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on Labour Economics |
| By: | De Paola, Maria (University of Calabria); Nistico, Roberto (University of Naples Federico II); Scoppa, Vincenzo (University of Calabria) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the impact of co-workers’ fertility on individual fertility decisions. Using matched employer-employee data from Italian social security records (2016–2020), we estimate how fertility among co-workers of similar age and occupation affects the individual likelihood of having a child. We exploit variation introduced by the 2015 Jobs Act, which reduced fertility among workers hired under weaker employment protection. Focusing on workers hired before the reform and using the share of colleagues hired after the reform as an instrument for peer fertility, we find that a one-percentage-point increase in peer fertility raises individual fertility by 0.4 percentage points (a 10% increase). Heterogeneity analysis suggests that while social influence and social norms are key mechanisms, information sharing and career concerns, particularly among women, tend to moderate the response. Our findings highlight how changes in employment protection may have unintended fertility spillovers through workplace social interactions. |
| Keywords: | social learning, fertility, EPL, career concerns, social norms, workplace |
| JEL: | C3 J13 J65 J41 M51 |
| Date: | 2025–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18127 |
| By: | Claudia Goldin |
| Abstract: | The fertility decline is everywhere in the world today. Moreover, the decline goes decades back in the histories of rich countries. Birthrates have been below replacement in the U.S. and Europe since the mid-1970s, although further declines occurred after the Great Recession. The reasons for the declines from the 1970s to the early 2000s involve greater female autonomy and a mismatch between the desires of men and women. Men benefit more from maintaining traditions; women benefit more from eschewing them. When the probability is low that men will abandon traditions, some career women will not have children and others will delay, often too long. The fertility histories of the U.S. and those of many European and Asian countries speak to the impact of the mismatch on birth rates. The experience of middle income and even poorer nations may also be due to related factors. Various constraints that I group under matching problems have caused fertility to be lower than otherwise and imply that fertility has a “downside.” |
| JEL: | J10 J16 N30 |
| Date: | 2025–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34268 |
| By: | Carnicelli, Lauro (LABORE Labour Institute for Economic Research); Morando, Greta (University of Sheffield) |
| Abstract: | We study how maternal preferences interact with education to shape the motherhood penalty. Using rich Finnish registry data and the quasi-random gender of the firstborn child, we show that mothers across education groups display a mild preference for daughters, reflected in their fertility and parental leave choices. Yet this shared preference translates into divergent long-run outcomes. Ten years after birth, highly educated mothers face a 10\% larger earnings penalty if their firstborn is a son, whereas less educated mothers experience slightly higher penalties with daughters. These differences stem from distinct labor market adjustments: less educated mothers are marginally more likely to exit employment after having a daughter, while highly educated mothers with daughters disproportionately move into public-sector jobs, which offer a relative wage premium. Our findings demonstrate that similar parental preferences can generate contrasting long-term earnings dynamics across education groups, highlighting the role of maternal preferences and labor market sorting in shaping the motherhood penalty. |
| Keywords: | parental preferences, gender wage gap, child penalty, occupational sorting |
| JEL: | J13 J16 J24 J42 |
| Date: | 2025–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18140 |
| By: | Ambrosius, Christian (Freie Universität Berlin); Quigua, Juliana (University of Oxford); Velasquez, Andrea (University of Colorado Denver) |
| Abstract: | By 2020, one in four Salvadorans lived abroad, with 88 percent residing in the United States. The remittances to GDP ratio was about 25 percent, highlighting the country’s dependence on migration. This paper examines the effects of a major U.S. immigration enforcement program—Secure Communities—on migration and labor market outcomes in El Salvador. Using a shift-share identification strategy, we find that larger exposure to the program decreases the likelihood that a household includes a migrant, consistent with increased forced returns. These effects lead to lower income among male workers, particularly low-educated, informal workers, and those in agriculture. We also document a decline in the probability of receiving remittances. The findings suggest that a closure of migration opportunities can increase labor market competition and strain local economies. Effects are most pronounced in municipalities with limited absorptive capacity, underscoring the unintended consequences that U.S. immigration enforcement generates abroad. |
| Keywords: | labor markets, remittances, immigration policies, El Salvador |
| JEL: | F22 F24 N16 R23 |
| Date: | 2025–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18135 |
| By: | Bertrand Garbinti; Cecilia Garcia-Peñalosa; Vladimir Pecheu; Frédérique Savignac |
