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on Unemployment, Inequality and Poverty |
| By: | O'Connor, Kelsey J. (STATEC Research – National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies) |
| Abstract: | The immigrant population increased by 32 million in 37 European countries from 1990-2019. Much of this movement was internal, from east to west Europe. Although both the destination and origin countries could be affected, we find no effects on aggregate subjective well-being in either group, using country-panel and instrumental variable techniques. Immigrants, in contrast, experienced increased well-being, converted to monetary terms, in excess of £25, 000 per person. We offer more comprehensive evidence than previous studies, in terms of country and period, and by assessing the impacts on subjective well-being, which captures all of the important factors affected by immigration. |
| Keywords: | life satisfaction, migrants, emigration, immigration, subjective well-being, Europe |
| JEL: | I31 J15 F22 |
| Date: | 2025–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17816 |
| By: | Brewer, Mike (London School of Economics); Cominetti, Nye; Jenkins, Stephen P. (London School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | We first review research about income and earnings volatility and second provide new UK evidence about the latter using high quality administrative record data. The USA stands out as a high volatility country relative to the UK and other high-income countries, but volatility levels have remained constant in these countries recently. Almost all research has considered volatility from an annual perspective whereas we provide new evidence about month-to-month earnings volatility. There is a distinct within-year seasonal pattern to volatility, and volatility is highest for the top and bottom tenths of earners. High earnings volatility among top earners and its seasonality reflect pay bonus patterns whereas, for low earners, the instability of hours including zero-hours contracts likely play important roles. Our findings have relevance to the design of cash transfer support in the UK because the monthly reference periods it uses do not align with many earners’ pay periods. |
| Keywords: | administrative record data, PAYE data, earnings volatility, income volatility, survey data |
| JEL: | D31 I31 J31 J38 |
| Date: | 2025–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17808 |
| By: | Viola Angelini; Joan Costa-Font; Berkay Ozcan |
| Abstract: | We study whether receiving a monetary gift from parents increases the intensity of parent-child social contact. We use unique longitudinal data that follows adult children and their older parents for more than a decade (between 2004 and 2015) across various European countries. We first document that bequests, being more visible and subject to legal restrictions on their division, tend to be equalized among children, whereas gifts are less conspicuous and often unevenly distributed. Leveraging the exogenous variation induced by fiscal incentives resulting from inheritance tax legislation reforms, we use an instrumental variable (IV) and an endogenous treatment strategy to investigate the effect of gift-giving on parent-child social contact. Our findings suggest that financial transfers from parents to children lead to an increase in the intensity of parent-child interactions. We estimate that the receipt of a gift gives rise to a 12% increase in social contact. |
| Keywords: | gift giving, inter-vivos transfers, upstream social contact, inheritance tax-reforms, inheritance tax, gifts, bequests Europe |
| JEL: | J14 H29 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11695 |
| By: | Antonio Cabrales; Lorenzo Ductor; Ericka Rascón-Ramírez; Ismael Rodriguez-Lara |
| Abstract: | Women often find themselves in teams that hinder their productivity and earnings. We analyze the role of homophily and gender stereotypes in preferences for team formation and examine the effect of information on changing these preferences. We find that women are expected to perform better in female-type tasks (such as text and emotion-recognition). However, people prefer forming teams with their same gender. Our findings suggest that information can mitigate -but it does not eliminate- the influence of homophily on team formation. |
| Keywords: | gender differences, expectations, collaboration, network formation, team production |
| JEL: | C91 D03 D60 D81 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11706 |
| By: | Almar, Frederik (Aarhus University); Friedrich, Benjamin (Northwestern University); Reynoso, Ana (University of Michigan); Schulz, Bastian (Aarhus University); Vejlin, Rune Majlund (Aarhus University) |
