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on Unemployment, Inequality and Poverty |
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Issue of 2022‒12‒19
nine papers chosen by |
| By: | O'Connor, Kelsey J. (STATEC Research – National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies) |
| Abstract: | Societal progress is characterized primarily as an improvement in the distribution of well-being; however, a small set of additional variables are also necessary. Social indicators based on objective measures are inherently limited by the subjective assessments necessary of "experts" to select and combine measures into indicators. Subjective well-being overcomes this limitation but is insufficient to guide all policy decisions and address certain issues, especially those relating to future concerns. Subjective well-being is the single most important, but necessarily not the only, indicator of progress. This entry also briefly discusses: recent history of well-being measurement; what makes people better off in theory; the difference between subjective and 'objective' measures of well-being; their limitations; what we need to improve measures of progress, and examples of government implementation of well-being indicators. |
| Keywords: | well-being, wellbeing, societal progress, quality of life, GDP, subjective well-being, social indicators, beyond GDP, SDGs, life satisfaction |
| JEL: | I31 O10 |
| Date: | 2022–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izapps:pp194&r=ltv |
| By: | Claudia Senik (PSE - Paris School of Economics - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris sciences et lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris sciences et lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, SU - Sorbonne Université); Andrew E. Clark (PSE - Paris School of Economics - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris sciences et lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris sciences et lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement); Conchita d'Ambrosio (Uni.lu - Université du Luxembourg); Anthony Lepinteur (Uni.lu - Université du Luxembourg); Carsten Schröder (DIW Berlin - Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung) |
| Abstract: | We carry out a difference-indifferences analysis of a representative real-time survey conducted as part of the German SocioEconomic Panel (SOEP) study and show that teleworking had a negative average effect on life satisfaction over the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic. This average effect hides considerable heterogeneity reflecting genderrole asymmetry: lower life satisfaction is only found for unmarried men and women with school-age children. The negative effect for women with school-age children disappears in 2021, suggesting adaptation to new constraints and/or the adoption of coping strategies. |
| Keywords: | Life Satisfaction,Teleworking,Work from Home,Gender,Childcare,COVID-19,SOEP |
| Date: | 2022–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:psewpa:halshs-03855653&r=ltv |
| By: | Stefania Albanesi; Claudia Olivetti; Barbara Petrongolo |
| Abstract: | Using comparable data for 24 countries since the 1970s, we document gender convergence in schooling, employment and earnings, marriage delay and the accompanying decline in fertility, and the large remaining gaps in labor market outcomes, especially among parents. A model of time allocation illustrates how the specialization of spouses in home or market production responds to preferences, comparative advantages and public policies. We draw lessons from existing evidence on the impacts of family policies on women's careers and children's wellbeing. There is to date little or no evidence of beneficial effects of longer parental leave (or fathers' quotas) on maternal participation and earnings. In most cases longer leave delays mothers' return to work, without long-lasting consequences on their careers. More generous childcare funding instead encourages female participation whenever subsidized childcare replaces maternal childcare. Impacts on child development depend on counterfactual childcare arrangements and tend to be more beneficial for disadvantaged households. In-work benefits targeted to low-earners have clear positive impacts on lone mothers' employment and negligible impacts on other groups. While most of this literature takes policy as exogenous, political economy aspects of policy adoption help understand the interplay between societal changes, family policies and gender equality. |
| Keywords: | gender gaps, spousal specialisation, family policies |
| Date: | 2022–11–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp1887&r=ltv |
| By: | Mathias Fjaellegaard Jensen; Alan Manning |
| Abstract: | On average, children born in Denmark with immigrant parents (first-generation locals) have lower earnings, higher unemployment, less education, more welfare transfers, and more criminal convictions than children with local-born parents. This is different from the US where first-generation locals often have better unconditional outcomes. However, like the US, when we condition on parental socio-economic characteristics, first-generation locals generally perform as well or better than the children of locals. There is little distinctive about being a child of immigrants, other than the fact that they are more likely to come from deprived backgrounds. |
| Keywords: | Immigration, Denmark, first-generation, deprived background |
| Date: | 2022–10–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp1880&r=ltv |