| Abstract: | Using a long administrative panel dataset for France, we analyse the dynamics and drivers of the narrowing gender gap in lifetime earnings (LTE) for cohorts born after WWII. We find that the level, trends, and distribution of gender differences in LTE contrast sharply with those observed in the US, and that these differences are more marked than when we compare cross-sectional gender gaps. We show that this reflects a specific pattern in which both men and women experienced earnings gains over the whole distribution (with the exception of the very top), in contrast with the US, where the same cohorts of men experienced earnings losses in the three bottom quartiles of the distribution. We then decompose the changing role of various factors (e.g., working (part) time, education, occupation, geographical location) in shaping the evolution of the gender LTE gap in France. The contribution of unobserved factors decreases across cohorts and increases along the distribution, remaining larger at the top, consistent with a glass ceiling effect. Meanwhile, the impact of observed factors rises, mostly due to the decline in the years worked full time by women, which has slowed gender convergence. Differences in educational attainment contribute to a lesser extent, as the gender gap in returns to education has narrowed. |
| Keywords: | Lifetime Earnings, Inequality, Gender Earnings Gaps |
| JEL: | J16 J31 J62 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bfr:banfra:994 |
| By: | Scott Abrahams; Daniel Keniston |
| Abstract: | Between 1854 and 1929, approximately 200, 000 children were transported from East Coast cities to new homes in the American West, motivated by the theory that a change of geography and household environment can transform lives. We leverage quasi-experimental variation in child placements to evaluate both whether being sent West improved outcomes relative to remaining in New York institutions, and whether variation in destination and foster household characteristics affected later life success. Linking tens of thousands of ``orphan train'' riders and comparable non-relocated children to Census records through 1940, we find no systematic evidence that relocation itself improved adult economic outcomes. Among children sent West, substantial variation in county-level economic opportunities also did not predict adult success. In contrast, the individual foster household income predicts children's later incomes, with an estimated intergenerational elasticity of about 0.2. |
| JEL: | J61 N31 R23 |
| Date: | 2025–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34282 |
| By: | Jørgen Modalsli (Oslo Business School at Oslo Metropolitan University) |
| Abstract: | How reliable is historical microdata? Understanding historical labor force participation is crucial for assessing long-term trends in economic development and intergenerational mobility. Most existing historical studies are, however, limited to men, and little is known about how reliable quantitative historical sources are when studying labor market outcomes for women. This paper documents that the measurement of women's economic activity in the 1910 Norwegian population census had a high level of consistency. There is extensive discussion of measurement issues in historical census reports, micro data can reproduce historical census tables with a high degree of accuracy, and other contemporary reports such as industrial censuses and tax statistics confirm the results found in the census. In addition, a double-enumeration feature of the Norwegian census is leveraged to assess consistency between enumerators, finding no indication that precision in the occupational classification of women is any lower than for men. Some potential sources of downward bias are found in the historical census microdata set provided by IPUMS. Based on the results in this paper, historical census data appears well suited to study economic activity using modern econometric methods, for women as well as men. A slight upward revision of the 39\% female labor force participation in Norway in 1910 might be in order. |
| Keywords: | Labor force participation, historical census data, gender, occupational measurement, Norway |
| JEL: | N33 J21 J16 |
| Date: | 2025–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hes:wpaper:0282 |
| By: | Johnston, David W. (Monash University); Knott, Rachel (Monash University); Menon, Nidhiya (Brandeis University) |
| Abstract: | Although studies have evaluated the costs of violating the male breadwinner norm, little is known about the mental health consequences, particularly for common conditions such as depression and anxiety. We explore this issue using Australian national administrative tax and healthcare records. We estimate individual- and employer-level fixed models of mental health service use and prescription medication. We find that men are significantly more likely to use mental health care following periods when their wife earns more, with the strongest effects emerging two years after the earnings shift. By contrast, we find no consistent effects for women. Our results are robust to alternative specifications, including the inclusion of controls for labour market shocks, and an alternative estimation strategy based on a local linear regression discontinuity design. We find that couples are also more likely to separate following norm violations, suggesting relationship strain as a key mechanism. Complementary evidence on relationship satisfaction from Australian household survey data provide further support of this pathway. Our findings demonstrate that traditional gender identity norms impose psychosocial costs within modern households. |
