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on Minorities Research (Ethnic, LGBTQ+, Disabilities) |
| By: | Andreas Haller; Stefan Staubli |
| Abstract: | The central trade-off for designing Disability Insurance (DI) is between providing insurance to those in need while maintaining incentives to work. This paper develops a novel revealed-preference approach to identify the insurance value of DI benefits. We show that comparing the DI take-up response to a change in benefits versus a change in wages identifies the insurance value. Implementing our framework in Canada, we estimate that increasing DI benefits by $1 creates an additional disincentive cost of $0.60 but creates an insurance value of $2.20. Thus, our approach suggests that DI benefits are not overly generous in the Canadian context. |
| Keywords: | Disability insurance, take-up, benefits, policy reform |
| JEL: | H53 H55 J14 J21 |
| Date: | 2026–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:26181 |
| By: | Janet Currie; N. Meltem Daysal; Mette Gørtz; Jonas Hirani |
| Abstract: | We ask how a younger sibling's physical disability affects sibling mental health using Danish register data on families with three or more children. Difference-in-difference models compare first- and second-born children when the third-born does or does not have a disability. Use of mental health services increases 13% among second-born children, with a 23% increase in psychiatric visits and an 18% increase in use of psychiatric medications. Effects are concentrated in households where the mother has less than high school and persist after conditioning on child test scores. Parental responses suggest that caregiving demands, stress, and strained resources are potential mechanisms. |
| Keywords: | Disability, Mental Health, Siblings, Children |
| JEL: | I14 |
| Date: | 2026–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:26186 |
| By: | Julia Bredtmann; Sebastian Otten; Christina Vonnahme |
| Abstract: | We analyze whether teachers discriminate against ethnic minority students with regard to grading. Using comprehensive data on students in German primary and secondary schools, we compare students' scores on standardized, anonymously graded achievement tests with non-anonymous teacher ratings within a difference-in-differences framework. Although minority students tend to score lower on the standardized test than majority students, this achievement gap is significantly reduced when graded by the teacher. This finding cannot be fully explained by differences in socioeconomic background, language-related differences in standardized test performance, or the sorting of students into educational contexts with different grading standards. Overall, our findings suggest that teachers have a positive evaluation bias toward ethnic minority students. |
| Keywords: | Immigration, Discrimination, Grading bias |
| JEL: | F22 I24 J15 |
| Date: | 2026–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:26207 |
| By: | Quoc-Anh Do; Sebastian Ellingsen; Gedeon Lim |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the long-run impacts of diasporas on local economic development. We do so in the context of one of the most economically influential diasporas: the ethnic Chinese in Southeast Asia. Our instrumental variables strategy exploits 15th-century landing sites on Java that shaped subsequent Chinese settlement but lost maritime access due to 17th-century silting. We find that a 1p.p. higher Chinese share in 1930 leads to 9.4% higher household consumption and 26% higher population today. These effects attenuate sharply during the 1997-1998 crisis, then recover. We find strong effects on firm sales driven by improved financing through local private networks but not through exports. We provide suggestive evidence for the key role of historical ethnic-trading networks within Java. Our findings suggest that despite their small size, ethnic minorities with durable complementarities can play an out-sized, positive role in local economic development. |
| Keywords: | diaspora, ethnic minority, immigration, ethnic segregation, conflict, discrimination, private finance, networks |
| JEL: | F63 N35 J15 Z13 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12893 |
| By: | Carlos Fernando Avenancio-León; Daniel B. Jones; Ying Shi |
| Abstract: | Electoral maps translate residential geography into political representation, yet they have never been systematically measured for thousands of local governments across the country. We reconstruct 3, 712 city council and county commission maps across 18, 521 districts using nationwide voter-file and Census data. Enacted maps overrepresent White voters and underrepresent Black and Hispanic voters, with gaps predicting the racial composition of officeholders. We juxtapose these with simulated, race-blind maps satisfying common districting constraints. Simulated maps reproduce much of this disparity, showing that geography skews representation before any boundary-drawing. Enacted maps substantially improve on the race-blind baseline only in jurisdictions subject to oversight from the Voting Rights Act or districting litigation. As courts curtail race-conscious districting, local governments may revert to a baseline that is formally neutral but substantively unequal. |
| JEL: | D72 H70 J15 K16 |
| Date: | 2026–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:35623 |
| By: | Liang Zhong; Angela Crema; M. Daniele Paserman |
| Abstract: | We develop a model of discrimination that allows us to interpret observed differences in outcomes across groups, conditional on passing a screening test, as taste-based (employer), statistical, or customer discrimination. We apply this framework to investigate the nature of non-white underrepresentation in the US motion picture industry. Leveraging a novel data set with racial identifiers for the cast of 7, 000 motion pictures, we show that, conditional on production, non-white movies exhibit higher average revenues and a smaller variance. Our findings can be rationalized in the context of our model if non-white movies are held to higher standards for production. |
| Keywords: | Discrimination, Identification, Motion Picture Industry, Machine Learning |
| JEL: | J15 L82 |
| Date: | 2026–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:26190 |
| By: | Oded Galor; Marc Klemp; Daniel C. Wainstock |
