|
on Labour Economics |
| By: | Ellora Derenoncourt; François Gerard; Lorenzo Lagos; Claire Montialoux |
| Abstract: | We study the role of union heterogeneity in shaping wages and inequality among unionized workers. Using linked employer-employee data from Brazil and job moves across multi-firm unions, we estimate over 4, 800 union-specific pay premia. Unions explain 3–4% of earnings variation. While unions raise wages on average, the standard deviation in union effects is large (6–7%). Validating our approach, wages fall in markets with higher vs. lower union premia following a nationwide right-to-work law. Linking premia to detailed data on union attributes, we find that unions with strike activity, collective bargaining agreements, internal competition, and skilled leaders secure higher wages. High-premium unions compress wage gaps by education while the average union exacerbates them. Post right-to-work, however, worker support for high-premium unions falls when between-group bargaining differentials are large. Our findings show that unions are not a monolith—their structure and actions shape their wage effects and, consequently, worker support. |
| JEL: | J31 J51 |
| Date: | 2025–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34139 |
| By: | Emma Harrington; Matthew E. Kahn |
| Abstract: | When women become mothers, they often take a step back from their careers. Could work from home (WFH) reduce this motherhood penalty, particularly in traditionally family-unfriendly careers? We leverage technological changes prior to the pandemic that increased the feasibility of WFH in some college degrees but not others. In degrees where WFH increased, motherhood gaps in employment narrowed: for every 10% increase in WFH, mothers’ employment rates increased by 0.78 per centage points (or 0.94%) relative to other women’s. This change is driven by majors linked to careers that have high returns to hours and inflexible demands on workers’ time. We microfound these results using panel data that show that women who could WFH before childbirth are less likely to exit the workforce. |
| JEL: | H2 J01 J13 |
| Date: | 2025–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34147 |
| By: | Ying Chao; Benjamin Griffy; David Wiczer |
| Abstract: | In the United States, workers whose past earnings were below a threshold are generally ineligible for unemployment insurance (UI), creating a discontinuous jump in the value of being unemployed. Using a regression discontinuity design with administrative panel data, we estimate a sizable local effect from UI eligibility on earnings in the next employer, around 10 percent per quarter. This evidence, however, understates UI’s causal effect because of endogenous non-compliance. It also does not distinguish between underlying reasons for higher re-employment earnings, a higher share of production, or more productive matches. These are addressed through a quantitative model. The underlying causal effect is 50 percent higher than the empirical estimates, and nearly all of the effect comes from workers getting a larger share. |
| Keywords: | unemployment insurance; directed search; earnings |
| JEL: | E24 E30 J62 J63 J64 |
| Date: | 2025–07–14 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedawp:101516 |
| By: | Yoosoon Chang; Steven N. Durlauf; Bo Hu; Joon Park |
| Abstract: | We examine how parental income and family structure during childhood and adolescence affect adult income, emphasizing the timing of these effects. Using an ordered multinomial probability model with functional covariates, we find that these familial influences are strongest in middle childhood and adolescence. We also uncover a complementary relationship in the effects of income and family structure trajectories during key developmental periods. By flexibly controlling for personal and family characteristics using nonparametric methods, our approach effectively handles high-dimensional covariates. The results advance the understanding of intergenerational income mobility and highlight the long-term importance of familial conditions for adult economic success. |
| JEL: | C10 C14 C25 C50 D10 H0 J01 J10 |
| Date: | 2025–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34179 |
| By: | Agnieszka Kasperska (Interdisciplinary Centre for Labour Market and Family Dynamics (LabFam), University of Warsaw); Anna Matysiak (Interdisciplinary Centre for Labour Market and Family Dynamics (LabFam), University of Warsaw); Ewa Cukrowska-Torzewska (Interdisciplinary Centre for Labour Market and Family Dynamics (LabFam), University of Warsaw) |