| Keywords: | medication, mental health, relative income, relationship strain, separation |
| JEL: | D10 J12 J16 J31 J22 I10 I12 |
| Date: | 2025–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18141 |
| By: | Andreas Fagereng; Luigi Guiso; Luigi Pistaferri; Marius A. K. Ring |
| Abstract: | We provide empirical evidence on the importance of a relatively understudied channel of insurance against labor income shocks: transfers from (cash-rich) parents to (cash-short) children when the latter experience negative wage shocks. Matching population data for Norway across two generations, we establish several results. First, parents make a transfer—i.e., run down liquid assets—when adult children experience negative labor income shocks. Consistent with dynastic insurance, we observe no transfers when income shocks are positive. Second, parents' responses depend on the nature of the shock. If losses are temporary, parents dissave; if they are persistent, parents save in order to make future transfers. Parental transfers offset 43% of temporary and 27% of persistent losses. Third, insurance is lower when children have other smoothing options, like spousal labor supply, and is greater for shocks to their own child versus a child’s spouse. Support also increases if the spouse’s parents can contribute, suggesting “competition for attention.” Lastly, insurance flows are one-way: children do not insure their parents against income losses. |
| JEL: | D31 E21 E24 G11 |
| Date: | 2025–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34253 |
| By: | Joseph G. Altonji (Yale University and NBER); John Eric Humphries (Yale University and NBER); Yagmur Yuksel (Northwestern University); Ling Zhong (Yale University) |
| 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 cohortspecific Òresidual componentÓ 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 Òresidual component.Ó The residual component remains stable for cohorts born between 1951 and the late 1970s, after which it resumes its decline. |
| Date: | 2025–08–21 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cwl:cwldpp:2457 |
| By: | Richard B. Freeman; Huanan Xu |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the impact of working for an ESOP firm and Working-From-Home (WFH) on job satisfaction in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 (NLSY97) and the General Social Science (GSS) survey. It finds that job satisfaction is higher for employees in ESOPs than for observationally similar workers in non-ESOP firms and for WFH workers than for their non-WFH peers. Fixed effect analysis of the NLSY97 finds that both ESOP and WFH employment raise job satisfaction for the same worker when he/she changes work status. The channels through which the two conditions raise satisfaction appear to differ: ESOPs raise satisfaction by increasing worker participation on collective workplace or firm decisions while WFH raise satisfaction by increasing worker flexibility in their individual work activity. Both participation and flexibility also raise job satisfaction independently. The data further show ESOPs had more extensive WFH than non-ESOP firms during the Covid-19 pandemic. |
| JEL: | J28 J54 J81 M54 P1 |
| Date: | 2025–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34231 |
| By: | Martin Gervais; Roozbeh Hosseini; Lawrence Warren |
| Abstract: | This paper studies how unemployment insurance (UI) generosity affects reservation wages, re-employment wages, and benefit take-up. Using Benefit Accuracy Measurement (BAM) data, we estimate a cross-sectional elasticity of reservation wages with respect to weekly UI benefits of 0.014. Exploiting state variation in Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) intensity and the timing of federal supplements, we find that expanded benefits during COVID-19 increased reservation wages by 8–12 percent. Using CPS rotation data, we also document a 9 percent rise in re-employment wages for UI-eligible workers relative to ineligible workers. Over the same period, the UI take-up rate rose from roughly 30 to 40 percent; Probit estimates indicate that higher benefit levels, rather than changes in observables, account for this increase. A directed search model with an endogenous filing decision replicates these facts: generosity primarily operates through the extensive margin of take-up, which mutes the pass-through from benefits to wages. |
| Keywords: | Unemployment Benefits, Reservation/Re-Employment Wage, BAM, CPS |
| Date: | 2025–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cen:wpaper:25-59 |
| By: | Bryson, Alex (University College London); Tanaka, Mari (University of Tokyo) |
| Abstract: | The effects of trade unions on firm performance are theoretically ambiguous. The sizable empirical literature on their effects is almost exclusively confined to developed countries, particularly those in North America and Europe. We contribute to the literature by estimating union effects on firm performance in about 40, 000 firms in 77 developing countries between 2002 and 2011. In doing so, we exploit standardized firm level data collected by the World Bank. We find positive partial correlations between unionization and firm labor productivity and wages, especially in lower-income countries. These positive effects persist when we instrument for union presence, consistent with recent evidence of union positive effects on productivity and wages in western industrialized countries. |
