nep-ltv New Economics Papers
on Unemployment, Inequality and Poverty
Issue of 2021‒09‒13
four papers chosen by



  1. Long Term Effects of Cash Transfer Programs in Colombia By Orazio Attanasio; Lina Cardona-Sosa; Carlos Medina; Costas Meghir; Christian Posso
  2. Making it public: The effect of (private and public) wage proposals on efficiency and income distribution. By Lara Ezquerra Guerra; Joaquín Gómez Miñambres; Natalia Jimenez; Praveen Kujal
  3. Perceived income inequality and subjective social status in Europe By Hajdu, Gábor
  4. Social Mobility and Economic Development: Evidence from a Panel of Latin American Regions By Guido Neidhöfer; Matías Ciaschi; Leonardo Gasparini; Joaquín Serrano

  1. By: Orazio Attanasio; Lina Cardona-Sosa; Carlos Medina; Costas Meghir; Christian Posso
    Abstract: Conditional Cash transfer (CCT) programs have been shown to have positive effects on a variety of outcomes including education, consumption and health visits, amongst others. We estimate the long-run impacts of the urban version of Familias en Acción, the Colombian CCT program on crime, teenage pregnancy, high school dropout and college enrollment using a Regression Discontinuity design on administrative data. ITT estimates show a reduction on arrest rates of 2.7pp for men and a reduction on teenage pregnancy of 2.3pp for women. High school dropout rates were reduced by 5.8pp and college enrollment was increased by 1.7pp for men. **** RESUMEN: Los programas de transferencias condicionadas de dinero (CCT) han mostrado tener efectos positivos de corto plazo en educación, consumo, y asistencia a citas médicas, entre otros. Nosotros estimamos los impactos de largo plazo del CCT urbano Colombiano Familias en Acción sobre crimen, fecundidad adolescente, deserción escolar en secundaria, y matrícula en postsecundaria, utilizando un diseño de regresión discontinua con datos administrativos. Estimadores ITT muestran una reducción de 2.7 pp en las tasas de arresto de hombres y una reducción en la fecundidad adolescente de mujeres de 2.3 pp. Las tasas de deserción de secundaria se reducen en 5.8 pp, y para los hombres la matrícula postsecundaria se incrementa en 1.7 pp.
    Keywords: CCT programs, human capital accumulation, crime, adolescent pregnancy, RDD, Programas de transferencias condicionadas, acumulación de capital humano, crimen, fecundidad adolescente, RDD.
    JEL: D04 K42 I23 I28 I38 J13
    Date: 2021–08
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdr:borrec:1170&r=
  2. By: Lara Ezquerra Guerra (Departamento de Economía de la Empresa, Universidad de las Islas Baleares); Joaquín Gómez Miñambres (Lafayette College & Economic Science Institute, Chapman University); Natalia Jimenez (Department of Economics, Universidad Pablo de Olavide & Middlesex University); Praveen Kujal (Department of Economics, University of Middlesex)
    Abstract: The implications of (public or private) pre-play communication and information revelation in a labour relationship is not well understood. We address these implications theoretically and experimentally. In our baseline experiments, the employer offers a wage to the worker who may then accept or reject it. In the public and private treatment, workers, moving first, make a non-binding private or public wage proposal. Our theoretical model assumes that wage proposals convey information about a worker’s minimum acceptable wage and are misreported with a certain probability. It predicts that, on average, wage proposals lead to higher wage offers and acceptance rates, with the highest wages under private proposals. While both, public and private, proposals increase efficiency over the baseline, private proposals generate higher worker incomes. Broad support for the theoretical predictions is found in the laboratory experiments. Our work has important implications for recent policies promoting public information on wage negotiations. We find that while wage proposals promote higher wages, efficiency, and income equality, public information on wage negotiations is likely to benefit firms more than workers.
    Keywords: wage negotiations, cheap talk, laboratory experiments, ultimatum game, wage proposals.
    JEL: C90 C72 J31 M52
    Date: 2021
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pab:wpaper:21.12&r=
  3. By: Hajdu, Gábor
    Abstract: This paper analyzes how perceived income inequality is associated with subjective well-being. Using four waves of the "Social Inequality" module of the International Social Survey Programme, I show that the higher the level of perceived income inequality is, the lower the individual's perception of her social standing, even if objective income inequality and preferences for the legitimate level of income inequality are controlled for. The results are robust to the measure of perceived inequality and the choice of the outcome variable. The analysis also provides evidence that the estimated association is weaker for individuals with higher income, higher education, and countries without postcommunist history. Overall, the results suggest that not only do objective inequality and perception of fairness have consequences regarding subjective well-being but also the perceived level of income inequality itself.
    Keywords: inequality perception,income inequality,subjective social status,subjective well-being
    JEL: D31 D63 I31 J31
    Date: 2021
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:926&r=
  4. By: Guido Neidhöfer (ZEW Mannheim); Matías Ciaschi (CEDLAS-IIE-FCE-UNLP & CONICET); Leonardo Gasparini (CEDLAS-IIE-FCE-UNLP & CONICET); Joaquín Serrano (UCLA & CEDLAS-IIE-FCE-UNLP)
    Abstract: We explore the role of social mobility as a driver of economic development by constructing a panel data set that includes measures of intergenerational mobility of education at the sub-national level in Latin America. First, we map the geography of educational mobility for 52 Latin American regions, as well as its evolution over time. Then, through a novel weighting procedure that considers the participation of cohorts to the economy in each year, we estimate the effect of changes in mobility on economic indicators, such as income per capita, poverty, child mortality, and luminosity. Hereby, we control for several covariates, including migration, educational expansions, initial conditions, and unobserved cross-regional heterogeneity. Our findings show that increasing social mobility had a significant and robust impact on the development of Latin American regions.
    JEL: D63 I24 J62 O15
    Date: 2021–09
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dls:wpaper:0286&r=

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