| Abstract: | This study explores how organizational factors influence managerial decision-making regarding the career advancement of employees working from home. Despite a large body of research on the new modes of working, a gap persists concerning the role of the organizational context in shaping these dynamics. In this article, we investigate whether managers’ promotion and pay decisions depend on the employee's use of remote work and whether these decisions are moderated by the presence of the ideal worker norms (i.e. high work devotion and centrality) and family-friendly policies (childcare-related and flexible work options) in their work environments. We use data from a choice experiment, which included over 1, 000 managers from the United Kingdom. The experiment was run in the second half of 2022, and therefore, this study provides post-pandemic evidence and represents the “new normal” settings. The findings indicate that employees who work fully remotely are less likely to be considered for promotion and a salary increase than on-site workers. This pattern is observed particularly in firms with more demanding organizational cultures, namely those with stronger ideal worker norms and/or fewer family-friendly policies. Importantly, both male and female remote workers experience career penalties, albeit in distinct ways, as both ideal worker norms and family-friendly policies appear important for men, whereas for women, it is primarily the availability of supportive policies that influences outcomes. The findings underscore the significant impact of organizational culture on managerial decision-making, with implications for both theory and practice. |
| Keywords: | experiment, gender, promotion, organizational culture, work from home |
| JEL: | J12 J13 J16 J21 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:war:wpaper:2025-17 |
| By: | Joseph G. Altonji; John Eric Humphries; Yagmur Yuksel; Ling Zhong |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the gender gap in log earnings among full-time, college-educated workers born between 1931 and 1984. Using data from the National Survey of College Graduates and other sources, we decompose the gender earnings gap across birth cohorts into three components: (i) gender differences in the relative returns to undergraduate and graduate fields, (ii) gender-specific trends in undergraduate field, graduate degree attainment, and graduate field, and (iii) a cohort-specific “residual component” that shifts the gender gap uniformly across all college graduates. We have three main findings. First, when holding the relative returns to fields constant, changes in fields of study contribute 0.128 to the decline in the gender gap. However, this decline is partially offset by cohort trends in the relative returns to specific fields that favored men over women, reducing the contribution of field-of-study changes to the decline to 0.055. Second, gender differences in the relative returns to undergraduate and graduate fields of study contribute to the earnings gap, but they play a limited role in explaining its decline over time. Third, much of the convergence in earnings between the 1931 and 1950 cohorts is due to a declining “residual component.” The residual component remains stable for cohorts born between 1951 and the late 1970s, after which it resumes its decline. |
| JEL: | I24 I26 J16 J31 J7 N32 |
| Date: | 2025–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34133 |
| By: | Brainerd, Elizabeth (Brandeis University); Malkova, Olga (University of California, Irvine) |
| Abstract: | Do religious beliefs affect responses to fertility incentives? We examine a 1982 maternity benefits expansion in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in a difference-in-differences framework with similar East European countries as comparisons. To isolate the importance of religion, we compare women who did and did not grow up in religious households when religion was formally outlawed, resulting in similar adult characteristics among women in the Baltics by importance of religion. Maternity benefits increased fertility only among women who grew up in religious families, providing novel evidence that cultural norms transmitted through the family can amplify the effects of public policies. |
| Keywords: | parental leave, family policies, culture, fertility, religion |
| JEL: | J13 J18 P20 Z10 Z12 |
| Date: | 2025–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18081 |
| By: | Bilge, Nur; Naiditch, Claire |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the impact of international migration on internal mobility patterns in Turkey between 2014 and 2022. Using rich bilateral migration flow data, we explore heterogeneity by migrant type and nationality. Our findings indicate that an increase in the share of foreigners in a province is associated with higher out-migration of Turkish nationals. In contrast, a greater share of refugees tends to reduce native internal migration, highlighting distinct effects based on migrant status. We also find substantial variation by migrant nationality, suggesting once more that the characteristics of migrants shape their impact on native mobility. Further, we uncover asymmetric effects: the effect of foreign presence is more pronounced in provinces with initially low levels of internal mobility. Finally, by incorporating subjective measures of satisfaction with public services, we show that both access to and satisfaction with local services significantly influence internal migration decisions. |
| Keywords: | Gravity model, Internal migration, International migration |
| JEL: | J15 F22 O15 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:1658 |