| Keywords: | enterprise data, developing countries, wages, productivity, trade unions, union formation |
| JEL: | J51 |
| Date: | 2025–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18128 |
| By: | Byker, Tanya (Middlebury College); Malik, Sara (University of Utah); Patel, Elena (University of Utah); Sandvik, Jason (University of Arizona) |
| Abstract: | We use administrative data from the U.S. Census to estimate the effect of female director representation on workplace gender diversity and women’s earnings. Using a difference-in-differences estimator that correctly accounts for variation in treatment timing, we show that first-time female director appointments lead to subsequent increases in workplace gender diversity. We find that the effects are driven by the improved retention of female workers in the middle and upper quartiles of the firm’s overall earnings distribution. We find suggestive evidence that the effects are due to the newly appointed female directors’ influence on corporate policy, as we observe stronger effects when the director is placed on one of the board’s three core committees. |
| Keywords: | wage, directors, corporate board, women, committee |
| JEL: | J13 J30 J31 |
| Date: | 2025–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18125 |
| By: | Dale-Olsen, Harald (Institute for Social Research, Oslo); Finseraas, Henning (Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)); Nergaard, Kristine (Fafo); Svarstad, Elin (Fafo) |
| Abstract: | Social interactions between young and senior colleagues might have consequences for union membership uptake of young workers, thus influencing public policies on unions. We apply Norwegian administrative register data to test this claim about the influence of social interactions on unionization, while addressing threats of homophily bias, contextual, and network confounding. Leveraging exogenous spillover shocks by colleagues’ siblings’ unionization to colleagues’ unionization, we find causal evidence supporting the notion that social interactions with close colleagues are important for unionization, mainly driven by social costs and information sharing. Our results suggest that one standard deviation increase in the union density of close colleagues, causes the uptake of union membership for young workers to grow by 20-23 percent. Our analyses thus reveal one source of additional spillover impacts from the implementation of public policies supporting unions. Furthermore, our results have important implications for unions’ mobilization strategies. |
| Keywords: | panel data, young workers, social interaction, unionization, IV-analyses |
| JEL: | J50 J51 Z13 |
| Date: | 2025–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18139 |
| By: | Bellou, Andriana (University of Montreal); Cardia, Emanuela (University of Montreal); Lewis, Joshua (University of Montreal) |
| Abstract: | The United States experienced dramatic swings in fertility over the course of the early- and mid-20th century. This paper presents a novel explanation for these changes, linking the Great Depression to the contemporaneous fertility bust in the early 1930s, the baby boom from the late-1930s through the 1950s, and the subsequent baby bust of the 1960s. Our empirical analysis is based on an event-study approach that links county-level measures of Depression severity to annual fertility rates over an extended 50-year time horizon. We find that the Great Depression can account for roughly half of the bust-boom-bust swings in fertility rates over this period. It can also account for large cross-cohort differences in lifecycle fertility pro les and completed childbearing. We present evidence for a mechanism that accounts for these patterns: the shock incentivized Depression-era women to delay childbearing and to increase lifetime labor force participation. This employment response, in turn, temporarily crowded-out economic opportunities for subsequent generations of women, contributing to their high fertility rates through the 1950s and early 1960s. |
| Keywords: | Great Depression, baby bust, baby boom |
| Date: | 2025–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18120 |
| By: | Owen Thompson |
| Abstract: | If racial gaps in measures of human capital like educational attainment and standardized test scores were eliminated, what would happen to racial disparities in wages, employment, and other labor market outcomes? A credible answer to this question is foundational for understanding the nature and scope of racial inequality and discrimination in the United States. This article reviews and synthesizes a literature that studies this question by estimating the extent to which controlling for measures of human capital changes Black-white gaps in labor market outcomes, and discusses various conceptual and methodological issues related to interpreting this type of exercise. I show that while accurately interpreting this exercise and its many variants requires careful thinking, the results elucidate many important and subtle aspects of racial inequality in the United States. |
| JEL: | I26 I30 J0 J01 J20 J70 J78 |
| Date: | 2025–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34251 |
| By: | Chao Gu; Janet Hua Jiang; Liang Wang |
