|
on Unemployment, Inequality and Poverty |
|
Issue of 2024‒01‒01
six papers chosen by |
| By: | Clark, Andrew E. (Paris School of Economics); Kozák, Michal (University of Oslo) |
| Abstract: | The distribution of job quality across workers and the change in job quality over time can be measured by job-domain indices or single-index job-satisfaction. This paper takes both approaches to establish the evolution of job quality over a period from the mid-1990s to the mid-2010s in 13 OECD countries, using data from the three latest ISSP Work Orientation modules. The rise in job satisfaction from 1997 to 2005 has continued through 2015, despite the 2008 Great Recession. This improvement is also found in most of the job-outcome domains, despite some evidence of work intensification. Job security was the most-important job aspect every year, and the percentage of workers with secure jobs rose over time. There has been a small rise in the dispersion of job satisfaction, but the good news regarding better job quality over a 20-year period does not seem to be dampened by large changes in its inequality. |
| Keywords: | job quality, job satisfaction, ISSP |
| JEL: | J28 J3 J81 |
| Date: | 2023–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16597&r=ltv |
| By: | Oscar Claveria (AQR-IREA, University of Barcelona); Petar Soric (University of Zagreb) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the adjustment of government redistributive policies in Scandinavian countries following changes in income inequality over the period 1980-2021. We use two complementary measures of inequality: the share of total income accruing to top percentile income holders, as well as the ratio of the share of total income accruing to top decile income holders divided by that accumulated by the bottom 50%. We find that the sign of the relationship between inequality and redistribution is mostly positive and time-varying. We also find significant evidence that redistributive measures in the form of taxes and government transfers adjust more rapidly in an upward than a downward direction, with the exception of Norway. We obtain a significant long-run relationship between both variables in Iceland and Sweden, while in Norway it just holds for the short run. |
| Keywords: | Income inequality, Redistributive policy, Taxes, Government transfers JEL classification: C50, D30, E62, H50 |
| Date: | 2023–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aqr:wpaper:202306&r=ltv |
| By: | James J. Heckman (The University of Chicago); Rodrigo Pinto (University of California, Los Angeles) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the econometric causal model and the interpretation of empirical evidence based on thought experiments that was developed by Ragnar Frisch and Trygve Haavelmo. We compare the econometric causal model with two currently popular causal frameworks: the Neyman-Rubin causal model and the Do-Calculus. The Neyman-Rubin causal model is based on the language of potential outcomes and was largely developed by statisticians. Instead of being based on thought experiments, it takes statistical experiments as its foundation. The Do-Calculus, developed by Judea Pearl and co-authors, relies on Directed Acyclic Graphs (DAGs) and is a popular causal framework in computer science and applied mathematics. We make the case that economists who uncritically use these frameworks often discard the substantial benefits of the econometric causal model to the detriment of more informative analyses. We illustrate the versatility and capabilities of the econometric framework using causal models developed in economics. |
| Keywords: | Structural Equation Models, causality, causal inference, directed acyclic graphs, Simultaneous Causality |
| JEL: | C10 C18 |
| Date: | 2023–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hka:wpaper:2023-029&r=ltv |
| By: | Bolt, U.; French, E.; Hentall MacCuish, J.; O'Dea, C. |
| Abstract: | Parental investments significantly impact children’s outcomes. Exploiting panel data covering individuals from birth to retirement, we estimate child skill production functions and embed them into an estimated dynastic model in which altruistic mothers and fathers make investments in their children. We find that time investments, educational investments, and assortative matching have a greater impact on generating inequality and intergenerational persistence than cash transfers. While education subsidies can reduce inequality, due to an estimated dynamic complementarity between time investments and education, it is crucial to announce them in advance to allow parents to adjust their investments when their children are young. |
| Date: | 2023–11–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cam:camdae:2374&r=ltv |
| By: | Livia Alfonsi; Michal Bauer; Julie Chytilová; Edward Miguel |
| Abstract: | We study how human capital and economic conditions causally affect the choice of religious denomination. We utilize a longitudinal dataset monitoring the religious history of more than 5, 000 Kenyans over twenty years, in tandem with a randomized experiment (deworming) that has exogenously boosted education and living standards. The main finding is that the program reduces the likelihood of membership in a Pentecostal denomination up to 20 years later when respondents are in their mid-thirties, while there is a comparable increase in membership in traditional Christian denominations. The effect is concentrated and statistically significant among a sub-group of participants who benefited most from the program in terms of increased education and income. The effects are unlikely due to increased secularization, because the program does not reduce measures of religiosity. The results help explain why the global growth of the Pentecostal movement, sometimes described a “New Reformation”, is centered in low-income communities. |
| Keywords: | religion, identity, human capital, Kenya |
| JEL: | C93 O12 Z12 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_10772&r=ltv |
| By: | Eckstein, Zvi (Reichman University); Keane, Michael P. (Johns Hopkins University); Lifshitz, Osnat (Reichman University) |
| Abstract: | In the 1960 cohort, American men and women graduated from college at the same rate, and this was true for Whites, Blacks and Hispanics. But in more recent cohorts, women graduate at much higher rates than men. To understand the emerging gender education gap, we formulate and estimate a model of individual and family decision-making where education, labor supply, marriage and fertility are all endogenous. Assuming preferences that are common across ethnic groups and fixed over cohorts, our model explains differences in all endogenous variables by gender/ethnicity for the '60-'80 cohorts based on three exogenous factors: family background, labor market and marriage market constraints. Changes in parental background are a key factor driving the growing gender education gap: Women with college educated mothers get greater utility from college, and are much more likely to graduate themselves. The marriage market also contributes: Women's chance of getting marriage offers at older ages has increased, enabling them to defer marriage. The labor market is the largest factor: Improvement in women's labor market return to college in recent cohorts accounts for 50% of the increase in their graduation rate. But the labor market returns to college are still greater for men. Women go to college more because their overall return is greater, after factoring in marriage market returns and their greater utility from college attendance. We predict the recent large increases in women's graduation rates will cause their children's graduation rates to increase further. But growth in the aggregate graduation rate will slow substantially, due to significant increases in the share of Hispanics – a group with a low graduation rate – in recent birth cohorts. |
| Keywords: | returns to college, parental background, college graduation, education, gender wage gap, assortative mating, labor supply, marriage, fertility |
| JEL: | J08 J12 J21 E24 |
| Date: | 2023–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16612&r=ltv |