| By: | Anna Matysiak (Interdisciplinary Centre for Labour Market and Family Dynamics (LabFam), Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw); Beata Osiewalska (Interdisciplinary Centre for Labour Market and Family Dynamics (LabFam), Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw); Anna Kurowska (Interdisciplinary Centre for Labour Market and Family Dynamics (LabFam), Faculty of Political Science and International Studies, University of Warsaw) |
| Abstract: | This study investigates how work-from-home (WFH) —by mothers and their male partners—shapes maternal employment re-entry after childbirth. Drawing on Conservation of Resources and Boundary Management theories, the study distinguishes between WFH access and regular use. It hypothesizes that regular WFH use by mothers and their partners supports earlier and full-time maternal return to paid work, particularly among second-time mothers. The UK Household Longitudinal Study (2009–2019) is used to estimate discrete-time hazard models of return to paid work after first and second births, distinguishing between full-time and part-time re-entry. Among first-time mothers, both WFH access and regular use are associated with a greater likelihood of full-time re-entry, though not with overall return. Among second-time mothers, regular pre-birth WFH use significantly increases the likelihood of returning to paid work—regardless of hours—whereas access alone does not. No significant associations are found between male partners’ WFH and maternal employment outcomes. |
| Keywords: | childbirth, flexibility, remote work, return to work, telework, work from home, United Kingdom |
| JEL: | J10 J11 J13 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:war:wpaper:2025-18 |
| By: | Marina Agranov; S. Nageeb Ali; B. Douglas Bernheim; Thomas R. Palfrey |
| Abstract: | Strategic models of legislative bargaining predict that proposers can extract high shares of economic surplus by identifying and exploiting weak coalition partners. However, strength and weakness can be difficult to assess even with relatively simple bargaining protocols. We evaluate experimentally how strategic complexity affects the ability to identify weak coalition partners, and for the partners themselves to determine whether their positions are weak or strong. We find that, as strategic complexity progressively obscures bargaining strength, proposers migrate to egalitarianism, in significant part because non-proposers begin placing substantial weight on fairness. Greater analytic skill dampens but does not eliminate these patterns. |
| Date: | 2025–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2507.15682 |
| By: | Bhalotra, Sonia R. (University of Warwick); Daysal, N. Meltem (University of Copenhagen); Trandafir, Mircea (Rockwool Foundation Research Unit) |
| Abstract: | Mental illnesses emerge in childhood, making early intervention important. However, antidepressant treatment rates remain low following a controversial FDA warning. We provide some of the first evidence of impacts of antidepressant treatment in childhood on objectively measured mental health indicators and economic outcomes over time, and the first attempt to investigate under- vs overtreatment. Treatment improves Math scores in high school, post-compulsory education and adult employment and earnings, reducing welfare dependence. It reduces suicidality and hospital visits. Low-SES children benefit more. Policy simulations in a marginal treatment effects framework suggest under-treatment, highlighting that expanding treatment can reduce inequality. |
| Keywords: | physician leniency, Denmark, human capital, test scores, education, mental health, antidepressants, marginal treatment effects |
| JEL: | I11 I12 I18 J13 |
| Date: | 2025–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18069 |
| By: | Guido Friebel; Matthias Heinz; Mitchell Hoffman; Tobias Kretschmer; Nick Zubanov |
| Abstract: | In a large German bakery chain, many workers report negative perceptions of monitoring via checklists. We survey workers and managers about the value and time costs to all in-store checklists, leading the firm to randomly remove two of the most perceivedly time-consuming and low-value checklists in half of stores. Sales increase and store manager attrition substantially decreases, and this occurs without a rise in measurable workplace problems. Before random assignment, regional managers predict whether the treatment would be effective for each store they oversee. Ex post, beneficial effects of checklist removal are fully concentrated in stores where regional managers predict the treatment will be effective, reflecting substantial heterogeneity in returns that is well-understood by these upper managers. Effects of checklist removal do not appear to come from workers having more time for production, but rather coincide with improvements in employee trust and commitment. Following the RCT, the firm implemented firmwide reductions in monitoring, eliminating a checklist regarded as demeaning, but keeping a checklist that helps coordinate production. |
| JEL: | M50 |
| Date: | 2025–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34122 |
| By: | Kristina Butaeva; Lian Chen; Steven N. Durlauf; Albert Park |