| Abstract: | We construct a New Monetarist model with labor market search and identify two channels that affect the long-term relationship between inflation and unemployment. First, inflation lowers wages through bargaining because unemployed workers rely more heavily on cash transactions and suffer more from inflation than employed workers: this wage-bargaining channel generates a downward Phillips curve without assuming nominal rigidity. Second, inflation increases the firm’s financing costs, which discourages job creation and increases unemployment; this cash-financing channel leads to an upward-sloping Phillips curve. We calibrate our model to the U.S. economy. The improvement in firm financing conditions can explain the observation that the slope of the long-run Phillips curve has switched from positive to negative post-2000. |
| Keywords: | Business fluctuations and cycles; Credit and credit aggregates; Inflation and prices; Labour markets |
| JEL: | E24 E31 E44 E51 |
| Date: | 2025–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bca:bocawp:25-26 |
| By: | Pilar Cuevas-Ruiz; Jose Ignacio Gimenez-Nadal; Sveva Manfredi; Almudena Sevilla |
| Abstract: | This paper introduces a new framework for understanding the persistence of the motherhood penalty by emphasizing the role of on-call care. Using a pseudo-panel event study based on the 2003-2022 American Time Use Survey (ATUS), we quantify how different types of parental care time contribute to post-childbirth labor market outcomes. Our results show that gender gaps in on-call care, not primary childcare, drive the long-term reduction in mothers' Paid work. In the first two years after birth, declines in paid work are largely explained by primary interactive childcare. Over time, however, on-call care becomes the dominant factor. This shift is not accounted for in existing labor market models, nor in standard policies such as parental leave and childcare subsidies. We argue that the persistent economic costs of gender inequality can be better understood and addressed by integrating the temporal and unpredictable nature of caregiving into economic theory and policy design. |
| Keywords: | gender, labour, labour markets, childcare, equality, inequality, policy |
| Date: | 2025–09–19 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp2126 |
| By: | Aaron Chatterji; Thomas Cunningham; David J. Deming; Zoe Hitzig; Christopher Ong; Carl Yan Shan; Kevin Wadman |
| Abstract: | Despite the rapid adoption of LLM chatbots, little is known about how they are used. We document the growth of ChatGPT’s consumer product from its launch in November 2022 through July 2025, when it had been adopted by around 10% of the world’s adult population. Early adopters were disproportionately male but the gender gap has narrowed dramatically, and we find higher growth rates in lower-income countries. Using a privacy-preserving automated pipeline, we classify usage patterns within a representative sample of ChatGPT conversations. We find steady growth in work-related messages but even faster growth in non-work-related messages, which have grown from 53% to more than 70% of all usage. Work usage is more common for educated users in highly-paid professional occupations. We classify messages by conversation topic and find that “Practical Guidance, ” “Seeking Information, ” and “Writing” are the three most common topics and collectively account for nearly 80% of all conversations. Writing dominates work-related tasks, highlighting chatbots’ unique ability to generate digital outputs compared to traditional search engines. Computer programming and self-expression both represent relatively small shares of use. Overall, we find that ChatGPT provides economic value through decision support, which is especially important in knowledge-intensive jobs. |
| JEL: | J01 O3 O4 |
| Date: | 2025–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34255 |
| By: | Jan K. Brueckner; David R. Agrawal |
| Abstract: | This paper provides evidence on a WFH-related hypothesis that has not previously been tested empirically. The hypothesis is that the presence of fully remote workers, for whom residence and work locations are decoupled, should create a tendency toward wage convergence across cities within teleworkable occupations. The reason is that, since fully remote workers can work anywhere, local wages must match those available in other cities for employers to attract any of these workers. By combining occupational wage data with data on which occupations are teleworkable, the paper attempts to test the wage-convergence hypothesis. The results are mixed, but some evidence does emerge in favor of the hypothesis. |
| Keywords: | work-from-home, telework, wages, convergence |
| JEL: | R23 J60 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12150 |
| By: | Katherine Cuff; Ana Gamarra Rondinel; A. Abigail Payne |
| Abstract: | We analyze whether men and women respond differently to tuition variation for both university entry and STEM major choice, using a 30-year Australian individual-level administrative dataset. The Australian setting is unique: tuition fees are regulated, students can defer payment through income-contingent loans, and universities receive discipline-specific government subsidies. We find women consistently enrolled at higher rates than men, on average 14 percentage points between 1991 and 2020, with the gap widening over the period from 10 to 16 percentage points. By contrast, men were more likely to register in STEM fields. This STEM gap has remained stable in traditional STEM disciplines, but the gap has narrowed since 2005 when including Health in the definition of STEM. We find that women respond more positively than men to tuition increases in terms of overall enrollment. Effects on STEM participation, however, are less clear and vary across time. The STEM choice patterns suggest systematic gender differences in incentives and behavior, reflecting factors such as men’s stronger engagement with higher-paying non-university jobs, higher expected returns to traditional STEM fields for men, narrower earnings dispersion for women across fields, and gender differences in cost sensitivity and risk aversion. Our findings highlight how tuition policy interacts with gender-specific incentives to shape both university enrollment and major choices. |
