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on Unemployment, Inequality and Poverty |
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Issue of 2019‒12‒09
seven papers chosen by |
| By: | Joshi, Heather (University College London); Bryson, Alex (University College London); Wilkinson, David (University College London); Ward, Kelly (University College London) |
| Abstract: | Using data tracking all those born in a single week in Great Britain in 1958 through to their mid-50s we observe an inverse U-shaped gender wage gap (GWG) over their life- course: an initial gap in early adulthood widened substantially during childrearing years, affecting earnings in full-time and part-time jobs. In our descriptive approach, education related differences are minor. Gender differences in work experience are the biggest contributor to that part of the gender wage gap we can explain in our models. Family formation primarily affects the GWG through its impact on work experience. Family composition is similar for male and female workers but attracts opposite wage premia. Not all of the GWG however is linked to family formation. There was a sizeable GWG on labour market entry and there are some otherwise unexplained gaps between the pay of men and women who do not become parents. |
| Keywords: | family formation, gender wage gap, work experience, life course, NCDS birth cohort |
| JEL: | J16 J31 |
| Date: | 2019–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp12725&r=all |
| By: | Javdani, Mohsen (University of British Columbia, Okanagan) |
| Abstract: | In this study we use Canadian linked employer-employee data to examine whether visible minority Canadian-borns experience any differences in their inter-firm and intra-firm job mobility, as well as wage returns associated with them, compared to white Canadian-borns. We also examine the extent to which any differences in intra-firm mobility operates within firms versus between firms. Our results suggest that both male and female visible minority Canadian-borns experience substantial differences in probability of promotion, number of times promoted, and wage returns to promotions, compared to their white peers. For male visible minorities, these differences with their white peers mainly operate within firms. For female visible minorities however, almost half of the gap is driven by their crowding into firms with fewer promotion opportunities. In terms of inter-firm mobility, while male visible minorities are similarly likely to move between firms compared to their white peers, female visible minorities are less likely to change employer. Both groups however receive similar wage returns to their inter-firm mobility. This seems to suggest that differences in intra-firm mobility do not translate into visible minorities moving more frequently between firms, or receiving higher returns to their inter-firm mobility. We find no evidence that these differences could be driven by differences in hierarchical level, career path, or immigration background. Labour market discrimination however remains a potential contributor to these differences, which is also consistent with some of our findings. Our results also suggest that for female visible minorities, different family responsibilities driven potentially by different cultural norms or family dynamics could also contribute to these differences. |
| Keywords: | promotions, inter-firm mobility, job mobility, visible minority, ethnic minority, discrimination |
| JEL: | J15 J62 J71 M51 |
| Date: | 2019–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp12736&r=all |
| By: | Hamermesh, Daniel S. (Barnard College); Gordon, Rachel A. (University of Illinois at Chicago); Crosnoe, Robert (University of Texas at Austin) |
| Abstract: | We use data from the 11 waves of the U.S. Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development 1991-2005, following children from ages 6 months through 15 years. Observers rated videos of them, obtaining measures of looks at each age. Given their family income, parents' education, race/ethnicity and gender, being better-looking raised subsequent changes in measurements of objective learning outcomes. The gains imply a long-run impact on cognitive achievement of about 0.04 standard deviations per standard deviation of differences in looks. Similar estimates on changes in reading and arithmetic scores at ages 7, 11 and 16 in the U.K. National Child Development Survey 1958 cohort show larger effects. The extra gains persist when instrumenting children's looks by their mother's, and do not work through teachers' differential treatment of better-looking children, any relation between looks and a child's behavior, his/her victimization by bullies or self-confidence. Results from both data sets show that a substantial part of the economic returns to beauty result indirectly from its effects on educational attainment. A person whose looks are one standard deviation above average attains 0.4 years more schooling than an otherwise identical average-looking individual. |
| Keywords: | beauty, learning, education |