| Abstract: | This paper examines intergenerational mobility in China and Russia during their transitions from central planning to market systems. We consider mobility as movement captured by changes in status between parents and children. We provide estimates of overall mobility, which involves mobility during transition to a system's steady state, as well as steady state mobility, which captures long-run mobility independent of transitional dynamics or shifts in the marginal distribution of outcomes across generations. We further decompose overall mobility into structural and exchange components. We find that China exhibits more overall educational mobility than Russia mostly due to greater structural mobility, while Russia exhibits greater steady state educational mobility. In contrast, both the overall and steady state occupational mobility is similar in China and Russia. Comparing these results to the US, we find that steady state mobility in education is substantially higher in the US and Russia compared to China, but occupational steady state mobility is comparable in all three countries. |
| JEL: | I24 J62 P2 |
| Date: | 2025–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34124 |
| By: | Felipe M. Gonçalves; Steven Mello; Emily K. Weisburst |
| Abstract: | We study racial disparities in police use of force. A pervasive issue in studies of policing is that the available data are selected by the police. As a result, disparities computed in the observed sample may be biased if selection into the data differs by race. We develop a framework and econometric strategy for correcting this bias, using variation across officers in enforcement intensity to identify the racial composition of the unobserved population at risk of selection. Using detailed administrative data on arrests and force incidents from Chicago and Seattle, we find that Black civilians comprise 56 percent of arrestees but about 49 percent of potential arrestees. Correcting for sample selection doubles our measure of the racial disparity in force rates. Decompositions of the corrected force disparity reveal that about 70 percent is unexplained by other demographic and incident characteristics, suggesting an important role for officer discrimination. Our selection bias estimates meaningfully impact the conclusions drawn in the existing literature. |
| JEL: | C10 J15 K42 |
| Date: | 2025–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34175 |
| By: | Cara Ebert; Leander Heldring; James A. Robinson; Sebastian Vollmer |
| Abstract: | We study the role of the English Industrial Revolution in promoting social mobility and ending the society of orders: one based on rigid social categories and regulated by inherited characteristics. We combine two new datasets on individual wealth holdings before and after the Industrial Revolution. Our main finding is that noble and gentry titles as well as surnames explain significantly less of the variation in wealth after the Industrial Revolution. Moreover, these declines are substantially larger in the parts of England most impacted by the Revolution. We also explore the extent to which different characteristics predict being rich. We then study a key facet of this increased social mobility - geographical and occupational mobility. We show that people with surnames that were more mobile tended to be in the north and working in manufacturing. Moreover, areas that experienced greater outward mobility were more urbanized; less agrarian; had institutionalized markets; more gentry; were poorer (as proxied by tax revenues); and were more likely to be the residence of a member of parliament. |
| JEL: | D31 J60 N63 |
| Date: | 2025–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34153 |
| By: | Benjamin G. Hyman; Benjamin Lahey; Karen Ni; Laura Pilossoph |
| Abstract: | We document the extent to which workers in AI-exposed occupations can successfully retrain for AI-intensive work. We assemble a new workforce development dataset spanning over 1.6 million job training participation spells from all US Workforce Investment and Opportunity Act programs from 2012–2023 linked with occupational measures of AI exposure. Using earnings records observed before and after training, we compare high AI exposure trainees to a matched sample of similar workers who only received job search assistance. We find that AI-exposed workers have high earnings returns from training that are only 25% lower than the returns for low AI exposure workers. However, training participants who target AI-intensive occupations face a penalty for doing so, with 29% lower returns than AI-exposed workers pursuing more general training. We estimate that between 25% to 40% of occupations are “AI retrainable” as measured by its workers receiving higher pay for moving to more AI-intensive occupations—a large magnitude given the relatively low-income sample of displaced workers. Positive earnings returns in all groups are driven by the most recent years when labor markets were tightest, suggesting training programs may have stronger signal value when firms reach deeper into the skill market. |
| JEL: | E0 E2 J6 |
| Date: | 2025–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34174 |
| By: | Morales, Marina |
