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on Unemployment, Inequality and Poverty |
| By: | Patrick Bennett; Jessica Botros |
| Abstract: | How do economic shocks at the time of labor market entry interact with the intergenerational persistence of disadvantage? While the importance of family background for future labor market success outweighs the impact of increased unemployment, negative economic shocks disproportionately harm those from disadvantaged backgrounds. As a result, a one standard deviation increase in unemployment causes a 11–15% decrease in intergenerational mobility. Mobility decreases as higher unemployment widens the pre-existing gap in college education by socioeconomic status, and we show that differences in human capital are a key factor which explain rates of both relative and absolute mobility. |
| Keywords: | intergenerational mobility, education, unemployment |
| JEL: | J62 I20 J60 |
| Date: | 2024–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:liv:livedp:202410 |
| By: | Doepke, Matthias; Gaetani, Ruben |
| Abstract: | Why has the college wage premium risen rapidly in the United States since the 1980s but not in European economies such as Germany? We argue that differences in employment protection can account for much of the gap. We develop a model in which firms and workers make relationship-specific investments in skill accumulation. The incentive to invest is stronger when employment protection creates an expectation of long-lasting matches. We argue that changes in the economic environment have reduced relationship-specific investment for less educated workers in the United States, but not for better-protected workers in Germany. |
| JEL: | I23 I20 J24 J31 J41 J63 |
| Date: | 2024–07–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:121605 |
| By: | Pablo Brañas-Garza; Antonio Cabrales; María Paz Espinosa; Teresa García-Muñoz |
| Abstract: | In this paper we explore how individual social preferences correlate with political support for redistribution. We ran an incentivized experiment with a large representative sample of the Spanish population. Our participants took six decisions that elicited their social preferences. Their choices could result in a different total surplus and different distributions of the surplus between the subject and an anonymous counterpart. In our sample, social preferences are unrelated to political support for distributive policies. The main correlates for support of redistribution are the beliefs concerning the importance of effort versus luck for success (fairness), the trust in government institutions (effectiveness) and the perceived importance of the poverty problem (need). |
| Keywords: | elicitation of social preferences, income distribution and politics, trust in government institutions |
| JEL: | C93 D31 D72 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11238 |