| Keywords: | post-secondary education, university enrollment, gender, tuition, STEM |
| JEL: | I23 J16 I28 I22 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12141 |
| By: | Drydakis, Nick (Anglia Ruskin University) |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the associations between university-led training in AI business applications and business outcomes among small firms, with a focus on underrepresented entrepreneurs in England, Wales, and Scotland. A total of 121 non-native, disabled, and non-heterosexual entrepreneurs participated in a four-month training programme covering AI applications for communication, finance, project management, and other key business functions. Data were collected before the training (2023) and one year later (2024). Using panel data estimates, the findings indicate that, post-training, firms experienced an increase in digital competencies, which were positively associated with customer satisfaction, entrepreneurs’ empowerment, and revenue growth. Notably, interaction effects showed that these associations were significantly strengthened following the training. Additional results reveal that, after the training, firms not only adopted a greater number of AI business applications but also used them more frequently. These behaviours were found to be associated with improvements in business outcomes. The study demonstrates how innovative educational interventions can support entrepreneurs in developing digital competencies. |
| Keywords: | entrepreneurs’ empowerment, customer satisfaction, digital competencies, small firms, business education, AI Business Application Training, AI, revenue growth, inclusive entrepreneurship |
| JEL: | L26 M13 O33 I24 I25 J15 J16 M15 D22 C23 |
| Date: | 2025–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18143 |
| By: | Gabriel Agostini; Rachel Young; Maria D. Fitzpatrick; Nikhil Garg; Emma J. Pierson |
| Abstract: | Fine-grained migration data illuminate important demographic, environmental, and health phenomena. However, migration datasets within the United States remain lacking: publicly available Census data are neither spatially nor temporally granular, and proprietary data have higher resolution but demographic and other biases. To address these limitations, we develop a scalable iterative-proportional-fitting based method that reconciles high-resolution but biased proprietary data with low-resolution but more reliable Census data. We apply this method to produce MIGRATE, a dataset of annual migration matrices from 2010-2019 that captures flows between 47.4 billion pairs of Census Block Groups — about four thousand times more granular than publicly available data. These estimates are highly correlated with external ground-truth datasets, and improve accuracy and reduce bias relative to raw proprietary data. We use MIGRATE to analyze both national and local migration patterns. Nationally, we document temporal and demographic variation in homophily, upward mobility, and moving distance: for example, we find that people are increasingly likely to move to top-income-quartile CBGs and identify racial disparities in upward mobility. We also show that MIGRATE can illuminate important local migration patterns, including out-migration in response to California wildfires, that are invisible in coarser previous datasets. We publicly release MIGRATE to provide a resource for migration research in the social, environmental, and health sciences. |
| JEL: | J19 R2 R23 |
| Date: | 2025–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34263 |
| By: | Uditi Karna; John A. List; Andrew Simon; Haruka Uchida |
| Abstract: | Parents are crucial to children’s educational success, but the role of parental education in fostering academic excellence remains underexplored. Using longitudinal administrative data covering all North Carolina public school students, we document five facts about first-generation excellence gaps. We find large excellence gaps emerge by 3rd grade across all demographics and persist through high school. Yet, socioeconomic status and school quality explain only one-third of the gaps. The overarching facts reveal that excellence gaps re-flect deeper challenges rooted in parental human capital that manifest early and compound over time, rather than merely consequences of socioeconomic disadvantage or school quality differences. |
| JEL: | I21 I24 I30 J08 |
| Date: | 2025–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34228 |
| By: | Stuhler, Jan (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid) |
| Abstract: | A growing literature provides evidence on multigenerational inequality – the extent to which socio-economic advantages persist across three or more generations. This chapter reviews its main findings and implications. Most studies find that inequality is more persistent than a naive iteration of conventional parent-child correlations would suggest. We discuss potential interpretations of this new “fact” related to (i) latent, (ii) non-Markovian or (iii) non-linear transmission processes, empirical strategies to discriminate between them, and the link between multigenerational and assortative associations. |
