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on Unemployment, Inequality and Poverty |
| By: | David Neumark; Emma Wohl |
| Abstract: | We provide the first direct estimates of the effects of minimum wages on low-wage workers in families at different points of the distribution of income-to-needs, using data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation, which oversamples low-income families. We find adverse – rather than beneficial – effects of minimum wages on the employment, hours, and earnings of initially-employed low-wage workers in poor and low-income families. Although we do not find a gradient indicating more adverse effects on the poorest low-wage workers, the adverse effects for poor and low-income low-wage workers help explain why minimum wages do not reduce poverty. |
| JEL: | J23 J38 |
| Date: | 2026–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:35628 |
| By: | Tom Coupé (University of Canterbury) |
| Abstract: | Fears that automation destroys more jobs than it creates have resurfaced with artificial intelligence. Using five Eurobarometer waves (1989–2024) covering 12 European countries, I examine the long-run evolution of perceptions of technological unemployment. Contemporary pessimism is not historically unusual, it was substantially higher in 1989, and especially 1992, than in 2024. Social divides have also changed. Pronounced educational and occupational differences in 1989 had largely disappeared by 2024. An Oaxaca–Blinder decomposition shows that changing population composition explains little of the decline. These findings show that both the level and the socioeconomic and national patterning of concerns about technological unemployment have changed substantially over time. |
| Keywords: | Artificial Intelligence, Attitudes, Employment |
| JEL: | J24 O33 J23 |
| Date: | 2026–08–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cbt:econwp:26/07 |
| By: | Serena Goldberg; Costas Meghir |
| Abstract: | Childcare services can offer an opportunity for women to develop their careers and increase household income. At the same time, it can affect the development of children, depending on the quality of care. We first develop a collective model of the household as a conceptual framework to show how improving the availability of childcare can affect mothers’ labor market opportunities and earnings and how it can affect child development. We then review the literature on the effects of childcare on the employment and earnings of women and on child development. Childcare can increase mothers’ employment. However, limited work opportunities or strict norms against maternal work can keep mothers out of the labor force. When other family members provide care, childcare can free these caregivers to work or attend school. When studies measure the impact on child development, the results are mixed and depend on both context and quality of provision. |
| JEL: | D13 I28 J13 J16 J24 O15 |
| Date: | 2026–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:35649 |
| By: | Thomas Buser (University of Amsterdam) |
| Abstract: | A large experimental literature shows that when given the choice between individual per- formance incentives and competitive incentives, men are typically more likely than women to choose competition. This finding of a robust gender difference in willingness to compete has sparked much follow-up research into the causes and consequences of individual and gender differences in willingness to compete. The aim of this chapter is to summarize these different strands of research and draw conclusions on what we can learn from them. I conclude that there is strong evidence that – underlying individual differences in willingness to compete – there is a “competitiveness†trait that is not well-captured by other traits and preferences, and somewhat less conclusive evidence that there is a gender difference in this trait. Willingness to compete – and the gender gap therein – varies strongly across countries, cultures and social contexts, suggesting that it can be influenced by them. Nevertheless, while the magnitude of the gender gap varies across contexts, men are more competitive than women in most countries and settings, suggesting that biology might play a role as well. Finally, there are strong indications that individual differences in preferences for competition are economically relevant: competitiveness predicts important life choices and labor market outcomes and can statistically explain gender differences in career outcomes. |
| JEL: | D91 J16 J24 |
| Date: | 2026–09–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tin:wpaper:20260063 |
| By: | Joan Costa-i-Font; Sergi Jiménez-Martín; Cristina Vilaplana-Prieto |
| Abstract: | We estimate the health and wellbeing effects of subsidized access to long-term care (LTC). Our analysis exploits the staggered implementation of Spain’s 2007 System of Autonomy and Care for Dependent People (SAAD), which expanded publicly funded and universal LTC subsidies and supports, as well as its subsequent reform. Using two decades worth of administrative and survey data and leveraging exogenous regional and individual-level variation in program exposure, we find that access to SAAD benefits reduces the care receiver’s depressive symptoms by about 1 percentage point, increases its survival probability by 2.6–3 percentage points, and raises its life satisfaction by 0.24–0.50 scale points. Cost-effectiveness estimates indicate that the implied cost per quality-adjusted life year (QALY) gained lies below commonly accepted efficiency thresholds for public health spending in Europe. These findings document sizeable health returns and efficiency gains from publicly subsidized LTC provision |
| Keywords: | long-term care subsidies, long-term care supports, old age care, Spain, mortality, cost per QALY, survival, mental health, and life satisfaction. |
| JEL: | I18 J14 J16 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12943 |
| By: | Stella Canessa; Gordon B. Dahl; Anna Hasselqvist; Costas Meghir; Susan Niknami; Mårten Palme; Helmut Rainer; Olof Rosenqvist; Pengpeng Xiao |
| Abstract: | Divorce reshapes family life, yet little is known about one of its most consequential features: the allocation of child custody. We study the impact of joint versus sole custody on both parents and children using rich administrative data from Sweden linked to over 25 years of newly-collected court custody rulings. To address selection concerns, we exploit random assignment of custody disputes to judges who differ sharply in their propensity to grant joint custody. For fathers, joint custody substantially raises earnings and improves mental health, consistent with sustained paternal involvement enhancing labor market attachment and psychological well-being. In contrast, there are no measurable labor market or mental health effects for mothers. Turning to children, joint custody increases standardized test scores and school quality without affecting mental health outcomes. Joint custody increases fathers’ chances of remarriage, keeps separated parents in closer geographic proximity, and has no effect on intimate partner violence allegations against either partner. These findings inform longstanding debates over the role of child custody in shaping post-divorce family life. |
| JEL: | J12 J13 |
| Date: | 2026–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:35482 |