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on Unemployment, Inequality and Poverty |
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Issue of 2015‒06‒20
three papers chosen by |
| By: | Ana Tur-Prats |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the historical origins of violence against women, in contrast to earlier literature, which focused only on short-term determinants. It analyses the relationship between traditional family patterns (stem versus nuclear) and intimate-partner violence (IPV). Stem families are those in which one child stays in the parental household with spouse and children, so that at least two generations live together. I model the behavior of a traditional peasant family and show how coresidence with a mother-in-law increases a wife’s contribution to farmwork. This increased contribution is shown to potentially decrease the level of violence, since the wife’s reduced productivity acts as a deterrent. In my empirical analysis I use Spanish data, as Spain offers IPV measures of the highest quality as well as a persistent geographical distribution of family types. Results show that areas where stem families were socially predominant in the past currently have a lower IPV rate. I control for a large number of contemporary, historical, and geographical variables. To address causality, I use the stages and differences in the Christian conquest of the Iberian Peninsula (722-1492) as an instrument for the different family types. My instrumental variable results are consistent with my original findings. |
| Keywords: | Gender inequality, cultural norms, persistence, inheritance, coresidence, Christian conquest. |
| JEL: | D03 J12 N43 Z13 |
| Date: | 2015–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:upf:upfgen:1486&r=ltv |
| By: | James A. Robinson; Ragnar Torvik; Theirry Verdier |
| Abstract: | We develop a model of the political consequences of public income volatility. As is standard, political incentives create inefficient policies, but we show that making income uncertain creates specific new effects. Future volatility reduces the benefit of being in power, making policy more efficient. Yet at the same time it also reduces the re-election probability of an incumbent and since some of the policy inefficiencies are concentrated in the future, this makes inefficient policy less costly. We show how this model can help think about the connection between volatility and economic growth and in the case where volatility comes from volatile natural resource prices, a characteristic of many developing countries, we show that volatility in itself is a source of inefficient resource extraction. |
| Keywords: | Income Volatility, Public Policy, Politics, Resource Extraction |
| Date: | 2015–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bny:wpaper:0031&r=ltv |
| By: | Pedro Rey-Biel (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and Barcelona GSE); Roman Sheremeta (Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University and the Economic Science Institute at Chapman University); Neslihan Uler (Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan) |
| Abstract: | We study how giving depends on income and luck, and how culture and information about the determinants of others’ income affect this relationship. Our data come from an experiment conducted in two countries, the US and Spain, which have different beliefs about how income inequality arises. We find no cross-cultural differences in giving when individuals are informed about the determinants of income, but when uninformed, Americans give less than Spanish. Culture and information not only affect individual giving, but also the determinants of giving and the beliefs about how income inequality arises. Beliefs partially moderate cross-cultural differences in giving. |
| Keywords: | individual giving, information, culture, beliefs, laboratory experiment |
| JEL: | C91 D64 D83 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:chu:wpaper:15-12&r=ltv |