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on Unemployment, Inequality and Poverty |
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Issue of 2015‒03‒22
six papers chosen by |
| By: | Andrew E. Clark; Conchita D'Ambrosio; Simone Ghislandi |
| Abstract: | We consider the link between poverty and subjective well-being, and focus in particular on the role of time. We use panel data on 49,000 individuals living in Germany from 1992 to 2012 to uncover three empirical relationships. First, life satisfaction falls with both the incidence and intensity of contemporaneous poverty. Second, poverty scars: those who have been poor in the past report lower life satisfaction today, even when out of poverty. Last, the order of poverty spells matters: for a given number of years in poverty, satisfaction is lower when the years are linked together. As such, poverty persistence reduces well-being. These effects differ by population subgroups. |
| Keywords: | Income, poverty, subjective well-being, SOEP |
| JEL: | I31 I32 D60 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp739&r=ltv |
| By: | De Paola, Maria (University of Calabria); Ponzo, Michela (University of Naples Federico II); Scoppa, Vincenzo (University of Calabria) |
| Abstract: | We exploit a natural experiment based on the Italian promotion system for associate and full professor positions to investigate gender differences in the willingness to enter competition. Using data on about 42,000 professors and controlling for productivity and a number of individual and field characteristics, we find that females have a lower probability of applying for competition of about 4 percentage points. The determinants of this gap seem to be gender differences in risk-aversion and self-confidence and women's fear of discrimination: the lower tendency to enter competition is especially relevant for women in the lower tail of the distribution of scientific productivity and in fields in which productivity is not easily measurable; furthermore, women are less likely to apply for promotion in fields in which promotions of females in the past were rare. |
| Keywords: | attitudes towards competition, gender gaps, risk-aversion, self-confidence, discrimination, academic promotions, natural experiment |
| JEL: | J71 M51 J45 J16 D72 D78 |
| Date: | 2015–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8859&r=ltv |
| By: | Ruhose, Jens (Ifo Institute for Economic Research); Schwerdt, Guido (University of Konstanz) |
| Abstract: | We study whether early tracking of students based on ability increases migrant-native achievement gaps. To eliminate confounding impacts of unobserved country traits, we employ a differences-in-differences strategy that exploits international variation in the age of tracking as well as student achievement before and after potential tracking. Based on pooled data from 12 large-scale international student assessments, we show that cross-sectional estimates are likely to be downward-biased. Our differences-in-differences estimates suggest that early tracking does not significantly affect overall migrant-native achievement gaps, but we find evidence for a detrimental impact for less integrated migrants. |
| Keywords: | immigration, educational inequalities, educational tracking, differences-in-differences |
| JEL: | I21 J15 I28 |
| Date: | 2015–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8903&r=ltv |
| By: | Maia Güell (University of Edinburgh, CEPR, FEDEA and IZA.); Michele Pellizzari (UUniversity of Geneva, CEPR, fRDB and IZA.); Giovanni Pica (Università di Salerno, CSEF, Paolo Baffi Centre and Centro Luca D’Agliano); José V. Rodríguez Mora (University of Edinburgh and CEPR.) |
| Abstract: | We apply a novel measure of intergenerational mobility (IM) developed by Güell, Rodríguez Mora, and Telmer (2014) to a rich combination of Italian data allowing us to produce comparable measures of IM of income for 103 Italian provinces. We then exploit the large heterogeneity across Italian provinces in terms of economic and social outcomes to explore how IM correlates with a variety of outcomes. We find that (i) higher IM is positively associated with a variety of \good" economic outcomes, such as higher value added per capita, higher employment, lower unemployment, higher schooling and higher openness and (ii) that also within Italy the "the Great Gatsby Curve" exists: in provinces in which mobility is lower cross-sectional income inequality is larger. We finally explore the correlation between IM and several socio-political outcomes, such as crime and life expectancy, but we do not find any clear systematic relationship on this respect. |
| Keywords: | Surnames, intergenerational mobility, cross-sectional data analysis. |
| JEL: | C31 E24 R10 |
| Date: | 2015–03–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sef:csefwp:394&r=ltv |
| By: | Herz, Benedikt (Universitat Pompeu Fabra); van Rens, Thijs (University of Warwick) |
| Abstract: | We investigate unemployment due to mismatch in the US over the past three decades. We propose an accounting framework that allows us to estimate the overall amount of mismatch unemployment as well as the contribution of the frictions that caused the mismatch. Mismatch is quantitatively important for unemployment and the cyclical behavior of mismatch unemployment is very similar to that of the overall unemployment rate. Geographic mismatch is driven primarily by wage frictions. Mismatch across industries is driven by wage frictions as well as barriers to job mobility. We find virtually no role for worker mobility frictions. |
| Keywords: | mismatch, structural unemployment, worker mobility, job mobility |
| JEL: | E24 J61 J62 |
| Date: | 2015–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8884&r=ltv |
| By: | Hariri,Jacob Gerner; Bjørnskov,Christian; Justesen,Mogens K. |
| Abstract: | This article examines how economic shocks affect individual well-being in developing countries. Using the case of a sudden and unanticipated currency devaluation in Botswana as a quasi-experiment, the article examines how this monetary shock affects individuals'evaluations of well-being. This is done by using microlevel survey data, which?incidentally?were collected in the days surrounding the devaluation. The chance occurrence of the devaluation during the time of the survey enables us to use pretreatment respondents, surveyed before the devaluation, as approximate counterfactuals for post-treatment respondents, surveyed after the devaluation. Estimates show that the devaluation had a large and significantly negative effect on individuals'evaluations of subjective well-being. These results suggest that macroeconomic shocks, such as unanticipated currency devaluations, may have significant short-term costs in the form of reductions in people's sense of well-being. |
| Keywords: | Economic Theory&Research,Debt Markets,Currencies and Exchange Rates,Fiscal&Monetary Policy,Emerging Markets |
| Date: | 2015–03–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:7209&r=ltv |