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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Seema Jayachandran; Lea Nassal; Matthew J. Notowidigdo; Marie Paul; Heather Sarsons; Elin Sundberg |
| Abstract: | Many couples face a trade-off between advancing one spouse’s career or the other’s. We study this trade-off using administrative data from Germany and Sweden. We first conduct an event-study analysis of couples moving across commuting zones and find that relocation increases men’s earnings more than women’s, with strikingly similar patterns in Germany and Sweden. Using a sample of mass layoff events, we then find that couples in both countries are more likely to relocate in response to the man being laid off compared to the woman. We investigate whether these gendered patterns reflect men’s higher potential earnings or a gender norm that prioritizes men’s career advancement. We provide suggestive evidence of a gender norm using variation in norms within Germany. We then develop and estimate a model of household decision-making in which households can place more weight on the income earned by the man compared to the woman. In both countries, the estimated model can accurately reproduce the reduced-form results, including those not used to estimate the model. The results point to a role for gender norms in explaining the gender gap in the returns to joint moves. |
| JEL: | J16 J61 R23 |
| Date: | 2024–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:32970 |
| By: | Kleven, Henrik Jacobsen (Princeton University); Olivero, Giulia (Cornell University); Patacchini, Eleonora (Cornell University) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates whether the effects of children on the labor market outcomes of women relative to men — child penalties — are shaped by the work behavior of peers' parents during adolescence. Leveraging quasi-random variation in the fraction of peers with working parents across cohorts within schools, we find that greater exposure to working mothers during adolescence substantially reduces the child penalty in employment later in life. Conversely, we find that greater exposure to working fathers increases the penalty. Our findings suggest that parental role models during adolescence are critical for shaping child-related gender gaps in the labor market. |
| Keywords: | child penalty, gender norms, long-run |
| JEL: | J13 J16 J21 |
| Date: | 2024–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17309 |
| By: | Pepin, Gabrielle (Upjohn Institute for Employment Research) |
| Abstract: | The Child and Dependent Care Credit (CDCC), a tax credit based on income and child care expenses, reduces child care costs for working families. The Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act expanded the CDCC in 2003, generating differential increases in generosity across states and family sizes. Using data from the March Current Population Survey, the author finds that a $100 increase in CDCC generosity increases paid child care participation by 0.6 percentage points among single mothers and 2.2 percentage points among married mothers with children younger than 13 years old. The author also finds that CDCC benefits increase labor supply among married mothers, who may experience long-run earnings gains. |
| Keywords: | child care subsidies, paid child care participation, female labor supply |
| JEL: | J13 H24 J22 H71 |
| Date: | 2024–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17238 |
| By: | Chiplunkar, Gaurav (University of Virginia); Goldberg, Pinelopi Koujianou (Yale University) |
| Abstract: | We develop a framework for quantifying barriers to labor force participation (LFP) and entrepreneurship faced by women in India. We find substantial barriers to LFP, and higher costs of expanding businesses through the hiring of workers for women entrepreneurs. However, there is one area in which female entrepreneurs have an advantage: the hiring of female workers. We show that this is not driven by the sectoral composition of female employment. Consistent with this pattern, policies promoting female entrepreneurship can significantly increase female LFP even without explicitly targeting female LFP. Counterfactual simulations indicate that removing all excess barriers faced by women entrepreneurs would substantially increase the fraction of female-owned firms, female LFP, earnings, and generate substantial gains for the economy. These gains are due to higher LFP, higher real wages and profits, and reallocation: low productivity male-owned firms previously sheltered from female competition are replaced by higher productivity female-owned firms previously excluded from the economy. |
| Keywords: | female entrepreneurship, gender discrimination, misallocation, economic development |
| JEL: | J16 J70 O17 O40 |
| Date: | 2024–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17281 |
| By: | Elizabeth Ananat |
