova |
| Abstract: | We study the impact of an extension of paid family leave from 3 to 4 years on child long-term outcomes. Using a difference-in-differences design and comparing the first-affected with the last-unaffected cohorts of children, we find that an additional year of maternal care at the age of 3, which primarily crowded out enrollment into public kindergartens, had an adverse effect for children of loweducated mothers on human capital investments and labor-market attachment in early adulthood. The affected children were 12 p.p. more likely not to be in education, employment, or training (NEET) at the age of 21-22. The impact on daughters was larger and driven by a lower probability of attending college and higher probability of home production. Sons of low-educated mothers, on the other hand, were less likely to be employed. The results suggest that exposure to formal childcare may be more beneficial than all-day maternal care at the age of 3, especially for children with a lower socio-economic background. |
| Keywords: | family leave; maternal care; subsidized childcare; child outcomes; human capital; labor-market attachment; |
| JEL: | J13 J18 J21 J24 |
| Date: | 2022–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cer:papers:wp732&r= |
| By: | Lach, Saul (Hebrew University, Jerusalem); Sicherman, Nachum (Columbia University) |
| Abstract: | We use data on international migration to study the causal effect of gender discrimination on the sex-ratio of immigrants to the U.S. during the 1970-2019 period. We measure gender discrimination in the countries of origin using the Women, Business, and the Law (WBL) index, which measures legal differences in access to economic opportunities between men and women. Controlling for country fixed effects and regional time trends, as well as for potentially confounding factors, we find that a one standard deviation increase in the WBL index in a country of origin (a decrease in gender discrimination) decreases the share of women immigrating to the U.S. from that country by 1.7 percentage points, on average. This large effect of gender discrimination on the sex ratio of immigrants is robust to specification changes, and is not significant when examining senior citizens. |
| Keywords: | gender discrimination, sex-ratios, international migration |
| JEL: | F22 J16 |
| Date: | 2022–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15487&r= |
| By: | Eliana Carranza; Aletheia Donald; Florian Grosset; Supreet Kaur |
| Abstract: | In low-income communities, pressure to share income with others may disincentivize work, distorting labor supply. We document that across countries, social groups that undertake more interpersonal transfers work fewer hours. Using a field experiment, we enable piece-rate factory workers in Côte d’Ivoire to shield income using blocked savings accounts over 3-9 months. Workers may only deposit earnings increases, relative to baseline, mitigating income effects on labor supply. We vary whether the offered account is private or known to the worker’s network, altering the likelihood of transfer requests against saved income. When accounts are private, take-up is substantively higher (60% vs. 14%). Offering private accounts sharply increases labor supply—raising work attendance by 10% and earnings by 11%. Outgoing transfers do not decline, indicating no loss in redistribution. Our estimates imply a 9-14% social tax rate. The welfare benefits of informal redistribution may come at a cost, depressing labor supply and productivity. |
| JEL: | H0 J0 O1 O4 O55 |
| Date: | 2022–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30438&r= |
| By: | Emanuela Ghignoni Vincenzo Salvucci; Marilena Giannetti; Vincenzo Salvucci |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the evolution of wage gaps in Italy by gender and citizenship. Using Labour Force Survey (LFS) data over the period 2009-2020 we apply two different matching comparison methodologies, the Nopo decomposition and the Inverse Probability Weighted Regression Adjustment (IPWRA) technique, that allow "like for like" comparisons between individuals and are able to take into account how gender interacts with citizenship in shaping wages. Our findings show that the general gender wage gap in Italy is rather low This gap is largely explained by workers' observable characteristics. Conversely, the citizenship wage gap appears to be much larger. Moreover, most of the reported wage gaps seem to be explained by unobservable characteristics. We finally estimate the double-negative effect of being both a woman and a foreigner. Non-Italian women earned on average 44.3% per hour less than Italian men in 2009 and 46.5% less than Italian men in 2020. |
| Keywords: | Gender wage gap; Immigrant/Native wage gap; Double discrimination; Matching; Inverse Probability Regression Adjustment Estimator |
| JEL: | J16 J31 |
| Date: | 2022–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sap:wpaper:wp225&r= |
| By: | Grogan, Louise (University of Guelph) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the impact of manufacturing employment on women's health and decision-making power within households in Lesotho. Under the US African Growth and Opportunity Act of 2000, the employment of women in ready-made garment (RMG) factories in new industrial zones greatly increased. Subsequent shocks to international demand for textile products created by the phase-out of the Multi-Fiber Agreement and the 2008 Financial Crisis temporarily reduced well-paid RMG work opportunities. Women residing closer to the industrial zones were particularly affected. These changes are exploited for identification of causal impacts. Employment in the RMG sector is found to substantially increase women's say in decisions about the allocation of household resources and own health. |
