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on Unemployment, Inequality and Poverty |
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Issue of 2020‒02‒10
four papers chosen by |
| By: | German Cubas (Department of Economics, University of Houston); Chinhui Juhn (Department of Economics, University of Houston); Pedro Silos (Department of Economics, Temple University) |
| Abstract: | Using U.S. time diary data we construct occupation-level measures of coordinated work schedules based on the concentration of hours worked during peak hours of the day. A higher degree of coordination is associated with higher wages but also a larger gender wage gap. In the data women with children allocate more time to household care and are penalized by missing work during peak hours. An equilibrium model with these key elements generates a gender wage gap of 6.6 percent or approximately 30 percent of the wage gap observed among married men and women with children. If the need for coordination is equalized across occupations and set to a relatively low value (i.e. Health care support), the gender gap would fall by more than half to 2.7 percent. |
| Keywords: | Labor Supply, Occupations, Coordination, Work Schedules, Time Use, Gender Wage Gap |
| JEL: | J2 J3 E2 |
| Date: | 2020–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tem:wpaper:2002&r=all |
| By: | Sacco, Lawrence B (Stockholm University); König, Stefanie; Westerlund, Hugo; Platts, Loretta G. (Stockholm University) |
| Abstract: | Providing unpaid informal care to someone who is ill or disabled is a common experience in later life. While a supportive and potentially rewarding role, informal care can become a time and emotionally demanding activity, which may hinder older adults’ quality of life. In a context of rising demand for informal carers, we investigated how caregiving states and transitions are linked to overall levels and changes in quality of life, and how the relationship varies according to care intensity and burden. We used fixed effects and change analyses to examine six-wave panel data (2008–2018) from the Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Survey of Health (SLOSH, n=5076; ages 50–74). The CASP-19 scale is used to assess both positive and negative aspects of older adults’ quality of life. Caregiving was related with lower levels of quality of life in a graded manner, with those providing more weekly hours and reporting greater burden experiencing larger declines. Two-year transitions corresponding to starting, ceasing and continuing care provision were associated with lower levels of quality of life, compared to continuously not caregiving. Starting and ceasing caregiving were associated with negative and positive changes in quality of life score, respectively, suggesting that cessation of care leads to improvements despite persistent lower overall levels of quality of life. Measures to reduce care burden or time spent providing informal care are likely to improve the quality of life of older people. |
| Date: | 2020–02–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:qk6xr&r=all |
| By: | Eric Maskin (Department of Economics, Harvard University - Harvard University [Cambridge]); Célestin Monga (BAD - Banque africaine de développement / African Development Bank); Josselin Thuilliez (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Jean-Claude Berthelemy (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, UP1 UFR02 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - UFR d'Économie - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne) |
| Abstract: | This article examines financing in the fight against malaria. After briefly describing malaria control plans in Africa since 2000, it offers a stylized model of the economics of malaria and shows how health aid can help escape the malaria trap. |
| Keywords: | Health policy,Malaria,Health care economics,Developing world |
| Date: | 2019–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-02153101&r=all |
| By: | Loayza,Norman V. |
| Abstract: | In a typical developing country, about 70 percent of workers and 30 percent of production are informal. Informality is a cause and a consequence of the lack of economic and institutional development. It implies productive inefficiency and a culture of evasion and noncompliance. Informality, however, exists because it offers the advantages of flexibility and employment in economies with low labor productivity and an excessive regulatory burden. Under these conditions, if there were no informality, there would be greater unemployment, poverty, and crime. A well-conceived formalization strategy should seek to make formality more attractive. As the causes of informality are complex and interrelated, the reforms to reduce it must include all relevant areas. A formalization strategy should consist of making labor markets flexible, reforming social protection, increasing labor productivity, making the regulatory framework and the justice system efficient, and rationalizing the tax system. |
| Keywords: | Labor Markets,Social Protections&Assistance,Employment and Unemployment |
| Date: | 2018–12–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbkrpb:133110&r=all |