| By: | Pablo Brañas-Garza (Loyola Behavioral Lab); Antonio Cabrales (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid); Maria Paz Espinosa (University of the Basque Country); Diego Jorrat (Loyola Behavioral Lab) |
| Abstract: | We experimentally study a game in which success requires a sufficient total contribution by members of a group. There are significant uncertainties surrounding the chance and the total effort required for success. A theoretical model with max-min preferences towards ambiguity predicts higher contributions under ambiguity than under risk. However, in a large representative sample of the Spanish population (1,500 participants) we find that the ATE of ambiguity on contributions is zero. The main significant interaction with the personal characteristics of the participants is with risk attitudes, and it increases contributions. This suggests that policymakers concernedwith ambiguous problems (like climate change) do not need to worry excessively about ambiguity. |
| Date: | 2022–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aoz:wpaper:196&r=ltv |
| By: | Neumark, David (Mercury Publication) |
| Abstract: | The labor force participation and employment rate of young adults in the United States have declined sharply in recent years, especially among teenagers. For example, from 1994 to 2015, the participation rate of teens (aged 16-19) fell from 52.7 to 34.0 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ajw:wpaper:07392&r=ltv |
| By: | Boris Hirsch; Elke J. Jahn; Alan Manning; Michael Oberfichtner |
| Abstract: | One of the factors affecting the market power of employers is the extent to which higher wages makes recruitment easier. There is very little research on this. This paper presents a methodology for estimating the wage elasticity of recruitment and applies it to German data. Our estimates of the wage elasticity of recruitment are about 1.4. We also report evidence that high-wage employers are more selective in hiring, in which case the relevant recruitment elasticity should be higher, about 2.2. Together with prior estimates of the quit elasticity these results imply that wages are 72-77% of the marginal product of labour. Further, we find lower elasticities for recruits hired from non-employment as well as for women, non-German nationals, non-prime-age workers, less skilled workers, and workers with less complex jobs. |
| Keywords: | monopsony, imperfect labour markets, wage elasticity of recruitment |
| Date: | 2022–11–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp1883&r=ltv |
| By: | Orazio Attanasio; Ricardo Paes de Barros; Pedro Carneiro; David K. Evans; Lycia Lima; Pedro Olinto; Norbert Schady |
| Abstract: | This study examines the impact of publicly provided daycare for children aged 0-3 on outcomes of children and their caregivers over the course of seven years after enrollment into daycare. At the end of 2007, the city of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil used a lottery to assign children to limited public daycare openings. Winning the lottery translated to a 34 percent increase in time in daycare during a child’s first four years of life. This allowed caregivers more time to work, resulting in higher incomes for beneficiary households in the first year of daycare attendance and 4 years later (but not after 7 years, by which time all children were eligible for universal schooling). The rise in labor force participation is driven primarily by grandparents and by adolescent siblings residing in the same household as (and possibly caring for) the child, and not by parents, most of whom were already working. Beneficiary children saw sustained gains in height-for-age and weight-for-age, due to better nutritional intake at school and at home. Gains in beneficiary children’s cognitive development were observed 4 years after enrolment but not later. |
| JEL: | I30 I31 I38 |
| Date: | 2022–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30653&r=ltv |
| By: | Petra E. Todd; Weilong Zhang |
| Abstract: | This paper develops and estimates a spatial general equilibrium job search model to study the effects of local and universal (federal) minimum wage policies on employment, wages, job postings, vacancies, migration/commuting, and welfare. In the model, workers, who differ in terms of location and education levels, search for jobs locally and in a neighboring area. If they receive remote offers, they decide whether to migrate or commute. Firms post vacancies in multiple locations and make offers subject to minimum wage constraints. The model is estimated using multiple databases, including the American Community Survey (ACS) and Quarterly Workforce Indicators (QWI), and exploiting minimum wage variation across state borders as well as time series variation (2005-2015). Results show that local minimum wage increases lead firms to post fewer wage offers in both local and neighboring areas and lead lower education workers to reduce interstate commuting. An out-of-sample validation finds that model forecasts of commuting responses to city minimum wage hikes are similar to patterns in the data. A welfare analysis shows how minimum wage effects vary by worker type and with the minimum wage level. Low skill workers benefit from local wage increases up to $10.75/hour and high skill workers up to $12.25/hour. The greatest per capital welfare gain (including both workers and firms) is achieved by a universal minimum wage increase of $12.75/hour. |
| JEL: | D04 D5 |
| Date: | 2022–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30668&r=ltv |