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on Unemployment, Inequality and Poverty |
| By: | Jose-Victor Rios-Rull (University of Pennsylvania, University College London, CAERP, CEPR, NBER); Shannon Seitz (Analysis Group); Satoshi Tanaka (University of Queensland) |
| Abstract: | Much of what looks like changing marriage preferences over the twentieth century is actually demographics. Exploiting plausibly exogenous variation in sex ratios across U.S. birth cohorts (1870, 1930, 1950), we jointly identify preferences, match quality dynamics, and the costs of marriage and divorce. Demographics alone explain two-thirds of cross-cohort differences. Women’s premium for older husbands collapsed across cohorts; men’s preferences barely changed. Love that survives its early years becomes permanent, but the odds of surviving fell from 97% to 44%. Divorce costs fell six-fold and depend on life stage. A horse race across behavioral channels shows that the match quality process—not mate-age preferences—is the primary dimension of generational change. Declining divorce costs and fragile match quality are substitutes: either alone fits the data, but together they reveal two independent dimensions of social change. The model validates out of sample on the 1910 and 1970 cohorts. |
| Keywords: | Demographic Transition, Sex Ratio, Marriage and Divorce, Two-Sided Search |
| JEL: | J10 J11 J12 |
| Date: | 2026–05–31 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pen:papers:26-008 |
| By: | Oswald, Andrew (University of Warwick) |
| Abstract: | In this short article I try to provide a description of the first conference on the economics of happiness. It was held in 1993 at the London School of Economics. In the ensuing three decades, a huge literature has emerged in this field. I attempt to offer a view on why this has happened. |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wrk:warwec:1613 |
| By: | Bhalotra, Sonia (University of Warwick); Daysal, N. Meltem (University of Copenhagen); Fjællegaard Jensen, Mathias (University of Oxford); Jørgensen, Thomas H. (University of Copenhagen); Montpetit, Sébastien (University of Warwick) |
| Abstract: | Using four decades of Danish administrative data, we estimate the intergenerational transmission of violent crime victimization. Sons are twice as likely, and daughters three times as likely, to be victimized if a parent was victimized, with stronger associations if the mother was the victim. Controlling for cohort, municipality, socio-economic factors, parental cohabitation, and parental offending explains about 60% of this correlation. The link is weaker in higher-income families; it persists for sons, but is driven to zero for daughters. Further, children of victimized parents experience lower absolute income mobility, comparable to the Black-White difference for men in the United States |
| Keywords: | victimization, violent crime, intergenerational transmission, income mobility JEL codes: K42, J12, J62 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wrk:warwec:1614 |
| By: | James Banks (University of Manchester [Manchester]); Richard Blundell (UCL - University College London [UCL]); Antoine Bozio (PSE - Paris School of Economics - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, IPP - Institut des politiques publiques); Jonathan Cribb; David Green (UBC - University of British Columbia [Canada]); James Ziliak (UK - University of Kentucky) |
| Abstract: | The evolution of labour market and disposable income inequalities over recent decades in high‐income countries has generated intense interest in academia and the wider public. The extent to which there have been common trends, or diverging experiences, across a broad range of different countries, remains relatively understudied. The papers in this two‐part special issue seek to provide the bases for consistent comparisons across 17 North American and European countries. In this Introduction we provide background for the cross‐country project, which has been conducted in parallel to the wider IFS Deaton Review of Inequalities. In addition, we provide brief summaries of key trends and findings in the four English‐speaking countries and four Nordic countries, as well as a companion paper on gender pay gaps across all 17 countries. |
| Keywords: | Labour markets, International comparisons, Inequality |
| Date: | 2024–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:ipppap:halshs-04804628 |