|
on Unemployment, Inequality and Poverty |
| By: | Busso, Matias (Inter-American Development Bank); Montaño, Sebastián (University of Maryland); Muñoz-Morales, Juan S. (IÉSEG School of Management) |
| Abstract: | Using longitudinal data of college graduates in Colombia, we estimate labor market returns to postsecondary degrees and to various skills—including literacy, numeracy, foreign language, and field-specific skills. Graduates of academic programs and schools of higher reputation obtain higher earnings relative to vocational public programs. A one standard deviation increase in each skill predicts average earnings increases of one to three percent. Returns vary along the earnings distribution, with tenure, with the degree of job specialization, and by gender. Our results imply that degrees and skills capture different human capital components that are rewarded differently in the labor market. |
| Keywords: | returns to skills, returns to education, numeracy, literacy, foreign language, field-specific, Colombia |
| JEL: | I20 I24 J24 J31 |
| Date: | 2024–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17283 |
| By: | Christian Dustmann (University College London); Rasmus Landerso (ROCKWOOL Foundation Research Unit); Lars Andersen (ROCKWOOL Foundation Research Unit) |
| Abstract: | Abstract: This paper studies the effects of a large welfare benefit reduction on the children in the affected families. The welfare cut targeted adult refugees who received residency in Denmark, and it reduced their disposable income by 30 percent on average over the first five years. We show that children exposed to the welfare cut during preschool and school-age obtained lower GPAs, experienced reduced well-being and overall education levels, and suffered lower employment and earnings as adults. Children in their teens at exposure faced large increases in conviction probabilities for violent and property crimes. |
| Keywords: | Social assistance, welfare state, crime, education, inequality |
| JEL: | I24 I30 J10 K14 |
| Date: | 2024–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:2415 |
| By: | Alison W. Baulos; Jorge Luis García; James J. Heckman |
| Abstract: | The Perry Preschool Project, the longest-running experimental study of an early childhood education program, demonstrates how such interventions can yield long-term personal, societal, and intergenerational benefits for disadvantaged populations. The evidence is clear: investments in high-quality early childhood education and parental engagement can deliver returns even 50 years later. The program’s findings remain scientifically robust, particularly when analyzed through rigorous small-sample inference methods. The program’s findings also contradict common criticisms of preschool, as, when measured correctly, treatment effects on IQ do not fadeout. This paper draws insights from both the original founders and recent empirical studies, emphasizing the critical role of parental involvement in early education. The authors advocate for a scientific agenda focused on understanding the mechanisms behind treatment effects, rather than replicating specific programs. The analysis also underscores the broader implications of early childhood interventions for social mobility and human capital formation. Analysts of early childhood education should recognize that although credentials and formal curricula contribute to successful programs, the true measure of quality lies in adult-child interactions, which play an essential role. |
| JEL: | C53 I24 I32 J15 |
| Date: | 2024–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:32972 |
| By: | Christopher F. Baum (Boston College); Hans Lööf (Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm); Andreas Stephan (Linneaus University); Klaus F. Zimmermann (UNU-Merit Maastricht University) |
| Abstract: | In this case study, we examine the wage earnings of fully-employed previous refugee immigrants in Sweden. Using administrative employer-employee data from 1990 onwards, about 100, 000 refugee immigrants who arrived between 1980 and 1996 and were granted asylum are compared to a matched sample of native- born workers using coarsened exact matching. Employing recentered influence function (RIF) quantile regressions to wage earnings for the period 2011–2015, the occupational-task-based Oaxaca–Blinder decomposition approach shows that refugees perform better than natives at the median wage, controlling for individual and firm characteristics. The RIF-quantile approach provides better insights for the analysis of these wage differentials than the standard regression model employed in earlier versions of the study. |
| Date: | 2024–09–16 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:boc:lsug24:06 |