| Keywords: | Lesotho, manufacturing, trade, Africa Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA), Demographic and Health Surveys, IPUMS census, World Bank Enterprise Surveys, Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS), female labour supply, contraceptives, fertility, autonomy |
| JEL: | J13 J12 P0 P13 |
| Date: | 2022–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15518&r= |
| By: | Na'ama Shenhav; Eric Chyn |
| Abstract: | This paper uses birth records from California and mothers who move to quantify the absolute and relative importance of birth location in early-life health. Using a model that includes mother and location fixed effects, we find that moving from a below- to an above-median birth weight location leads to a 19-gram increase in average birth weight. These causal place effects explain 16 percent of geographic variation in birth weight, with family-specific factors accounting for the remaining 84 percent. Place effects are more influential for children of non-college-educated mothers, and are most strongly correlated with local levels of pollution. The improvement in birth weight from moving to a higher-quality area compares favorably to policies that target maternal health, and could have a small, lasting effect on long-run outcomes. |
| JEL: | H51 I1 I15 J13 Q53 R23 |
| Date: | 2022–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30424&r= |
| By: | Florio, Erminia; Kharazi, Aicha |
| Abstract: | The worrying combination of the labor market tightness and the wage inflation in the US since the pandemic raises a question on how the business closure orders affected the fragile segments of the labor force and contributed to mounting inflationary wage pressure. We develop a macroeconomic model with heterogeneous labor and a nested CES production function. We estimate the model using the newly collected data from the CPS and the BEA. The recent crisis leads to a contraction in total hours worked, makes wages more volatile, and sustains wage inflation. The model also generates differential effects of the business closure orders on productivity and the labor market in the US. The earning rates and hours responses to the crisis differ by age, skills, and origin of the worker. |
| Keywords: | productivity shock,labor inequalities,heterogeneous labor,business closure orders |
| JEL: | E20 E24 J01 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:1166&r= |
| By: | Dossche, Maarten; Kolndrekaj, Aleksandra; Propst, Maximilian; Ramos Perez, Javier; Slacalek, Jiri |
| Abstract: | We use household surveys to describe differences in wages, income, wealth and liquid assets of households born in their country of residence (“natives”) vs. those born in other EU and non-EU countries (“immigrants”). The differences in wealth are more substantial than the differences in wages and incomes: immigrants earn on average about 30% lower wages than natives and hold roughly 60% less net wealth. For all variables, only a small fraction of differences between natives and immigrants—around 30%—can be explained by differences in demographics (age, gender, marital status, education, occupation, sector of employment). Immigrants are more likely to be liquidity constrained: while about 17% of natives can be labelled as “hand-to-mouth” (holding liquid assets worth less than two weeks of income), the corresponding share is 20% for households born in another EU country and 29% for those born outside the EU. Employment rates of immigrants are substantially more sensitive to fluctuations in aggregate employment. Monetary policy easing stimulates more strongly employment of individuals born outside the EU. JEL Classification: J15, D31, E52 |
| Keywords: | distribution of income and wealth, inequality, migration, monetary policy |
| Date: | 2022–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecb:ecbwps:20222719&r= |
| By: | Michel Beine; Giovanni Peri; Morgan Raux |
| Abstract: | US universities have attracted hundreds of thousands of international students each year for the last decade. Some of these remain in the US after graduating and contribute to the high skilled labor supply in US labor markets. In this paper, we identify and estimate by how much one more international master’s (or bachelor’s) student increases the skilled labor supply of the US in the short-run. To estimate this "transition rate" we implement an instrumental variable estimation using quasi-random variation in the tuition charged to international students by public US universities in the year that they likely started their studies. We find that attracting an additional international student to a US university increases the local labor supply by about 0.23 employees for master’s students and about 0.11 for bachelor’s students. These averages conceal an important difference. While non-STEM bachelor’s and master’s students had negligible transition rates into US employment, STEM Master students have had significant transition rates around 0.2, especially after the 2008 reform of Optional Practical Training for STEM graduates. |
| JEL: | H7 I2 J6 |