| Abstract: | Using a panel dataset covering 27 European countries over a 53-year period, this study examines the relationship between paid paternity leave reforms and divorce rates. Controlling for policyrelated factors and other legislative changes affecting divorce, the dynamic analysis reveals that while the introduction of any paid paternity leave is initially associated with higher divorce rates, the effect becomes negative when focusing on policies offering 2 weeks or more of leave. The decrease in divorce rates becomes more significant as the length of leave increases and grows over time. Specifically, providing fathers with at least 2 weeks of paid leave after childbirth reduces divorce rates by 0.36 percentage points 15 years after implementation. Additional analyses of the underlying mechanisms suggest that, in the absence of extended paternity leave, the results are likely driven by improved labor market opportunities for women-a factor that may unintentionally increase the likelihood of divorce. |
| Keywords: | Paid paternity leave, divorce rates, Europe |
| JEL: | J48 J12 J16 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:1659 |
| By: | Kansikas, Carolina (University of Warwick); Bagues, Manuel (University of Warwick) |
| Abstract: | We study whether term limits can accelerate women’s access to top political positions by analyzing two reforms in Italian local elections that extended mayoral term limits from two to three five-year terms. In a period marked by rapid growth in women’s political participation, the first reform affected municipalities with fewer than 3, 000 inhabitants in 2014, and the second those below 5, 000 in 2022. Using a difference-in-discontinuities design, we find that longer term limits restrict opportunities for early-career politicians, with substantial effects for female representation: the share of female mayors would be 8 percentage points higher without the term limit extensions. The impact is larger in municipalities with more women in lower political positions and where gender quotas for council members are present, suggesting that entry-level quotas can be more effective when paired with policies promoting turnover in top positions. |
| Keywords: | Term limits, female political representation, Italian local elections JEL Classification: J16, J18, J48, D72 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cge:wacage:768 |
| By: | Pinelopi K. Goldberg; Charles TL. Gottlieb; Somik Lall; Meet Mehta; Michael Peters; Aishwarya Lakshmi Ratan |
| Abstract: | The extent to which women participate in the labor market varies greatly across the globe. If such differences reflect distortions that women face in accessing good jobs, they can reduce economic activity through a misallocation of talent. In this paper, we build on Hsieh et al. (2019) to provide a methodology to quantify these productivity consequences. The index we propose, the ”Global Gender Distortions Index (GGDI)”, measures the losses in aggregate productivity that gender-based misallocation imposes. Our index allows us to separately identify labor demand distortions (e.g., discrimination in hiring for formal jobs) from labor supply distortions (e.g., frictions that discourage women’s labor force participation) and can be computed using data on labor income and job types. Our methodology also highlights an important distinction between welfare-relevant misallocation and the consequences on aggregate GDP if misallocation arises between market work and non-market activities. To showcase the versatility of our index, we analyze gender misallocation within countries over time, across countries over the development spectrum, and across local labor markets within countries. We find that misallocation is substantial and that demand distortions account for most of the productivity losses. |
| JEL: | O10 O4 |
| Date: | 2025–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34142 |
| By: | Mark Colas; Chao Fu |
| Abstract: | Information frictions—where a worker and her current employer know more about the worker’s productivity than prospective employers—have complex equity-efficiency implications in the teacher labor market. Reducing information frictions may make it easier for effective teachers to move to their preferred schools and increase cross-school inequality, but it may also attract high-quality entrants and improve market-level teacher quality. Taking these factors into account, we develop an equilibrium model of the teacher labor market and estimate it using data from the Houston Independent School District, which launched a transparent teacher evaluation system in 2011. Counterfactual simulations reveal that (1) making district teachers’ quality observable to all district schools improves average teacher quality at the district level and in the top and bottom quartiles of schools ranked by student performance, while decreasing it in other schools; (2) budget-neutral bonus programs that incentivize high-quality teachers to teach in low-performing schools can increase overall teacher quality and reduce cross-school inequalities; and (3) these programs are more effective in markets with cross-employer information symmetry. |
| JEL: | H0 I2 J01 J20 J45 |
| Date: | 2025–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34151 |
| By: | Mayara Felix; Michael B. Wong |
