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on Unemployment, Inequality and Poverty |
| By: | Steffen Altmann (University of Würzburg, University of Copenhagen); Robert Mahlstedt (University of Copenhagen); Malte Jacob Rattenborg (University of Copenhagen); Alexander Sebald (Copenhagen Business School); Sonja Settele (University of Cologne, ECONtribute, Max Planck Institute for Behavioral Economics & CEBI); Johannes Wohlfart (University of Cologne, ECONtribute, Max Planck Institute for Behavioral Economics & CEBI) |
| Abstract: | In a field experiment with 9, 000 Danish job seekers, we study how unemployed workers’ wage expectations affect job search and re-employment. In our survey, we generate exogenous variation in respondents’ wage expectations by informing a random half of them about re-employment wages of comparable workers. The intervention increases job-finding as measured in administrative data for both initially optimistic and initially pessimistic respondents, but through different channels: initial optimists lower their reservation wages and intensify search, while pessimists raise reservation wages and redirect applications toward local vacancies. Consistent with spatial search frictions, narrowing the geographic scope accelerates job finding among pessimists. |
| Keywords: | Expectations, job search |
| JEL: | D83 D84 J64 |
| Date: | 2026–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ajk:ajkdps:386 |
| By: | Orazio Attanasio |
| Abstract: | This paper reviews recent developments in the economics of human development, focusing on the early years of life as a critical period for shaping long-term outcomes. Early childhood development is inherently multidimensional: cognitive and socioemotional skills evolve dynamically and interact with health, nutrition, and environmental influences. Economists have contributed to this field by providing a conceptual unifying framework that highlights how key drivers of development reflect the choices of individuals operating under incentives and constraints. Within this framework, the paper emphasizes two central challenges: understanding the interactions among multiple dimensions of development and identifying causal links - particularly the effects of different inputs at different ages. Measurement issues are a recurring theme, given the difficulty of assessing young children and the need for comparability across contexts. The paper also stresses these issues’ policy relevance for poverty reduction and social mobility by discussing early childhood interventions in both developed and developing countries. |
| JEL: | D1 J24 |
| Date: | 2026–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34651 |
| By: | Costa-Font, Joan; Frank, Richard; Raut, Nilesh |
| Abstract: | The financing of long-term care services and supports (LTSS) relies heavily on self-insurance in the form of housing or financial wealth. Exploiting both local market variation in housing prices and individual-level variation in stock market wealth from 1996 to 2016, we show that exogenous wealth shocks significantly reduce the probability of LTCI coverage, without altering Medicaid eligibility among people with housing and financial assets. The effect of shocks to liquid wealth strongly dominates the effect of housing wealth changes. A $100 K increase in housing (financial) wealth reduces the likelihood of LTCI coverage by 1.24 (3.22) percentage points. |
| Keywords: | long-term care insurance; housing assets; Medicaid; house prices; stock market price index; instrumental variables |
| JEL: | I18 J14 |
| Date: | 2026–03–31 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:130325 |
| By: | Richard Blundell (University College, London); Mariano Bosch (Inter-American Development Bank); Nora Lustig (Tulane University); Marcela Melendez (World Bank) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes how the state can take actions to reduce the persistent and multifaceted nature of inequality in Latin America, where inherited factors account for 50-60% of disparities in individual earnings. Despite declines in income, education, and gender inequality, the region maintains the world's highest income inequality levels, with Gini coe icients above 0.45. Latin America continues to be characterized by significant ethnic and racial disparities, gender wage gaps, and fragmented market structures dominated by giant firms with excessive pricing and wage-setting power. The paper argues for comprehensive state intervention through a three-pronged approach : (1) closing earnings potential gaps through improved education, health, and skill development policies; (2) shaping labor and output markets through productivity-enhancing measures, minimum wage regulations, and competition policies; and (3) redistributing income via fiscal instruments including taxes, transfers, and social security systems. The paper emphasizes that effective inequality reduction requires a holistic policy mix integrating both pre-fiscal interventions addressing structural causes and post fiscal redistribution mechanisms, as purely redistributive approaches cannot adequately address deeper market ine iciencies and intergenerational transmission of disadvantage. |
| Keywords: | income inequality, intergenerational transmission, ethnic and gender disparities, state intervention, fiscal redistribution, education |
| JEL: | D31 D63 I24 I38 O54 |
| Date: | 2025–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tul:wpaper:2505 |