| Abstract: | I discuss recent books offering differing explanations for persistent U.S. poverty. Desmond (2023) argues that aid to low-income Americans is captured by more powerful market actors. I contextualize this concern as about incidence and consider both policies for changing incidence (by changing outside options) and supplemental critiques focused on reducing deadweight loss as well as reapportioning surplus. Kearney (2023) argues that declining marriage means American children grow up in less-resourced families. I suggest this decline may reflect shortfalls in “soft” skills needed to make marriage efficient in an era when men are increasingly a source of family economic instability while women’s outside options improve. I consider policies to improve soft skills and policies supporting family economic stability, which could reduce spousal-skill requirements. I conclude by encouraging engagement with the emerging policy feedback literature, which explores why popular, evidence-based policies like those discussed have not so far been adopted in the U.S. |
| JEL: | I3 I38 J12 J13 J18 J38 J50 J58 J63 J64 J65 J68 |
| Date: | 2024–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:32967 |
| By: | Ulrich Glogowsky; Emanuel Hansen; Dominik Sachs; Holger Lüthen |
| Abstract: | Using German administrative data from the 1960s onward, this paper (i) examines the long-term evolution of child-related gender inequality in earnings and (ii) assesses the impact of family policies on this inequality. We present three sets of findings. First, child penalties (i.e., the percentage of potential earnings lost due to children) have strongly increased over the last decades. Mothers who had their first child in the 1960s faced much smaller penalties than those who gave birth in the 2000s. Second, we decompose overall gender inequality into childrelated and child-unrelated components. Over our sample period, the fraction of overall inequality attributed to children rose from 14% to 64%. This trend not only resulted from the growing child penalties but also from rising potential earnings of mothers. Intuitively, in later decades, mothers had more income to lose from child-related career breaks. Third, we investigate the role of policy decisions in this rise in child penalties. Parental leave expansions between 1979 and 1992 amplified child penalties and contributed nearly one-third to the increase in child-related gender inequality. Instead, a parental benefit reform in 2007 mitigated further increases. While the third set of results highlights the role of family policies, the first two imply that sidelining mothers becomes increasingly costly over time. |
| Date: | 2024–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jku:econwp:2024-08 |
| By: | Mohrenweiser, Jens; Pfeifer, Christian |
| Abstract: | Empirical studies find that firms with employee representation have a higher productivity than firms without employee representation. The exact mechanisms for this consistent finding remain unclear, however. A frequent theoretical argument postulates that employee representation provides a safeguarding mechanism which improves justice perceptions of employees that in turn improves cooperation and performance. Using a German longitudinal linked employer-employee dataset, we show that employees in firms with a collective bargaining agreement have higher individual and shared justice perceptions. These higher justice perceptions contribute to the productivity premium of firms with collective agreement. In contrast, justice perceptions are not higher in firms with than in firms without a works council. |
| Keywords: | works councils, collective bargaining, organisational justice, firm performance |
| JEL: | J53 M54 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:1499 |
| By: | Leonardo Fabio Morales; Mauricio Quiñones; Eleonora Dávalos; Luis Felipe Gaviria |
| Abstract: | Most macroeconomic labor literature on estimating matching functions does not consider spatial spillover effects. However, job search and vacancy-filling processes often involve neighboring locations, as local workers can search for and fill vacancies in nearby labor markets. We estimate a spatial spillover model using annual data for a middle-income country in Latin America. Our findings show that unemployment has a positive spatial spillover effect because an increase in the labor supply raises the probability of filling a vacancy. In contrast, vacancies have a negative spillover effect because local and neighboring vacancies compete to be filled by workers in both markets. RESUMEN: La mayor parte de la literatura laboral sobre la estimación de funciones de emparejamiento no considera los efectos de derrame espacial. Sin embargo, los procesos de búsqueda de empleo y de ocupación de vacantes a menudo involucran ubicaciones vecinas, ya que los trabajadores locales pueden buscar y cubrir vacantes en mercados laborales cercanos. En este trabajo se estima un modelo de derrame espacial utilizando datos anuales para Colombia. Nuestros hallazgos muestran que el desempleo tiene un efecto de derrame espacial positivo porque un aumento en la oferta laboral aumenta la probabilidad de ocupar una vacante. En contraste, las vacantes tienen un efecto de derrame negativo porque las vacantes locales y vecinas compiten por ser ocupadas por trabajadores de ambos mercados. |
| Keywords: | Matching Function, Spatial Spillovers, Spatial Econometrics, Función de Emparejamiento, Efectos Espaciales, Econometría Espacia |
| JEL: | J61 J64 R12 R14 |
| Date: | 2024–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdr:borrec:1283 |
| By: | Christian Dustmann (University College London); Rasmus Landerso (ROCKWOOL Foundation Research Unit); Lars Andersen (ROCKWOOL Foundation Research Unit) |