| Abstract: | This paper revisits the link between education-based marriage market sorting and income inequality. Leveraging Danish administrative data, we develop a novel categorization of “ambition types” that is based on starting wages and wage growth trajectories associated with detailed educational programs. We find a substantial increase in assortative matching by educational ambition over time, and the marriage market explains more than 40% of increasing inequality since 1980. In contrast, sorting trends are flat with the commonly-used educational level categorization. We conclude that the mapping from education to types matters crucially for conclusions about how education-based marriage market sorting contributes to rising income inequality. |
| Keywords: | inequality, marital sorting, education |
| JEL: | D13 D31 I24 |
| Date: | 2025–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17814 |
| By: | Doepke, Matthias (London School of Economics); Foerster, Hanno (Boston College); Hannusch, Anne (University of Bonn); Tertilt, Michèle (University of Mannheim) |
| Abstract: | During the first half of the twentieth century, many US states enacted laws restricting women's labor market opportunities, including maximum hours restrictions, minimum wage laws, and night-shift bans. The era of so-called protective labor laws came to an end in the 1960s as a result of civil rights reforms. In this paper, we investigate the political economy behind the rise and fall of these laws. We argue that the main driver behind protective labor laws was men's desire to shield themselves from labor market competition. We spell out the mechanism through a politico-economic model in which singles and couples work in different sectors and vote on protective legislation. Restrictions are supported by single men and couples with male sole earners who compete with women for jobs. We show that the theory's predictions for when protective legislation will be introduced are well supported by US state-level evidence. |
| Keywords: | structural transformation, labor market competition, women's rights, political economy, protective legislation, family economics, gender |
| JEL: | D13 D72 D78 E24 J12 J16 N30 O10 O43 |
| Date: | 2025–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17857 |
| By: | Card, David (University of California, Berkeley); Devicienti, Francesco (University of Turin); Rossi, Mariacristina (University of Turin); Weber, Andrea (Central European University) |
| Abstract: | The gender wage gap rises with experience. To what extent do firm policies mediate this rise? We use administrative data from Italy to identify workers' first jobs and compute wage growth over the next 5 years. We then decompose the contribution of first employers to the rise in the gender wage gap, taking account of maternity events affecting a third of female entrants. We find that idiosyncratic firm effects explain 20% of the variation in early career wage growth, and that the sorting of women to slower-growth firms accounts for a fifth of the gender growth gap. Women who have a child within 5 years of entering work have particularly slow wage growth, reflecting a maternity effect that is magnified by the excess sorting of mothers-to-be to slower-growth firms. Many entrants change jobs within their first 5 years and we find that the male-female difference in early career wage growth arises from gaps for both movers and stayers. The firm components in wage growth for stayers and movers are highly correlated, and contribute similar sorting penalties for women who stay or leave. |
| Keywords: | maternity, firm effects, gender gaps, matched employer-employee data |
| JEL: | J00 J23 J24 J31 J38 J58 L13 |
| Date: | 2025–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17860 |
| By: | Berman, Yonatan (King's College London); Hovland, Tora (London School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the impact of austerity measures implemented by the UK government after 2010 on life expectancy and mortality. We combine administrative data sources to create a panel dataset spanning from 2002 to 2019. Using a difference-in-differences strategy, we estimate the effect of cuts to welfare benefits and changes in health expenditure on life expectancy and mortality rates. Our findings indicate that these austerity measures reduced life expectancy by 2.5 to 5 months by 2019. Women were nearly twice as affected as men. The primary driver of this trend is cuts to welfare benefits, although healthcare spending changes have a larger effect per pound spent. The results suggest that austerity policies caused a three-year setback in life expectancy progress between 2010 and 2019. This is equivalent to about 190, 000 excess deaths, or 3 percent of all deaths. Taking into account the years of life lost, we conclude that the costs of austerity significantly exceeded the benefits derived from reduced public expenditure. |
| Keywords: | public health, public economics, political economy, austerity, welfare programs |
| JEL: | H53 I18 I38 P16 |
| Date: | 2025–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17853 |