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on Unemployment, Inequality and Poverty |
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Issue of 2017‒08‒13
seven papers chosen by |
| By: | John R. Logan; Andrew Foster; Jun Ke; Fan Li |
| Abstract: | Recent studies have reported a reversal of an earlier trend in income segregation in metropolitan regions, from a decline in the 1990s to an increase in the 2000-2010 decade. This finding reinforces concerns about the growing overall income inequality in the U.S. since the 1970s. We re-evaluate the trend. Because the effective sample for the ACS is much smaller than it was for Census 2000, to which it is being compared, there is a possibility that the apparent changes in disparities across census tracts result partly from a higher level of sampling variation and bias due to the smaller sample. This study uses 100% microdata from the 1940 census to simulate the effect of different sampling rates on the observed measure of inequality, drawing from a population at a single point in time so that there is no change in actual income segregation. We find considerable variation in estimates across samples taken from the same population, particularly for smaller samples. The difference between the median estimate using sampling rates comparable to Census 2000 and the ACS is as large as the observed changes since 2000. We propose alternative approaches to calculate unbiased estimates of class segregation. |
| JEL: | R23 |
| Date: | 2017–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:23656&r=ltv |
| By: | Addison, John T. (University of South Carolina); Teixeira, Paulino (University of Coimbra) |
| Abstract: | Using cross-country data from the European Company Survey, we investigate the relationship between workplace employee representation and five behavioral outcomes: strike incidence, the climate of industrial relations, sickness/absenteeism, employee motivation, and staff retention. The evidence is mixed. From one perspective, the expression of collective voice through works councils may be construed as largely beneficial. However, any such optimistic evaluation is heavily qualified by union organization and in particular workplace unionism. Establishment union density seemingly blunts the performance of employee workplace representation, elevating dissatisfaction at the expense of collaboration. |
| Keywords: | employee representation, works councils, union agency, collective bargaining, strikes, industrial relations quality, employee motivation and retention |
| JEL: | J51 J52 J53 J83 |
| Date: | 2017–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10899&r=ltv |
| By: | Cristina Bernini (University of Bologna); Alessandro Tampieri (University of Bologna and CREA, Université du Luxembourg) |
| Abstract: | We analyze the effects of urbanization on the specific components of the happiness function. We exploit the dataset HADL on Italian citizens over the period 2010-2013. A multilevel approach is used to take into account of regional heterogeneity in the happiness’s determinants. We find that, in line with much of the literature, urbanization is negatively related to subjective well-being. However, the impact of urbanization changes depending on the specific happiness spheres: while satisfaction with economic conditions is not affected by urbanization, job and family satisfaction increase with urbanization. Conversely, satisfaction with health, friendship, spare time and environment decrease with urbanization. |
| Keywords: | subjective well-being, happiness function, urbanization, regions, multilevel models |
| JEL: | I31 R10 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:luc:wpaper:17-10&r=ltv |
| By: | Francine D. Blau; Anne E. Winkler |
| Abstract: | This chapter focuses on women, work, and family, with a particular focus on differences by educational attainment. First, we review long-term trends regarding family structure, participation in the labor market, and time spent in household production, including time with children. In looking at family, we focus on mothers with children. Next we examine key challenges faced by mothers as they seek to combine motherhood and paid work: workforce interruptions associated with childbearing, the impact of home and family responsibilities, and constraints posed by workplace culture. We also consider the role that gendered norms play in shaping outcomes for mothers. We conclude by discussing policies that have the potential to increase gender equality in the workplace and mitigate the considerable conflicts faced by many women as they seek to balance work and family. |
| JEL: | J1 J12 J13 J16 J22 |
| Date: | 2017–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:23644&r=ltv |
| By: | Giuliano, Paola (University of California, Los Angeles) |
| Abstract: | Social attitudes toward women vary significantly across societies. This chapter reviews recent empirical research on various historical determinants of contemporary differences in gender roles and gender gaps across societies, and how these differences are transmitted from parents to children and therefore persist until today. We review work on the historical origin of differences in female labor-force participation, fertility, education, marriage arrangements, competitive attitudes, domestic violence, and other forms of difference in gender norms. Most of the research illustrates that differences in cultural norms regarding gender roles emerge in response to specific historical situations, but tend to persist even after the historical conditions have changed. We also discuss the conditions under which gender norms either tend to be stable or change more quickly. |
| Keywords: | gender, cultural transmission, historical persistence |
| JEL: | N0 Z1 J16 |
| Date: | 2017–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10931&r=ltv |
| By: | Edin, Per-Anders (IFAU); Fredriksson, Peter (Stockholm University); Nybom, Martin (SOFI, Stockholm University); Öckert, Björn (IFAU) |
| Abstract: | We examine the changes in the relative rewards to cognitive and non-cognitive skill during the time period 1992–2013. Using unique administrative data for Sweden, we document a secular increase in the returns to non-cognitive skill, which is particularly pronounced in the private sector and at the upper-end of the wage distribution. Workers with an abundance of non-cognitive skill were increasingly sorted into occupations that were intensive in: cognitive skill; as well as abstract, non-routine, social, non-automatable and offshorable tasks. Such occupations were also the types of occupations which saw greater increases in the relative return to non-cognitive skill. Moreover, we show that greater emphasis is placed on noncognitive skills in the promotion to leadership positions over time. These pieces of evidence are consistent with a framework where non-cognitive, inter-personal, skills are increasingly required to coordinate production within and across workplaces. |
| Keywords: | wage inequality, sorting, returns to skills, cognitive skills, noncognitive skills |
| JEL: | J24 J31 |
| Date: | 2017–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10914&r=ltv |
| By: | Akay, Alpaslan (University of Gothenburg); Bargain, Olivier (Aix-Marseille University); Jara, Xavier (KU Leuven) |
| Abstract: | Subjective well-being (SWB) data is increasingly used to perform welfare analyses. Interpreted as 'experienced utility', SWB has recently been compared to 'decision utility' using specific experiments, most often based on stated preferences. Results point to an overall congruence between these two types of welfare measures. We question whether these findings hold in the more general framework of non-experimental and large-scale data, i.e. the setting commonly used for policy analysis. For individuals in the British household panel, we compare the ordinal preferences either "revealed" from their labor supply decisions or elicited from their reported SWB. The results show striking similarities on average, reflecting the fact that a majority of individuals made decisions that are consistent with SWB maximization. Differences between the two welfare measures arise for particular subgroups, lending themselves to intuitive explanations that we illustrate for specific factors (health and labor market constraints, 'focusing illusion', aspirations). |
| Keywords: | decision utility, experienced utility, labor supply, subjective well-being |
| JEL: | C90 I31 J22 |
| Date: | 2017–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10907&r=ltv |