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on Unemployment, Inequality and Poverty |
| By: | Khorunzhina, Natalia (Department of Economics, Copenhagen Business School); Wedewer, Jesse (Duke University); Wu, Runling (Duke University) |
| Abstract: | Measures of intergenerational mobility primarily focus on earnings and often overlook substantial heterogeneity in job amenities. We propose a novel measure of intergenera-tional welfare mobility, “value-value” slope, including both pecuniary and non-pecuniary value of a job. We apply a revealed preference approach to construct common rankings of jobs based on worker flows. Using Danish administrative data, we document that there is 31% more intergenerational mobility than earnings-based mobility measures alone would suggest: the value-value slope is 0.105 and the wage-premia slope is 0.151. Importantly, this aggregate pattern masks striking gender differences: comparing within each gender, daughters exhibit 38% greater mobility in total welfare than in wages; for sons, the two measures nearly align. Gender differences trace to how family background shapes educa-tional and occupational paths. Daughters pursue academic tracks and enter white-collar jobs with similar amenities at high rates regardless of background. Sons’ paths are more stratified: those from disadvantaged families disproportionately follow vocational routes into blue-collar work, where both wages and amenities differ sharply from the professional jobs that advantaged sons obtain. |
| Keywords: | Intergenerational mobility; earnings inequality; amenities |
| JEL: | D31 J30 J62 |
| Date: | 2025–12–27 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:cbsnow:2026_001 |
| By: | Léo Czajka (EU Tax Observatory – Paris School of Economics); Amory Gethin (World Bank and Paris School of Economics – World Inequality Lab) |
| Abstract: | We study post-Apartheid inequality dynamics in South Africa using a new microdatabase that combines survey, tax, national accounts, and budget data from 1993 to 2019. Until 2005, pretax inequality rose, racial disparities widened, and redistribution stagnated. Thereafter, pretax inequality fell back toward its 1993 level, while major expansions in tax-and-transfer progressivity sharply reduced posttax inequality. Rapid growth of top Black incomes contributed to halving the White-to-Black pretax income ratio and shifted 20% of taxes from Whites to top Black earners. Despite reaching its lowest point in history in 2019, the racial gap remains extreme by international standards, even after redistribution. |
| Keywords: | Income Inequality, Taxation and Redistribution, Racial Inequality |
| JEL: | D31 H23 I32 |
| Date: | 2025–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dbp:wpaper:040 |
| By: | Hamish Low (University of Oxford); Costas Meghir (Yale University); Luigi Pistaferri (Stanford University); Alessandra Voena (Stanford University) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the impact of the social safety net on marriage, labor supply, and divorce. We specify and estimate a life-cycle model of single and married individuals to evaluate the welfare and behavioral effects of the 1996 PRWORA reform, which introduced time limits and work requirements. The model incorporates limited commitment between spouses, endogenous marriage and divorce, and human capital accumulation. We find that the reform led to a significant decline in welfare participation, an increase in employment, and a decrease in divorce rates, particularly for lower-educated women. Our results highlight the importance of accounting for the long-run impacts on household formation and intra-household insurance when evaluating welfare policy. |
| Date: | 2025–11–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cwl:cwldpp:2121r3 |