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on Unemployment, Inequality and Poverty |
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Issue of 2016‒10‒23
nine papers chosen by |
| By: | Del Boca, Daniela; Flinn, Christopher J; Wiswall, Matthew |
| Abstract: | In this paper we utilize a model of household investments in the development of children to explore the impact of various transfer policies on the distribution of child outcomes. We develop a cost criterion that can be used to compare the cost effectiveness of unrestricted, restricted, and conditional cash transfer systems, and find that an optimally chosen conditional cash transfer program is the most cost efficient way to attain any given gain in average child quality. We explore several design elements for the conditional cash transfer system and discuss the role of production function uncertainty and measurement error. |
| Keywords: | child development; conditional cash transfers; Income Transfers; Time allocation |
| JEL: | D1 J13 |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:11573&r=ltv |
| By: | Marion Goussé (Département d'Economique, Université Laval - Université Laval [Québec]); Nicolas Jacquemet (PSE - Paris School of Economics, CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Jean-Marc Robin (ECON - Département d'économie - Sciences Po) |
| Abstract: | We extend the search-matching model of the marriage market of Shimer and Smith (2000) to allow for labor supply, home production, match-specific shocks and endogenous divorce. We study nonparametric identification using panel data on marital status, education, family values, wages, and market and non market hours, and we develop a semiparametric estimator. We estimate how much sorting results from time use specialization or homophilic preferences. We estimate how equilibrium marriage formation affects the wage elasticities of market and non market hours. We estimate individuals’ willingness to pay for marriage and quantify the redistributive effect of intra- household resource sharing |
| Keywords: | structural estimation, collective labor supply,Search-matching, sorting, assortative matching |
| Date: | 2016–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-01261040&r=ltv |
| By: | Warn N. Lekfuangfu (LSE - London School of Economics and Political Science, Chulalongkorn University (THAILAND) - Chulalongkorn University (THAILAND), CEPR - Center for Economic Policy Research - CEPR); Nattavudh Powdthavee (Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research - Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, CEPR - Center for Economic Policy Research - CEPR, LSE - London School of Economics and Political Science); Andrew E. Clark (PSE - Paris School of Economics, PSE - Paris-Jourdan Sciences Economiques - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENS Paris - École normale supérieure - Paris - École des Ponts ParisTech (ENPC), CEPR - Center for Economic Policy Research - CEPR); George Ward (LSE - London School of Economics and Political Science, CEPR - Center for Economic Policy Research - CEPR) |
| Abstract: | We analyse the relationship between early maternal employment and child emotional and behavioural outcomes in early childhood and adolescence. Using rich data from a cohort of children born in the UK in the early 1990s, we find little evidence of a strong statistical relationship between early maternal employment and any of the emotional outcomes. However, there is some evidence that children whose mother is in full-time employment at the 18th month have worse behavioural outcomes at ages 4, 7, and 12. We suggest that these largely insignificant results may in part be explained by mothers who return to full-time work earlier being able to compensate their children: we highlight the role of fathers’ time investment and alternative childcare arrangements in this respect. |
| Keywords: | Child outcomes,Maternal employment,Well-being,Conduct,ALSPAC |
| Date: | 2015–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-01223336&r=ltv |
| By: | Eric A. Hanushek (Hoover Institution, Standford University, USA); Guido Schwerdt (Department of Economics, University of Konstanz, Germany); Simon Wiederhold (ifo Institute, Germany); Ludger Woessmann (ifo Institute, Germany) |
| Abstract: | Expanded international data from the PIAAC survey of adult skills allow us to analyze potential sources of the cross-country variation of comparably estimated labor-market returns to skills in a more diverse set of 32 countries. Returns to skills are systematically larger in countries that have grown faster in the recent past, consistent with models where skills are particularly important for adaptation to dynamic economic change. |
| Keywords: | cognitive skills; returns to education; economic growth; international comparisons |
| JEL: | J31 I20 O15 |
| Date: | 2016–09–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:knz:dpteco:1610&r=ltv |
| By: | Andrew Clark (PSE - Paris-Jourdan Sciences Economiques - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENS Paris - École normale supérieure - Paris - École des Ponts ParisTech (ENPC), PSE - Paris School of Economics); Elena Stancanelli (PSE - Paris School of Economics, CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | There is a small literature on the economic costs of terrorism. We consider the effects of the Boston marathon bombing on Americans’ well-being and time allocation. We exploit data from the American Time Use Survey and Well-Being Module in the days around the terrorist attack to implement a regression-discontinuity design. The bombing led to a significant and large drop of about 1.5 points in well-being, on a scale of one to six, for residents of the States close to Boston. The happiness of American women also dropped significantly, by almost a point, regardless of the State of residence. Labor supply and other time use were not significantly affected. We find no well-being effect of the Sandy Hook shootings, suggesting that terrorism is different in nature from other violent deaths. |