| Date: | 2022–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30431&r= |
| By: | Ponthiere, Gregory |
| Abstract: | Phelps's (1961) Golden Rule states an unambiguous relationship be- tween optimal capital intensity and fertility: a rise in fertility decreases the optimal capital intensity, because a higher fertility increases the in- vestment required to sustain a given capital to labour ratio (i.e., the cap- ital dilution effect). Using a matrix population model embedded in a two-period OLG setting, we examine the robustness of that relationship to the partitioning of the population into 2 subpopulations having dis- tinct fertility behaviors. We derive the optimal accumulation rule in that framework, and we show that, unlike what prevails under a homogeneous population, a rise in fertility does not necessarily reduce the Golden Rule capital intensity, but increases it when the composition effect induced by the fertility change outweighs the standard capital dilution effect pre- vailing under a fixed partition of the population. We also explore the robustness of these results to a finer description of heterogeneity, that is, a partitioning of the population into a larger number of subpopulations. |
| Keywords: | Golden Rule,capital accumulation,fertility,OLG models,matrix population models,heterogeneity |
| JEL: | E13 E21 E22 J13 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:1165&r= |
| By: | Price V. Fishback |
| Abstract: | The paper examines changes in wage and hour labor regulation between 1898 and 1938. Many see the 1905 Lochner Supreme Court decision striking down hours limits for men as the beginning of 30 years in which labor regulation was stymied by the doctrine of “freedom of contract.” That issue played a role but judges often weighed it against safety issues. As a result, hours limits for men in dangerous industries were found to be constitutional. The debates over minimum wages for women also centered on these issues. These laws passed muster in state supreme courts and initially at the U.S. Supreme Court. In 1923 a majority of Supreme Court judges emphasized freedom of contract in declaring a female minimum wage unconstitutional. Seeing close votes and substantial turnover of judges on the Supreme Court, many states continued promulgating advisory minimums and passed new laws. Ultimately, turnover on the Court and a renewed emphasis on the role of minimum wages in ensuring health and safety of women and children during the Depression led the Court to declare minimums for women constitutional. This opened the door for federal minimum wage legislation for all workers. |
| JEL: | J81 K31 N32 N42 |
| Date: | 2022–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30436&r= |
| By: | Stephan Heblich; Stephen J. Redding; Hans-Joachim Voth |
| Abstract: | Did overseas slave-holding by Britons accelerate the Industrial Revolution? We provide theory and evidence on the contribution of slave wealth to Britain’s growth prior to 1835. We compare areas of Britain with high and low exposure to the colonial plantation economy, using granular data on wealth from compensation records. Before the major expansion of slave holding from the 1640s onwards, both types of area exhibited similar levels of economic activity. However, by the 1830s, slavery wealth is strongly correlated with economic development – slave-holding areas are less agricultural, closer to cotton mills, and have higher property wealth. We rationalize these findings using a dynamic spatial model, where slavery investment raises the return to capital accumulation, expanding production in capital-intensive sectors. To establish causality, we use arguably exogenous variation in slave mortality on the passage from Africa to the Indies, driven by weather shocks. We show that weather shocks influenced the continued involvement of ancestors in the slave trade; weather-induced slave mortality of slave-trading ancestors in each area is strongly predictive of slaveholding in 1833. Quantifying our model using the observed data, we find that Britain would have been substantially poorer and more agricultural in the absence of overseas slave wealth. Overall, our findings are consistent with the view that slavery wealth accelerated Britain’s industrial revolution. |
| JEL: | F60 J15 N63 |
| Date: | 2022–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30451&r= |
| By: | Céline Giner; May Hobeika; Chiara Fischetti |
| Abstract: | Fostering gender inclusion can have positive impacts on the food systems' triple challenge of ensuring food security and nutrition for a growing population, supporting the livelihoods of millions of people working in the food supply chain, and doing so in an environmentally sustainable way. Yet these positive synergies are often invisible as sex-disaggregated information is not collected. This report calls for the development of better evidence on gender and food systems as a necessary first step in the path towards gender equality. Based on OECD countries’ experiences, it provides a roadmap to identify and overcome evidence gaps on gender aspects and policies that address gender inequality in food systems with the aim of advancing women’s contribution to food systems. |
| Keywords: | Food systems, Gender equality, Gender impact analysis, Women consumers, Women entrepreneurs, Women workers |
| JEL: | C80 J16 K38 L66 Q18 |
| Date: | 2022–09–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:agraaa:184-en&r= |