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on Unemployment, Inequality and Poverty |
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Issue of 2013‒08‒16
four papers chosen by |
| By: | Connelly, Rachel (Bowdoin College); Kimmel, Jean (Western Michigan University) |
| Abstract: | This paper considers the question posed by popular media, do women like doing child care more than men? Using experienced emotions data paired with 24 hour time diaries from the 2010 American Time Use Survey, the paper explores gender differences in how men and women who have done some child caregiving on the previous day feel when engaged in a set of common daily activities. We find that both men and women enjoy their time in child caregiving, men as much, or even more so, than women as evidenced by their average values for happiness, tiredness, and stress, their predicted values for the same three emotions and via an aggregated statistic, the unpleasantness index. Counter-factual unpleasantness indices provide evidence that difference between men and women come almost completely from differences in their experience emotions rather than from differences in how they use their time. |
| Keywords: | experienced emotions, gender wage gap, child care, subjective well-being, time use, happiness |
| JEL: | D13 J13 J16 |
| Date: | 2013–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7531&r=ltv |
| By: | Jan-Emmanuel De Neve; Ed Diener; Louis Tay; Cody Xuereb |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to survey the "hard" evidence on the effects of subjective well-being. In doing so, we complement the evidence on the determinants of well-being by showing that human well-being also affects outcomes of interest such as health, income, and social behaviour. Generally, we observe a dynamic relationship between happiness and other important aspects of our lives, with influence running in both directions. |
| Keywords: | Unemployment, aggregate demand, matching frictions |
| JEL: | E10 E30 E24 E21 |
| Date: | 2013–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp1236&r=ltv |
| By: | Drydakis, Nick (Anglia Ruskin University) |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this study is to estimate whether sexual activity is associated with wages, and also to estimate potential interactions between individuals' characteristics, wages and sexual activity. The central hypothesis behind this research is that sexual activity, like health indicators and mental well-being, may be thought of as part of an individual's set of productive traits that affect wages. Using two stage estimations we examine the relationship between adult sexual activity and wages. We estimate that there is a monotonic relationship between the frequency of sexual activity and wage returns, whilst the returns to sexual activity are higher for those between 26 and 50 years of age. In addition, heterosexuals' sexual activity does not seem to provide higher or lower wage returns than that of homosexuals, but wages are higher for those health-impaired employees who are sexually active. Over-identification tests, robustness checks, falsification tests, as well as, decomposition analysis and sample selection modelling enhance the study's strength. Contemporary social analysis suggests that health, cognitive and non-cognitive skills and personality are important factors that affect the wage level. Sexual activity may also be of interest to social scientists, since sexual activity is considered to be a barometer for health, quality of life, well-being and happiness. The paper adds to the literature on the importance of unobserved characteristics in determining labour market outcomes. |
| Keywords: | sexual activity, wages, endogeneity, sample selection, decompositions |
| JEL: | J10 J30 J24 |
| Date: | 2013–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7529&r=ltv |
| By: | Lei, Xiaoyan (Peking University); Smith, James P. (RAND); Sun, Xiaoting (Peking University); Zhao, Yaohui (Peking University) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we model gender differences in cognitive ability in China using a new sample of middle-aged and older Chinese respondents. Modeled after the American Health and Retirement Survey (HRS), CHARLS respondents are 45 years and older and are nationally representative of the Chinese population in this age span. Our measures of cognition in CHARLS relies on two measures that proxy for different dimensions of adult cognition – episodic memory and intact mental status. We relate these cognitive measures to adult health and SES outcomes during the adult years. We find large cognitive differences to the detriment of women that were mitigated by large gender differences in education among these generations of Chinese people. These gender differences in cognition are especially concentrated in the older age groups and poorer communities within the sample. We also investigated historical, geographical, and cultural characteristics of communities to understand how they impact cognition. Economic development and environmental improvement such as having electricity, increase in wage per capita and green coverage ratio generally contribute to higher cognition ability. Women benefit more from the fruits of development – electricity and growth of green coverage ratio are conducive to lessening female disadvantage in cognition. |
| Keywords: | China, cognition |
| JEL: | H10 |
| Date: | 2013–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7536&r=ltv |