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on Unemployment, Inequality and Poverty |
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Issue of 2017‒05‒21
five papers chosen by |
| By: | Terence C. Cheng; Nattavudh Powdthavee; Andrew J. Oswald |
| Abstract: | There is a large amount of cross-sectional evidence for a midlife low in the life cycle of human happiness and well-being (a ‘U shape’). Yet no genuinely longitudinal inquiry has uncovered evidence for a U-shaped pattern. Thus, some researchers believe the U is a statistical artefact. We re-examine this fundamental cross-disciplinary question. We suggest a new test. Drawing on four data sets, and only within-person changes in well-being, we document powerful support for a U shape in longitudinal data (without the need for formal regression equations). The article's methodological contribution is to use the first-derivative properties of a well-being equation. |
| JEL: | J1 |
| Date: | 2017–02–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:65168&r=ltv |
| By: | Marta Barazzetta (Uni.lu - Université du Luxembourg); Andrew E. Clark (PSE - Paris School of Economics, PSE - Paris-Jourdan Sciences Economiques - ENS Paris - École normale supérieure - Paris - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Conchita D'Ambrosio (Uni.lu - Université du Luxembourg) |
| Abstract: | We here consider the effect of unfair income on both subjective well-being and objective future job quitting. In five waves of German Socio-Economic Panel data, those who perceive their labour income to be unfair have significantly lower subjective well-being, both in terms of cognitive evaluations (life and job satisfaction) and affect (the frequency of feeling happy, sad, angry and worried). Perceived unfairness also translates into objective labour-market behaviour, with current unfair income predicting future job quits. |
| Keywords: | Fair income,subjective well-being,quits,SOEP |
| Date: | 2017–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:psewpa:halshs-01431172&r=ltv |
| By: | Pastore, Francesco |
| Abstract: | This essay discusses the determinants of youth unemployment within the EU and then the alternative policy options currently at stake. We argue that youth unemployment regards especially some peripheral EU countries and is due to a mix of factors that should be addressed more vigorously, starting from expansionary fiscal and monetary policy. The guiding line should be to reform the Maastricht Treaty so as to allow eacg EU country to reach the Europe 2020 targets. Moreover, especially in the peripheral countries drastic reforms of the school-to-work transition regimes are needed, including not only the European Youth Guarantee, which is underfinanced, but also the introduction of better links between the education system and the labor market. The past emphasis on labor market reforms, instead, should be reconsidered. |
| Keywords: | Youth Unemployment,Maastricht Treaty,Europe2020,School-to-Work Transition,Dual Education System,European Youth Guarantee,Work related learning,EU |
| JEL: | H52 I2 I24 J13 J24 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:67&r=ltv |
| By: | Dolado, Juan J. (European University Institute); García-Peñalosa, Cecilia (CNRS); Tarasonis, Linas (Bank of Lithuania) |
| 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 EU 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 gaps, gender employment gaps |
| JEL: | J31 |
| Date: | 2017–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10729&r=ltv |
| By: | Borra, Cristina (University of Seville); Browning, Martin J. (University of Oxford); Sevilla, Almudena (Queen Mary, University of London) |
| Abstract: | This paper provides insights into the welfare gains of forming a couple by estimating how much of the difference in housework time between single and married individuals is causal and how much is due to selection. Using longitudinal data from Australia, UK and US, we find that selection into marriage by individuals with a higher taste for home-produced goods can explain about half of the observed differences in housework documented in the cross-sectional data. There remains a genuine two-hour increase in housework time for each partner upon marriage, with women specializing in routine, and men specializing in non-routine housework tasks. |
| Keywords: | marriage, time use, home production |
| JEL: | D13 J12 J22 |
| Date: | 2017–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10740&r=ltv |