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on Unemployment, Inequality and Poverty |
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Issue of 2024‒03‒18
three papers chosen by |
| By: | Eshaghnia, Sadegh S. M. (Center for the Economics of Human Development (CEHD)); Heckman, James J. (University of Chicago); Landerso, Rasmus (Rockwool Foundation Research Unit) |
| Abstract: | This study explores relationships between parental resource trajectories and child development, and their implications for intergenerational mobility. By modifying the child skill formation technology to incorporate new skills during adolescence, we analyze the importance of the timing of family resources on life outcomes, educational attainment and participation in crime. Parental financial resources partially offset deficiencies in nonpecuniary inputs to children's human capital. Estimates of the intergenerational influence on child outcomes are strongly influenced by the choice of lifetime versus snapshot parental income measures. The most predictive ages of children when family resources are measured vary by the outcome analyzed. |
| Keywords: | intergenerational elasticity, lifecycle measures, child development, compensating for family disadvantage |
| JEL: | I24 D31 I30 |
| Date: | 2024–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16784&r=ltv |
| By: | Carneiro, Pedro (University College London); Reis, Hugo (Banco de Portugal); Toppeta, Alessandro (SOFI, Stockholm University) |
| Abstract: | Generous maternity leave, affordable daycare, extensive social safety nets, excellent universal health care, and high-quality public schools, are all notable features of Nordic countries. There is a widespread belief that such strong public investments in children contribute to a levelled playing field and promote social mobility. However, gaps in learning outcomes between children of rich and poor parents remain as high in Nordic countries as elsewhere in Europe. One explanation for this paradox is that the equalizing impacts of public investments are undone by parental investments in children of rich and poor families, which are as unequal in Nordic countries as in the rest of the European continent. |
| Keywords: | intergenerational transmission, inequality, education, human capital |
| JEL: | J62 D63 I21 J24 |
| Date: | 2024–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16785&r=ltv |
| By: | Laura Breitkopf (Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods, Bonn); Shyamal Chowdhury (University of Sydney); Shambhavi Priyam (World Bank, Washington DC, US); Hannah Schildberg-Hörisch (Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods, Bonn, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (DICE), IZA Institute of Labor Economics, Bonn); Matthias Sutter (Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods, Bonn, University of Cologne, Germany, University of Innsbruck, Austria, IZA Bonn, Germany, and CESifo Munich) |
| Abstract: | We use novel data on nearly 6, 000 children and adolescents aged 6 to 16 that combine incentivized measures of social, time, and risk preferences with rich information on child behavior and family environment to study whether children’s economic preferences predict their behavior. Results from standard regression specifications demonstrate the predictive power of children’s preferences for their prosociality, educational achievement, risky behaviors, emotional health, and behavioral problems. In a second step, we add information on a family’s socio-economic status, family structure, religion, parental preferences and IQ, and parenting style to capture household environment. As a result, the predictive power of preferences for behavior attenuates. We discuss implications of our findings for research on the formation of children’s preferences and behavior. |
| Keywords: | social preferences, time preferences, risk preferences, experiments with children, origins of preferences, human capital, behavior |
| JEL: | C91 D01 |
| Date: | 2024–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpg:wpaper:2024_09&r=ltv |