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on Unemployment, Inequality and Poverty |
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Issue of 2011‒09‒05
eleven papers chosen by |
| By: | Judith Niehues; Andreas Peichl |
| Abstract: | Previous estimates of unfair inequality of opportunity (IOp) are only lower bounds because of the unobservability of the full set of endowed circumstances beyond the sphere of individual responsibility. In this paper, we suggest a new estimator based on a fixed effects panel model which additionally allows identifying an upper bound. We illustrate our approach by comparing Germany and the US based on harmonized micro data. We find significant and robust differences between lower and upper bound estimates ¿ both for gross and net earnings based either on periodical or permanent income ¿ for both countries. We discuss the cross-country differences and similarities in IOp in the light of differences in social mobility and persistence. |
| Keywords: | Equality of opportunity, fairness, redistribution, wage inequality |
| JEL: | D31 D63 H24 J62 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp395&r=ltv |
| By: | Fabio Sabatini |
| Abstract: | This paper presents the first empirical investigation into the effect of e-shopping on subjective well-being. The analysis relies on a nationally and regionally representative dataset from Italy (n = 4,130) drawn from the 2008 wave of the Survey of Household Income and Wealth (SHIW) carried out by the Bank of Italy. Probit, OLS regressions and instrumental variables estimates show that e-shopping is strongly and positively associated with subjective well-being. |
| Keywords: | Happiness, subjective well-being, Internet, business-to-consumer e-commerce, B2C, e-shopping, instrumental variables, Italy. |
| JEL: | I31 E2 Z19 L86 |
| Date: | 2011–08–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eei:rpaper:eeri_rp_2011_12&r=ltv |
| By: | Barmettler, Franziska (Foundation for Global Sustainability); Fehr, Ernst (University of Zurich); Zehnder, Christian (University of Lausanne) |
| Abstract: | Social preference research has received considerable attention in recent years. Researchers have demonstrated that the presence of people with social preferences has important implications in many economic domains. However, it is important to be aware of the fact that the empirical basis of this literature relies to a large extent on experiments that do not provide anonymity between experimenter and subject. It has been argued that this lack of experimenter-subject anonymity may create selfish incentives to engage in seemingly other-regarding behavior. If this were the case these experiments would overestimate the importance of social preferences. Previous studies provide mixed results and methodological differences within and across studies make it difficult to isolate the impact of experimenter-subject anonymity on prosocial behavior. In this paper we use a novel procedure that allows us to examine the impact of the exact same ceteris-paribus variation in anonymity on behavior in three of the most commonly used games in the social preference literature. Our data does not support the hypothesis that introducing experimenter-subject anonymity affects observed prosocial behavior. We do not observe significant effects of experimenter-subject anonymity on prosocial behavior in any of our games. |
| Keywords: | laboratory experiments, anonymity, scrutiny, prosocial behavior |
| JEL: | C91 |
| Date: | 2011–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5925&r=ltv |
| By: | Ericson, Peter (Empirica); Flood, Lennart (Göteborg University) |
| Abstract: | This paper presents estimates of individuals' responses in hourly wages to changes in marginal tax rates. Estimates based on register panel data of Swedish households covering the period 1992 to 2007 produce significant but relatively small net-of-tax rate elasticities. The results vary with family type, with the largest elasticities obtained for single males and the smallest for married/cohabitant females. Despite these seemingly small elasticities, evaluation of the effects of a reduced state tax using a microsimulation model shows that the effort effect matters. The largest effect is due to changes in number of working hours yet including the effort effect results in an almost self-financed reform. As a reference to the earlier literature we also estimate taxable income elasticities. As expected, these are larger than for the hourly wage rates. However, both specifications produce significantly and positive income effects. |
| Keywords: | income taxation, hourly wage rates, work effort, micro simulation |
| JEL: | C8 D31 H24 J22 J31 |
| Date: | 2011–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5930&r=ltv |
| By: | Peichl, Andreas (IZA); Pestel, Nico (IZA) |
| Abstract: | This paper suggests multidimensional affluence measures for the top of the distribution. In contrast to commonly used top income shares, they allow the analysis of the extent, intensity and breadth of affluence in several dimensions within a common framework. We illustrate this by analyzing the role of income and wealth as dimensions of multidimensional well-being in Germany and the US in 2007 as well as for the US over the period 1989-2007. We find distinct country differences with the country ranking depending on the measure. While in Germany wealth predominantly contributes to the intensity of affluence, income is more important in the US. |
| Keywords: | top incomes, multidimensional measurement, richness, wealth, inequality |
| JEL: | D31 D63 I31 |
| Date: | 2011–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5926&r=ltv |
| By: | Brilli, Ylenia (Catholic University Milan); Del Boca, Daniela (University of Turin); Pronzato, Chiara (University of Essex) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the effects of public childcare availability in Italy on mothers' working status and children's scholastic achievements. We use a newly available dataset containing individual standardized test scores of pupils attending second grade of primary school in 2008-09 in conjunction with data on public childcare availability. Public childcare coverage in Italy is scarce (12.7 percent versus the OECD average of 30 percent) and the service is “rationed”: each municipality allocates the available slots according to eligibility criteria. We contribute to the existing literature taking into account rationing in public childcare access and the functioning of the childcare market. Our estimates indicate that childcare availability has positive and significant effects on both mothers' working status and children's language test scores. The effects are stronger when the degree of rationing is high and for low educated mothers and children living in lower income areas of the country. |