| Keywords: | Well-being,Time Use,Terrorism |
| Date: | 2016–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-01302843&r=ltv |
| By: | Marina Bassi; Costas Meghir; Ana Reynoso |
| Abstract: | This paper uses a RCT to estimate the effectiveness of guided instruction methods as implemented in under-performing schools in Chile. The intervention improved performance substantially for the first cohort of students, but not the second. The effect is mainly accounted for by children from relatively higher income backgrounds. Based on the CLASS instrument we document that quality of teacher-student interactions is positively correlated with the performance of low income students; however, the intervention did not affect these interactions. Guided instruction can improve outcomes, but it is a challenge to sustain the impacts and to reach the most deprived children. |
| JEL: | I21 I24 I25 I3 |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:22719&r=ltv |
| By: | Terence C. Cheng; Joan Costa-i-Font; Nattavudh Powdthavee |
| Abstract: | We exploit lottery wins to investigate the effects of exogenous changes to individuals' income on the utilization of health care services, and the choice between private and public health care in the United Kingdom. Our empirical strategy focuses on lottery winners in an individual fixed effects framework and hence the variation of winnings arises from within-individual differences in small versus large winnings. The results indicate that lottery winners with larger wins are more likely to choose private health services than public health services from the National Health Service. The positive effect of wins on the choice of private care is driven largely by winners with medium to large winnings (win category > $500 (or US$750); mean = $1922:5 (US$2,893.5), median = $1058:2 (US$1592.7)). There is some evidence that the effect of winnings vary by whether individuals have private health insurance. We also find weak evidence that large winners are more likely to take up private medical insurance. Large winners are also more likely to drop private insurance coverage between approximately 9 and 10 months earlier than smaller winners, possibly after their winnings have been exhausted. Our estimates for the lottery income elasticities for public health care (relative to no care) are very small and are not statistically distinguishable from zero; those of private health care range from 0 { 0.26 for most of the health services considered, and 0.82 for cervical smear. |
| Keywords: | Lottery wins; Health care; Income elasticity; Public-private |
| JEL: | D1 H42 I11 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:68024&r=ltv |
| By: | A.B. Atkinson |
| Abstract: | The Pareto distribution has long been a source of fascination to economists, and the Pareto coefficient is widely used, in theoretical and empirical studies, as a summary of the degree of concentration of top incomes. This paper examines the empirical evidence from income tax data concerning top incomes in the UK, contrasting the dramatic changes that took place in the twentieth century, after 1918, with the much more modest changes in the preceding nineteenth century. Probing beneath the surface, it identifies a number of features of the evolution of the UK income inequality that warrant closer attention. These include the changing shape of the upper tail, where there is a link with Pareto's theory of elites, the need for a richer functional form to describe top incomes, and the limited evidence at the top of the distribution for a Kuznets curve in nineteenth century Britain. |
| Keywords: | Pareto, income, distribution, tail |
| JEL: | D63 I31 N33 |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:sticas:/198&r=ltv |
| By: | Juan Dolado (European University Institute); Cecilia García-Peñalosa (AMSE - Aix-Marseille School of Economics - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS) - Ecole Centrale Marseille (ECM) - AMU - Aix Marseille Université); Linas Tarasonis (AMSE - Aix-Marseille School of Economics - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS) - Ecole Centrale Marseille (ECM) - AMU - Aix Marseille Université) |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to evaluate the role played by selectivity issues induced by nonemployment in explaining gender wage gap patterns in the EU since the onset of the Great Recession. We show that male selection into the labour market, traditionally disregarded, has increased. This is particularly the case in peripheral European countries, where dramatic drops in male unskilled jobs have taken place during the crisis. As regards female selection, traditionally positive, we document mixed findings. While it has declined in some countries, as a result of increasing female LFP due to an added-worker effect, it has become even more positive in other countries. This is due to adverse labour demand shifts in industries which are intensive in temporary work where women are over-represented. These adverse shifts may have more than offset the rise in unskilled female labour supply. |
| Keywords: | sample selection,gender wage gap |
| Date: | 2016–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-01326316&r=ltv |