| Abstract: | We estimate the labor market impacts of Brazil’s 1993 outsourcing legalization using North-South variation in pre-legalization court permissiveness, and comparing security guards to less-affected occupations. We find that outsourcing legalization persistently reallocated jobs from older incumbent guards to younger entrants. Total employment of guards and their entry from informality persistently increased, while average demographic-adjusted wages remained constant. Meanwhile, a wave of occupational layoffs displaced some incumbent guards from high-wage firms. The evidence suggests that the rise of non-core activity outsourcing reduced labor market frictions, facilitated by firm-level economies of scale in human resources and spillovers to non-adopting firms. |
| JEL: | J52 J58 L24 O17 |
| Date: | 2025–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34172 |
| By: | Marc-Andreas Muendler; James E. Rauch; Sergio Mikio Koyama |
| Abstract: | We consider founders of limited liability firms who previously held jobs in the formal sector of Brazil. Managers are five percent of former job holders but their startups account for 27 percent of new firm employment. Relatively little of their overrepresentation as founders or the larger size of their startups is explained by their previous wages or other standard human capital variables. Among non-managerial former occupations we examined those clearly connected to demand (sales) and to supply (technology, purchasing). Only purchasing was comparable to managerial occupations in entrepreneurship and new firm size. Further examination suggests that a key to greater entrepreneurship and larger initial firm size is that workers’ former jobs entailed building relationships with other businesses: in demand-side occupations, they sold to other businesses; in supply-side occupations, they bought from other businesses. |
| JEL: | J62 L25 L26 |
| Date: | 2025–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34158 |
| By: | N. Meltem Daysal; Hui Ding; Maya Rossin-Slater; Hannes Schwandt |
| Abstract: | Preschool-aged children get sick frequently and spread disease to other family members. Despite the universality of this experience, there is limited causal evidence on the magnitudes and consequences of these externalities, especially for infant siblings with developing immune systems and brains. We use Danish administrative data to document that, before age one, younger siblings have 2-3 times higher hospitalization rates for respiratory conditions than older siblings. We combine birth order and within-municipality variation in respiratory disease prevalence among young children, and find lasting differential impacts of early-life respiratory disease exposure on younger siblings’ earnings, educational attainment, chronic respiratory health and mental health-related outcomes. |
| Keywords: | children, early-life conditions, human capital, earnings, birth order, infectious disease |
| JEL: | I12 I18 J12 J13 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12074 |
| By: | Andrea Bernini; Navid Sabet |
| Abstract: | We study how immigrant legalization affects political representation and public service delivery, focusing on the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA), which granted legal status to nearly three million undocumented Hispanic migrants. Using geographic variation in IRCA exposure and newly digitized data on 12, 000 Hispanic officials, we find legalization increased Hispanic representation in local government and facilitated upward mobility from school boards into municipal and county offices. These changes altered institutional behavior, shifting education spending toward capital investment and diversifying the racial composition of the teaching workforce. Immigration policy thus reshapes who governs and how public goods are allocated. |
| Keywords: | legalization, political representation, political mobility, local public finance |
| JEL: | J15 H75 D72 I28 J61 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12081 |
| By: | Edward N. Wolff |
| Abstract: | There has been a seismic shift in age-wealth profiles in the U.S. over years 1983 to 2022. The most notable is the sharp rise in the relative household wealth of age group 75 and over. Correspondingly, the relative wealth holdings of all other age groups dropped over these years. Using the Survey of Consumer Finances, the paper focuses on the youngest age group, 35 and under, and the oldest age group, 75 and over, and analyzes the factors behind these relative shifts in wealth. I find that the three principal factors are the homeownership rate, total stocks directly and indirectly owned, and home mortgage debt. The homeownership rate is the same in the two years for the youngest group but falls relative to the overall rate, whereas it shoots up for the oldest group both in actual level and relative to the overall average. The value of stock holdings rises for both age groups but vastly more for the oldest households compared to the youngest ones and accounts for a substantial portion of the elderly’s relative wealth gains. Mortgage debt rises in dollar terms for both groups but considerably more in relative terms for the youngest group. |
| JEL: | D31 J1 |
| Date: | 2025–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34131 |