| Keywords: | childcare, female employment, child cognitive outcomes |
| JEL: | J13 D1 H75 |
| Date: | 2011–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5918&r=ltv |
| By: | Mussida, Chiara (University of Milan); Picchio, Matteo (Tilburg University) |
| Abstract: | We analyse gender wage inequalities in Italy in the mid-1990s and in the mid-2000s. In this period important labour market developments occurred: institutional changes have loosened the use of flexible and atypical contracts; the female employment rates and educational levels have substantially increased. We identify the time trends of different components of the gender wage gap by estimating wage distributions in the presence of covariates and sample selection and by counterfactual microsimulations. We find that women swam against the tide: whilst the trend in female qualifications slightly reduced the gender wage gap, the gender relative trends in the wage structure significantly increased it. |
| Keywords: | gender wage gap, counterfactual distributions, decompositions, hazard function, labour market reforms |
| JEL: | C21 C41 J16 J31 J71 |
| Date: | 2011–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5932&r=ltv |
| By: | Begum, Syeda Shahanara (Göteborg University); Deng, Quheng (Chinese Academy of Social Sciences); Gustafsson, Björn (Göteborg University) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes child poverty in Bangladesh and China during periods of rapid economic growth in both countries. It compares the extent as well as profile of child poverty in both countries. Comparisons on the extent of child poverty, over time and across countries, are made using a decomposition framework attributing child poverty differences to differences in the three components mean child income, demographic circumstances and the distribution of child income. Child poverty is found to be more extensive in Bangladesh than in China, and is very much a problem for rural children in both countries. The results show that economic growth can reduce child poverty but does not do so always. For understanding changes over time and across countries in the extent of child poverty, it can be necessary to also consider changes/differences in the distribution of child income as well as in the demographic composition. |
| Keywords: | child poverty, economic growth, Bangladesh, China |
| JEL: | I32 J13 J15 |
| Date: | 2011–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5929&r=ltv |
| By: | John Coleman; Daniel Hale; Richard Layard |
| Abstract: | Personal Social Health and Economic (PSHE) education is a non-statutory school subject designed to facilitate the delivery of a number of key competencies relevant to health, safety and wellbeing. As well as contributing to learning objectives in regards to these topics PSHE education has been ascribed with weighty expectations for outcomes well beyond the classroom relating to physical, mental, sexual and emotional health and safety. This paper reviews a programme of research aimed at providing guidance for the evidence-based provision of PSHE education, including a summary of the major impediments and facilitators of evidence-based programming, as well as a model curriculum for the delivery of evidence-based PSHE. An extensive literature review was conducted along with a series of interviews with programme developers, researchers, teachers and other school practitioners with the aim of developing a cohesive rationale for PSHE education and identifying evidence-based programmes which could be implemented to contribute to PSHE aims. The proposed model curriculum is comprised of evidence-based programmes which are PSHE-relevant and applicable or adaptable to the PSHE-education implementation context. While the provision of evidence-based PSHE presents a number of challenges and is limited by a lack of resources and evidence of effectiveness, with appropriate guidance PSHE education can be improved so that a comprehensive syllabus of evidence-based programmes is enacted in secondary schools. This will increase the likelihood that PSHE has the intended effect on adolescent mental and physical health and wellbeing. |
| Keywords: | Health education, social-emotional learning, life-skills, prevention |
| JEL: | I1 I18 I2 |
| Date: | 2011–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp1071&r=ltv |
| By: | Edward N. Wolff; Maury Gittleman |
| Abstract: | We found that on average over the period from 1989 to 2007, 21 percent of American households at a given point of time received a wealth transfer and these accounted for 23 percent of their net worth. Over the lifetime, about 30 percent of households could expect to receive a wealth transfer and these would account for close to 40 percent of their net worth near time of death. However, there is little evidence of an inheritance ?boom.? In fact, from 1989 to 2007, the share of households reporting a wealth transfer fell by 2.5 percentage points. The average value of inheritances received among all households did increase but at a slow pace, by 10 percent, and wealth transfers as a proportion of current net worth fell sharply over this period from 29 to 19 percent or by 10 percentage points. We also found, somewhat surprisingly, that inheritances and other wealth transfers tend to be equalizing in terms of the distribution of household wealth. Indeed, the addition of wealth transfers to other sources of household wealth has had a sizeable effect on reducing the inequality of wealth. |
| Keywords: | Inheritance, household wealth, inequality |
| JEL: | D31 J15 |
| Date: | 2011–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bcl:bclwop:bclwp055&r=ltv |
| By: | Stefan Hochguertel; Henry Ohlsson |
| Abstract: | We study taxable wealth in unique Swedish administrative data, annually following a large sample of households over a period of almost 40 years. The main data limitation is non-observability of wealth for those below the tax exemption level. This implies that much of the focus of the paper is on the rich, since we are confined to those whose wealth becomes taxable over time. We exploit the long panel dimension by estimating dynamic ?fixed effects? models for limited dependent variables that allow for individual heterogeneity in both constants and autoregressive parameters, and control for heterogeneity through observables. We find substantial wealth mobility over the long time spans, partly accounted for by life-cycle behavior, while sufficiently capturing dynamics by an AR(1) process at the individual level. |
| Keywords: | wealth mobility, wealth dynamics, life cycle, heterogeneity, panel data |
| JEL: | C23 D14 D31 D91 H24 |
| Date: | 2011–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bcl:bclwop:bclwp056&r=ltv |