| Abstract: | Abstract: This paper studies the effects of a large welfare benefit reduction on the children in the affected families. The welfare cut targeted adult refugees who received residency in Denmark, and it reduced their disposable income by 30 percent on average over the first five years. We show that children exposed to the welfare cut during preschool and school-age obtained lower GPAs, experienced reduced well-being and overall education levels, and suffered lower employment and earnings as adults. Children in their teens at exposure faced large increases in conviction probabilities for violent and property crimes. |
| Keywords: | Social assistance, welfare state, crime, education, inequality |
| JEL: | I24 I30 J10 K14 |
| Date: | 2024–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:2415 |
| By: | Alison W. Baulos; Jorge Luis García; James J. Heckman |
| Abstract: | The Perry Preschool Project, the longest-running experimental study of an early childhood education program, demonstrates how such interventions can yield long-term personal, societal, and intergenerational benefits for disadvantaged populations. The evidence is clear: investments in high-quality early childhood education and parental engagement can deliver returns even 50 years later. The program’s findings remain scientifically robust, particularly when analyzed through rigorous small-sample inference methods. The program’s findings also contradict common criticisms of preschool, as, when measured correctly, treatment effects on IQ do not fadeout. This paper draws insights from both the original founders and recent empirical studies, emphasizing the critical role of parental involvement in early education. The authors advocate for a scientific agenda focused on understanding the mechanisms behind treatment effects, rather than replicating specific programs. The analysis also underscores the broader implications of early childhood interventions for social mobility and human capital formation. Analysts of early childhood education should recognize that although credentials and formal curricula contribute to successful programs, the true measure of quality lies in adult-child interactions, which play an essential role. |
| JEL: | C53 I24 I32 J15 |
| Date: | 2024–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:32972 |
| By: | Lee Tucker; Moises Yi; Filip Babalievsky; Hubert P. Janicki; Stephen R. Tibbets; Lawrence Warren |
| Abstract: | The Census Bureau is developing a “jobs frame†to provide detailed job-level employment data across the U.S. through linked administrative records such as unemployment insurance and IRS W-2 filings. This working paper summarizes the research conducted by the jobs frame development team on modifying and extending the LEHD Unit-to-Worker (U2W) imputation procedure for the jobs frame prototype. It provides a conceptual overview of the U2W imputation method, highlighting key challenges and tradeoffs in its current application. The paper then presents four imputation methodologies and evaluates their performance in areas such as establishment assignment accuracy, establishment size matching, and job separation rates. The results show that all methodologies perform similarly in assigning workers to the correct establishment. Non-spell-based methodologies excel in matching establishment sizes, while spell-based methodologies perform better in accurately tracking separation rates. |
| Date: | 2024–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cen:wpaper:24-51 |
| By: | Créchet, Jonathan; Cui, Jing; Sabada, Barbara; Sawyer, Antoine |
| Keywords: | Worker flows, business cycles, life cycle |
| JEL: | E24 J63 J64 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:i4rdps:163 |
| By: | Libertad González; Luis Guirola; Laura Hospido |
| Abstract: | We provide evidence of fathers’ time-use during paternity leave by studying the timing of paternity leave spells around a large sports event with strong male following: the 2022 Soccer World Cup. We use administrative data from Spain, a country with generous paternity leave policies and a strong following of soccer competitions. Our data cover the universe of paternity (and maternity) leave spells, and we exploit the exact dates of the 2022 World Cup in a difference-in-differences framework. We show that, during the exact dates of the Qatar World Cup (November 20-December 18, 2022), there was a daily excess of more than 1, 000 men on paternity leave (1.3%), relative to the surrounding dates, and using the year before and after as controls (for seasonality). We also show in triple-differences specifications that this excess is not present in maternity leave spells, or in paternity leave spells among self-employed workers (with much more flexible schedules). We interpret these results as direct evidence that (at least a fraction of) fathers use paternity leave for purposes unrelated to childcare. |
| Keywords: | gender inequality, paternity leave, childcare |
| JEL: | J13 J16 J22 |
| Date: | 2024–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bge:wpaper:1463 |
| By: | Kamel Dridi (Central Bank of Tunisia) |
