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on Unemployment, Inequality and Poverty |
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Issue of 2022‒07‒11
seven papers chosen by |
| By: | Maddalena Ferranna; JP Sevilla; Leo Zucker; David E. Bloom |
| Abstract: | We analyze time use studies to describe how people allocate their time as they age, especially among paid work, unpaid work, leisure, and personal care. We emphasize differences in time allocation between older (i.e., those aged 65+) and younger people; between developed and developing countries; and by other demographic characteristics such as gender, marital status, health status, and educational attainment. We summarize related economic literature and crystallize a framework for thinking about key conceptual issues involving time allocation over the life cycle. We conclude by assessing the adequacy of global data resources in this area and by discussing some promising opportunities to fill salient gaps in the literature. |
| JEL: | D13 D15 J14 J22 |
| Date: | 2022–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30030&r= |
| By: | Joseph G. Altonji; John Eric Humphries; Ling Zhong |
| Abstract: | This paper uses a college-by-graduate degree fixed effects estimator to evaluate the returns to 19 different graduate degrees for men and women. We find substantial variation across degrees, and evidence that OLS overestimates the returns to degrees with high average earnings and underestimates the returns to degrees with low average earnings. Second, we decompose the impacts on earnings into effects on wage rates and effects on hours. For most degrees, the earnings gains come from increased wage rates, though hours play an important role in some degrees, such as medicine, especially for women. Third, we estimate the net present value and internal rate of return for each degree, which account for the time and monetary costs of degrees. We show annual earnings and hours worked while enrolled in graduate school vary a lot by gender and degree. Finally, we provide descriptive evidence that gains in overall job satisfaction and satisfaction with contribution to society vary substantially across degrees. |
| JEL: | I21 I24 I26 J16 J24 J28 |
| Date: | 2022–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30105&r= |
| By: | Gandelman, Néstor; Lluberas, Rodrigo |
| Abstract: | This paper presents harmonized indicators for household wealth, its components, and its determinants (including intergenerational mobility) in four Latin American countries (Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Uruguay), using Spain as a comparison benchmark. It is based on recently-available microdata from financial surveys. The paper analyzes the relationship between wealth indicators and sociodemographic characteristics of household heads (age, education, gender, marital status). |
| Keywords: | Desarrollo, Economía, Familia, Investigación socioeconómica, Políticas públicas, |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dbl:dblwop:1904&r= |
| By: | Carneiro, Pedro; Toppeta, Alessandro |
| Abstract: | In this paper we document gaps in math and reading achievement between children whose mothers have completed at least upper secondary education and those who have not, using test scores from third and sixth graders across multiple countries in LAC, in 2006 and 2013. There are substantial differences across countries in these gaps, and there are also differences in how they change over time. Interestingly, differences in these gaps are not correlated with differences in income inequality across countries. They are however strongly correlated with the levels of socio-economic segregation across schools in different countries. |
| Keywords: | Educación, Estudiantes, Niñez, Políticas públicas, Sector académico, |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dbl:dblwop:1903&r= |
| By: | John Fitzgerald; Robert A. Moffitt |
| Abstract: | We propose a new measure of the rate of poverty we call the Supplemental Expenditure Poverty Measure (SEPM) based on expenditure in the Consumer Expenditure survey. It treats household expenditure as a measure of resources available to purchase the minimum bundle necessary to meet basic needs. Our measure differs from conventional income and consumption poverty in both concept and measurement and it has advantages relative to both. Poverty rates using our basic measure are very close in level and recent trend to those of the most preferred income-based poverty rate produced by the Census Bureau. But our SEPM poverty rate differs from the Census measure at different levels of the poverty line. For example, that the number of individuals living in either poor or “almost” poor households is 5 percentage points greater (about 16 million individuals) using our measure. We also construct an augmented measure that adds additional potential liquid resources. This “maximal resources” measure indicates that if disadvantaged households used up all their bank balances and maximized their credit card borrowing, 9.6 percent of the population (over 31 million individuals) would still be poor and unable to purchase the goods necessary for the basic needs of life. |
| JEL: | I3 |
| Date: | 2022–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30056&r= |
| By: | Joseph G. Altonji; Disa M. Hynsjö; Ivan Vidangos |
| Abstract: | We review research on the dynamics and distribution of individual earnings and family income. We start with univariate earnings models, which dominate the literature and are often used as the exogenous component of family income in structural models of saving. We present a version of the linear model that nests most of the specifications that have been used in the literature, and then discuss recent papers that stress nonnormal shocks, nonlinear and age-dependent processes, and heterogeneous model parameters. The recent work provides a much richer description of the nature of earnings volatility than the basic model. We then turn to models of individual earnings that are based on wages, employment, job mobility, and hours. These multivariate models permit measuring the sources of permanent differences in earnings and distinguishing among shocks that influence earnings through employment, job mobility, general productivity, or hours. Finally, we consider models of lifetime family income that integrate individual earnings, marriage (accounting for marital sorting), and earnings of a spouse (if present). We conclude by discussing directions for future work. |
| JEL: | D31 J16 J24 J31 |
| Date: | 2022–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30095&r= |
| By: | Langella, Monica; Manning, Alan |
| Abstract: | There has been increasing interest in recent years in monopsony in the labour market. This paper discusses how we can measure monopsony power by combining insights from models based on both frictions and idiosyncrasies. It presents some evidence from the United Kingdom and the United States about how monopsony power varies across the wage distribution within markets, over the business cycle and over time. |
| Keywords: | monopsony; labour market competition; 834455 |
| JEL: | I21 |
| Date: | 2021–12–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:111444&r= |