| Keywords: | assortative mating, multigenerational inequality, distant kins |
| JEL: | J62 J12 |
| Date: | 2025–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18146 |
| By: | Brent Bundick; Isabel Cairó; Nicolas Petrosky-Nadeau |
| Abstract: | Asymmetries play an important role in many macroeconomic models. We show that assumptions on household and firm expectations play a key role in determining the effects of these asymmetries on macroeconomic outcomes. If households and firms have perfect foresight and hence do not account for the possibility of future shocks, then the implied longer-run averages and distributions for unemployment and inflation can differ significantly from their rational expectations counterparts. We first derive this result analytically under either an asymmetric monetary policy rule or a nonlinear Phillips curve before numerically examining some of the key nonlinearities featured in the recent literature. |
| Keywords: | Macroeconomic Asymmetries; Business Cycles; Expectations |
| JEL: | E32 E52 J64 |
| Date: | 2025–09–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedgfe:2025-79 |
| By: | Francesca Barigozzi; Natalia Montinari; Elisa Orlandi |
| Abstract: | Many real-world scenarios involve explore-exploit decisions, balancing the pursuit of better opportunities with securing a certain but potentially suboptimal outcome. Do gendered approaches to these decisions exist? This study investigates gender differences in exploration and competition behaviour through a pre-registered lab experiment with 432 participants (50% female). Specifically, we examine behaviour in the context of the explore-exploit dilemma, both under a piece rate payment scheme and in a competitive tournament setting. Participants completed three computerized tasks: the grain game featuring the explore-exploit dilemma, which included two treatments, one allowing only gains and another incorporating both gains and losses, a risk elicitation task (BRET), and a loss aversion task. These tasks were followed by a questionnaire designed to assess various individual characteristics The results show that, contrary to the initial pre-registered hypotheses, women do not explore less than men; in fact, they explore more in environments where only gains are possible. However, no gender differences emerge in exploration when the environment entails the possibility of losses. Regarding competition, women are less likely to choose competitive settings than men in gain-only environments, but this difference disappears once individual characteristics, such as risk and loss aversion, are taken into account. These findings contribute to understanding gendered tendencies in risk-taking, exploration, and competition. |
| JEL: | C91 D81 D03 J16 |
| Date: | 2025–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bol:bodewp:wp1211 |
| By: | Erkmen G. Aslim; Wei Fu; Caitlin K. Myers; Erdal Tekin; Bingjin Xue |
| Abstract: | We study how abortion access affects economic hardship and crime. Using a database of abortion provider locations and operations in Texas from 2009–2019, we exploit variation in travel distance to the nearest facility created by clinic closures following the enforcement of Texas HB-2 in 2013. We confirm previous evidence that increased distance to the nearest abortion facility reduces abortions and increases births. We provide novel evidence that reduced access to abortion also leads to significant economic hardship, reflected in lower labor force participation, rising debt, widening income inequality, and heightened housing insecurity. This financial strain translates into higher rates of financially motivated crime, such as theft and burglary, with no significant effect on violent crime. These effects extend beyond directly affected individuals, reflecting intrahousehold spillovers. These findings suggest far-reaching consequences of restricted access to reproductive healthcare. |
| JEL: | I12 I18 J13 K42 |
| Date: | 2025–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34245 |
| By: | Grant Miller; Nieves Valdés; Marcos Vera-Hernández |
| Abstract: | An important but poorly understood way that economic development may influence health is through the private incentives that it creates for individuals to invest in their own health. In this paper, we study how individuals' forward-looking health investments respond to changes in expected future (but not current) wealth. Focusing on institutional features of Chile's public pension overhaul in 1981, we link administrative microdata to a detailed household panel survey, and we then exploit discrete breaks in the resulting cohort pension wealth profile using a fuzzy regression kink design (RKD). Although theoretically ambiguous, empirically we find that greater expected pension wealth increases the use of important preventive medical care (and to a lesser extent, promotes more costly healthy lifestyle behaviors) – leading to measurable increases in chronic disease diagnosis (a requisite for appropriate disease management), reductions in disease prevalence, and measurably lower mortality in old age (particularly due to chronic diseases). In general, these results provide new evidence that economic development can have a meaningful incentive effect on health. |
| JEL: | H55 I12 I15 I18 J18 |
| Date: | 2025–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34249 |