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on Unemployment, Inequality and Poverty |
| By: | David G. Blanchflower; Alex Bryson |
| Abstract: | We examine evidence on the well-being and ill-being of the young for 22 countries in the Global Flourishing Study (GFS) 2022-2024 with the commonly used 12-component “flourishing” index and a new 4-component “not flourishing” index. Although flourishing is U-shaped in age in the pooled data it rises in age in 13 countries and declines in 7. By contrast, not-flourishing declines in age overall, and in each of its four components, and it declines in age in 15 of the 22 countries. We explore sensitivity of results to survey mode in countries using both computer-assisted telephone interviews (CATI) and computer-assisted web-based interviews (CAWI). When CATI is used, the young are happier than other age groups, but the opposite is the case when data are collected via CAWI. We validate the findings with analyses from two other data sets. First, we construct flourishing and not flourishing indices using different variables for the four European countries in the GFS - Germany, Spain, Sweden and UK - from the interviewer based European Social Survey (ESS) of 2023-2024. As with the GFS, the not-flourishing data shows ill-being declines in age while the flourishing data is more mixed. Second, we examine the internet-based Global Minds (GM) surveys, 2020-2025, on the same group of countries, and find well-being rises in age for all in both flourishing and not-flourishing variables. We argue that trends in youth suicide, self-harm and mental health hospitalizations are consistent with the age patterns in the not-flourishing index and with the internet-based survey evidence from both the flourishing and not-flourishing indexes. |
| JEL: | I30 J13 |
| Date: | 2025–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34321 |
| By: | Martín Almuzara (Federal Reserve Bank of New York); Manuel Arellano (CEMFI, Centro de Estudios Monetarios y Financieros); Richard Blundell (UCL and IFS); Stéphane Bonhomme (University of Chicago) |
| Abstract: | We propose a nonlinear framework to study the dynamic transmission of aggregate and idiosyncratic shocks to household income that exploits both macro and micro data. Our approach allows us to examine empirically the following questions: (a) How do business-cycle fluctuations modulate the persistence of heterogeneous individual histories and the risk faced by households? (b) How do aggregate and idiosyncratic shocks propagate over time for households in different macro and micro states? (c) How do these shocks shape the cost of business-cycle risk? We develop new identification and estimation techniques, and provide a detailed empirical analysis combining macro time series for the U.S. and a time series of household panels from the PSID. |
| Keywords: | Income process, business cycle, persistence, exposure to aggregate shocks. |
| JEL: | C23 D31 E32 |
| Date: | 2025–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cmf:wpaper:wp2025_2515 |
| By: | Mehrzad B. Baktash; John S. Heywood; Uwe Jirjahn |
| Abstract: | Using German survey data, we show conflicting influences of performance pay on overall life satisfaction. The overall influence reflects a strong positive influence through domains of life satisfaction associated with the job (job satisfaction, individual earnings satisfaction and household earning satisfaction) and a strong negative influence through domains away from the job (health satisfaction, sleep satisfaction and family life satisfaction). This trade-off between work and home generalizes and helps explain many previous studies examining much more specific consequences of performance pay. Finally, controlling for the mediating role of the domains, the direct influence on life satisfaction is positive for women and insignificantly different from zero for men. |
| Keywords: | Performance Pay, Life Satisfaction, Well-Being, Satisfaction Domains, Gender |
| JEL: | D10 J22 J33 M52 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:trr:wpaper:202509 |
| By: | Alazzawi, Shireen; Dang, Hai-Anh; Hlasny, Vladimir; Abanokova, Kseniya; Behrman, Jere |
| Abstract: | Various challenges are thought to render female-headed households (FHHs) in the Arab region vulnerable to poverty. Yet, previous studies show mixed results regarding the extent of FHH poverty and the absence of household-panel-survey data hinders analysis of poverty dynamics. We address these challenges by proposing a novel classification of FHHs and analyze synthetic panels constructed from 20 rounds of repeated-cross-sectional surveys from Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Mauritania, the West Bank and Gaza, and Tunisia spanning the past two decades. We find that the definition of FHHs matters for measuring poverty levels and dynamics. Most types of FHHs are less poor than non–FHHs on average, but FHHs with females as a majority of adults are generally poorer. FHHs are more likely to escape poverty than households on average, but FHHs without children are the most likely to do so. While more children are generally associated with more poverty for FHHs, there is heterogeneity across countries in addition to heterogeneity across definitions of FHHs. The findings provide useful inputs for the design and targeting of social-protection programs aimed at reducing gender inequalities and poverty in the Arab region. |
| Keywords: | Arab region; female-headedness classification; feminization; household surveys; poverty; synthetic panels |
| JEL: | I30 J16 N35 O10 |
| Date: | 2025–09–26 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:129692 |