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on Unemployment, Inequality and Poverty |
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Issue of 2022‒11‒14
five papers chosen by |
| By: | Clark, Andrew E.; D’Ambrosio, Conchita; Lepinteur, Anthony |
| Abstract: | Job insecurity is one of the risks that workers face on the labour market. As with any risk, individuals can choose to insure against it, and we here consider marriage as one potential source of this insurance. The 1999 rise in the French Delalande tax, paid by larger private firms when they laid off workers aged 50 or over, led to an exogenous rise in job insecurity for the uncovered (younger workers) in these larger firms. A difference-in-differences analysis using French panel data reveals that this greater job insecurity for the under-50s led to a significant rise in their probability of marriage, and especially when the partner had greater job security, consistent with marriage providing insurance against labour-market risk. |
| Keywords: | Insurance; Employment Protection; Difference-in-Differences. |
| Date: | 2022–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpm:docweb:2211&r=ltv |
| By: | García, Jorge Luis (Clemson University); Heckman, James J. (University of Chicago) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the economic foundations of three criteria used for evaluating the costs and benefits of social programs. Some criteria do not consider the scale of programs or address the costs associated with programs that expand or contract the total government budget. A recent addition to the list of evaluation criteria—the marginal value of public funds (MVPF)—does not adopt a social optimality perspective. It evaluates the optimality of expenditures assuming a predetermined aggregate budget without considering the social costs of raising that budget. |
| Keywords: | cost-benefit analysis, marginal value of public funds |
| JEL: | D61 |
| Date: | 2022–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15573&r=ltv |
| By: | Lockwood, Ben (University of Warwick); Powdthavee, Nattavudh (University of Warwick); Oswald, Andrew J. (University of Warwick) |
| Abstract: | Are 'green' environmental concerns -- about climate change, biodiversity, pollution -- deterring today's citizens from having children? This paper, which we believe to be the first of its kind, reports preliminary evidence consistent with that increasingly discussed hypothesis. Our study has a simple longitudinal design. It follows through time a random sample of thousands of initially childless men and women in the UK. Those individuals who are committed to a green lifestyle are found to be less likely to go on to have offspring. Later analysis adjusts statistically for a large set of potential confounders, including age, education, marital status, mental health, life satisfaction, optimism, and physical health. Because there might be unobservable reasons why those who are pro-environmental may be less likely to want a child, and to try to ensure that the finding cannot be explained by selection and omitted variables, the paper explores Oster's (2019) bounds test. The paper's final estimated effect-size is substantial: a person entirely unconcerned about environmental behaviour is found to be approximately 60% more likely to go on to have a child when compared to a deeply committed environmentalist. |
| Keywords: | fertility, child-bearing, climate change, environment, green |
| JEL: | J1 Q50 |
| Date: | 2022–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15620&r=ltv |
| By: | Pedro Carneiro; Kjell G. Salvanes; Barton Willage; Alexander L.P. Willén |
| Abstract: | This paper examines if the effect of parental labor market shocks on child development depends on the age of the child at the time of the shock. To address this question, we leverage rich Norwegian population-wide register data and exploit mass layoffs and establishment closures as a source of exogenous variation in parental labor market shocks. We find that, even though displacement episodes early in children’s lives have the largest impacts on household income (because they persist for many years), displacement episodes occurring in the children’s teenage years have the largest effects on human capital accumulation. We show that most of the effects operate through the intensive margin of schooling, and that children – across childhood – are significantly more influenced by maternal labor shocks compared to paternal labor shocks. In terms of mechanisms, we show that the heterogeneous effects across child age likely are driven by short-term increases in maternal stress rather than by differences in how the parents respond to the shocks. |
| Keywords: | job displacement, labor market shocks, intergenerational transmission, human capital |
| JEL: | I20 J12 J13 J63 D10 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_9998&r=ltv |
| By: | Cerra,Valerie; Lama,Ruy; Loayza,Norman V. |
| Abstract: | Is there a trade-off between raising growth and reducing inequality and poverty? This paper reviews the theoretical and empirical literature on the complex links between growth, inequality, and poverty, with causation going in both directions. The evidence suggests that growth can be effective in reducing poverty, but its impact on inequality is ambiguous and depends on the underlying sources of growth. The impact of poverty and inequality on growth is likewise ambiguous, as several channels mediate the relationship. But most plausible mechanisms suggest that poverty and inequality reduce growth, at least in the long run. Policies play a role in shaping these relationships and those designed to improve equality of opportunity can simultaneously improve inclusiveness and growth. |
| Keywords: | Inequality,Poverty Reduction Strategies,Economic Growth,Industrial Economics,Economic Theory&Research,International Trade and Trade Rules |
| Date: | 2021–03–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:9603&r=ltv |