| JEL: | J71 I26 I24 |
| Date: | 2019–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp12708&r=all |
| By: | Bertocchi, Graziella (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia); Bozzano, Monica (University of Pavia) |
| Abstract: | This chapter reviews the growing body of research in economics which concentrates on the education gender gap and its evolution, over time and across countries. The survey first focuses on gender differentials in the historical period that roughly goes from 1850 to the 1940s and documents the deep determinants of the early phase of female education expansion, including pre-industrial conditions, religion, and family and kinship patterns. Next, the survey describes the stylized facts of contemporaneous gender gaps in education, from the 1950s to the present day, accounting for several alternative measures of attainment and achievement and for geographic and temporal differentiations. The determinants of the gaps are then summarized, while keeping a strong emphasis on an historical perspective and disentangling factors related to the labor market, family formation, psychological elements, and societal cultural norms. A discussion follows of the implications of the education gender gap for multiple realms, from economic growth to family life, taking into account the potential for reverse causation. Special attention is devoted to the persistency of gender gaps in the STEM and economics fields. |
| Keywords: | education, gender, gap |
| JEL: | J1 N3 O1 |
| Date: | 2019–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp12724&r=all |
| By: | John List (University of Chicago); James Murphy (University of Alaska Anchorage); Michael Price (University of Alabama); Alexander James (University of Alaska Anchorage) |
| Abstract: | We partnered with Alaska’s Pick.Click.Give. Charitable Contributions Program to implement a statewide natural field experiment with 540,000 Alaskans designed to explore whether targeted appeals emphasizing donor benefits through warm glow impact donations. Results highlight the relative import of appeals to self. Individuals who received such an appeal were 4.5 percent more likely to give and gave 20 percent more than counterparts in the control group. Yet, a message that instead appealed to recipient benefits had no effect on average donations relative to the control group. We also find evidence of long-run effects of warm glow appeals in the subsequent year. |
| Keywords: | field experiment, experimental economics, charitable giving, philanthropy, warm glow, nonprofits, altruism, Alaska, Permanent Fund Dividend |
| JEL: | C93 D01 D64 D91 H41 L30 L38 M31 M37 |
| Date: | 2019–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ala:wpaper:2019-07&r=all |
| By: | David Neumark; Luis Felipe Munguia Corella |
| Abstract: | Evidence from studies of the employment effects of minimum wages in developing countries is mixed. One interpretation is that there is simply no clear evidence of disemployment effects in developing countries. Instead, however, we find evidence that the heterogeneity is systematic, with estimated effects more consistently negative when institutional factors or the competitive model predict more negative effects – for vulnerable workers, in the formal sector, and when minimum wage laws are strong and binding. That is, the evidence points to negative employment effects of minimum wages in developing countries when more features of estimates predict negative employment effects. |
| JEL: | J18 J23 O15 |
| Date: | 2019–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:26462&r=all |
| By: | Hernán Bejarano (CIDE - Centro de inversitgacion y docencia economicas); Brice Corgnet (emlyon business school, GATE Lyon Saint-Étienne - Groupe d'analyse et de théorie économique - ENS Lyon - École normale supérieure - Lyon - UL2 - Université Lumière - Lyon 2 - UCBL - Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 - Université de Lyon - UJM - Université Jean Monnet [Saint-Étienne] - Université de Lyon - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Joaquín Gómez-Miñambres (Chapman University) |
| Abstract: | We extend Akerlof's (1982) gift-exchange model to the case in which reference wages respond to changes in the work environment such as those related to unemployment benefits or workers' productivity levels. Our model shows that these changes spur disagreements between workers and employers regarding the value of the reference wage. These disagreements tend to weaken the gift-exchange relationship thus reducing production levels and wages. We find support for these predictions in a controlled, yet realistic, workplace environment. Our work also sheds light on several stylized facts regarding employment relationships such as the increased intensity of labor conflicts when economic conditions are unstable. |
| Keywords: | Gift-exchange,incentives,self-serving biases,reference-dependent utility,laboratory experiments,labor conflicts |
| Date: | 2019–11–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-02368016&r=all |