| Abstract: | This study estimated Tunisia's potential growth with a Cobb-Douglas production function using an unobservable component model within structural changes context for the period 1989–2023. It investigated the major shocks' effects on the potential growth and its components. In contrast with most studies, we employed the Beveridge Curve to deduce the natural unemployment rate. In order to obtain a more realistic labor trend. We developed a methodology with which we created an indicator of working hours that considers a representative distribution of employment, in particular by sector, location, and gender. We performed the study in an uncertain environment. Structural changes have an important impact on the major macroeconomic trends. We manipulated these changes using a variety of econometric time series techniques. We performed the Bai-Perron test to detect slight shifts. The results show that for the last 40 years, Tunesia has not been able to maintain high potential production growth rates. The country could not halt the significant deceleration of potential output that began in the 2010s or avoid the negative potential growth differentials by 2020–23. Total factor productivity was insufficient to avoid a permanent slowdown that had become more severe with each shock. Additionally, labor declined in response to decelerating demographic trends and persistent structural unemployment. These issues may remain significant in the future. |
| Keywords: | Potential Growth; Production Function; Unobserved Components Model; structural changes; shocks |
| JEL: | E22 E23 E24 E27 C82 |
| Date: | 2024–09–26 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gii:giihei:heidwp21-2024 |
| By: | Anne Boring (Erasmus University Rotterdam); Josse Delfgaauw (Erasmus University Rotterdam) |
| Abstract: | Do workers speak their mind about sexism and about diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies in the workplace? We measure social desirability bias regarding sexism and DEI policies using a list experiment survey among workers from five male-dominated industries in France and in the US. In both countries and, remarkably, among both men and women, we document substantial social desirability bias. Managers exhibit a larger bias than non-managerial employees. This difference between voiced and real attitudes may make organizations overestimate support for DEI policies in their workforce, rendering such policies less effective. |
| Keywords: | Sexism, Diversity, Social desirability bias, List experiment survey |
| JEL: | J16 J71 M14 M5 |
| Date: | 2024–11–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tin:wpaper:20240002 |
| By: | Masayasu Asai; Jesús Antón |
| Abstract: | Ensuring the well-being of farmers, their families, farmworkers, and that of their communities is high on the agenda of governments and policy makers in OECD countries. The quality of agricultural jobs (e.g. working conditions) and quality of life aspects such as environmental quality, health, depopulation of rural areas, isolation, crime, discrimination, and access to knowledge together determine the well-being of those active in the agricultural sector. Relevant policy design has tended to be hampered by serious data gaps. By focusing on different dimensions of well-being, this paper proposes a framework for social issues in agriculture to identify cross-cutting challenges. Seven policy examples, covering diverse social issues such as mental health, developing social connections in isolated rural areas, and inclusiveness of Indigenous Peoples and those with disabilities, confirm the need to look beyond traditional sectoral policies and to address social issues from a broader policy perspective. Only a multipronged approach can successfully remove the barriers that hinder opportunities for all farmers and their communities. |
| Keywords: | Data gaps, Inclusiveness, Rural development, Social sustainability, Well-being |
| JEL: | H7 I13 J81 Q13 Q18 R2 |
| Date: | 2024–10–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:agraaa:212-en |
| By: | Mason , Andrew (University of Hawaii at Manoa); Park, Donghyun (Asian Development Bank); Estrada, Gemma (Asian Development Bank) |
| Abstract: | The population of developing Asia, in particular East Asia, is aging. Funding the needs of its growing population of older adults is the biggest socioeconomic challenge that aging presents for the region. The central objective of our paper is to analyze empirically how individuals fund their old-age needs in different economies. While developing Asian economies are the focus of our analysis, we also present results for high-income economies and non-Asian developing economies for comparative purposes. Our analysis relies heavily on wealth measures because these facilitate comparisons of flows over the life cycle, which vary strongly with age. Our analysis indicates that developing Asia’s old-age funding needs will rise substantially because of population aging between 2025 and 2065. We find that labor income will play a smaller role in funding the region’s old-age needs, while public and private transfers will play a larger role. While expanding public transfers will contribute toward old-age economic security, the region must carefully plan such expansion and avoid unsustainable generosity to safeguard the macroeconomic stability that underpinned its rapid economic growth and development. |
| Keywords: | aging; Asia; old-age economic security; public transfers |
| JEL: | J11 J14 |
| Date: | 2024–09–26 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:adbewp:0742 |