| Abstract: | What gave rise to the mosaic of cultural expressions across the globe? Why are some societies more culturally diverse than others? This study develops a unified theory of cultural evolution, characterizing the forces that have governed this process over the course of human existence. The research advances the hypothesis that population movements and socioeconomic transformations generated a mismatch between inherited cultural traits and prevailing ecological and societal conditions, setting in motion an evolutionary process governed by adaptation-based vertical transmission, horizontal diffusion, and fitness-based evolutionary selection. The theory generates novel testable predictions concerning the origins of the global cultural mosaic and the cross-societal variation in cultural diversity. First, greater ecological distance between ancestral environments generated greater cultural distance across societies. Second, prehistoric differences in ancestral diversity contributed to divergent adaptive capacity and greater cultural distance. Third, societies descended from more diverse prehistoric populations exhibit greater cultural diversity despite convergence induced by adaptation to a common environment and societal norms. Drawing on measures of cultural distance and diversity derived from folkloric and musical traditions among ethnic groups, visual representations of common concepts, and the dispersion of norms, values, and attitudes, the empirical analysis lends credence to the predictions of the theory. |
| Keywords: | cultural diversity, adaptation, fitness, cultural evolution, vertical transmission, social norms |
| JEL: | O10 Z10 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12928 |
| By: | Sinikka Parviainen; William Pyle |
| Abstract: | Measuring politically sensitive attitudes in authoritarian settings is difficult because expressions of political support may reflect repression and social pressure as much as genuine belief. We propose a complementary approach: using responses to questions that are not themselves politically sensitive to provide indirect evidence about politically sensitive attitudes. Using subjective well-being (SWB), we ask whether within-person changes in life satisfaction, after accounting for changes in material and personal circumstances, can provide evidence of incorporation into a wartime national project. Drawing on more than a decade of panel data from the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (2013--2024), we find that life satisfaction rises significantly following Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Gains are initially larger among ethnic Russians and smaller in Moscow and St. Petersburg, consistently larger in military-industrial regions, and sharply lower among those nearest the front. This theoretically patterned heterogeneity is difficult to reconcile with generalized social-desirability bias and is consistent with differentiated wartime incorporation. By 2024, rising non-response and attenuating subgroup differences suggest that the informational value of SWB may deteriorate over time. |
| Keywords: | subjective well-being, rally-round-the-flag, Russia-Ukraine war, preference falsification, authoritarian public opinion, social desirability bias |
| JEL: | C8 D7 F5 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12898 |
| By: | Ngoc Dao; Riley Wilson |
| Abstract: | Flexible gig opportunities provide a new means for workers to self-insure against negative economic shocks. Exploiting the roll-out of Uber, we use difference-in-differences, staggered treatment timing methods, and a survey experiment to show that access to flexible gig arrangements reduces participation in public assistance programs like Social Security Disability Insurance, Supplemental Security Income, and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. To some extent, this new private self-insurance crowds-out traditional social insurance. However, the effect of gig opportunity access on program participation is attenuated in weak local labor markets, meaning gig work does not replace social programs when insuring against aggregate, macroeconomic risks. |
| Keywords: | gig work, social insurance, insurance |
| JEL: | I38 R23 H55 G52 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12897 |
| By: | Martin, Josh; Geiger, Ben Baumberg |
| Abstract: | There has been a considerable increase in the number of people in the UK reporting that they are economically inactive due to long-term sickness or disability since the coronavirus pandemic, which has attracted policy and research interest. The key data source for these trends is the UK Labour Force Survey (LFS), which has seen a sharp decline in response rates and issues associated with population weighting over recent years. It therefore remains unclear whether the rise in reported rates of sickness is a genuine phenomenon or a statistical artefact. We examine the role of proxy responses and survey mode on the LFS to test the robustness of the trends in sickness. In so doing, we shed light on the important role of proxy responses on the LFS, particularly in the domains of young people and health status. We find considerable selection effects associated with proxy response, and very high rates amongst young people. The increase in incidence of reported long-term sickness may be slightly smaller when accounting for changing survey response patterns, although other findings also suggest the reverse; either way, the increase is not simply a methodological artefact. |
| Keywords: | long-term sickness; economic inactivity; coronavirus pandemic; proxy responses; survey methodology; household surveys; survey methods |
| JEL: | C81 C83 J21 |
| Date: | 2026–07–15 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eoe:escoed:escoe-dp-2026-10 |
| By: | Soler-Lopez, Jorge (Bocconi University) |
| Abstract: | Does bringing a marginalized group into the state raise its members' trust in democratic institutions? Uruguay's 2013 Ley 19.122, reserving eight percent of public-sector hires for Afro-descendant citizens, offers a rare test on the dimension representation theory names. Using the Uruguayan household survey and eight waves of the Latinobarómetro, we document a genuine but small first stage, Afro-Uruguayan public employment rose about 1.3 percentage points, a composition shift rather than a net gain, against a target the state met only fractionally. In addition, as second stage delivered a precise attitudinal null, with equivalence tests rejecting effects larger than roughly 0.15–0.20 standard deviations. The result establishes a scope condition rather than a refutation: at this level of exposure, bureaucratic inclusion produces no measurable attitudinal return. How much inclusion is required before the representation mechanism fires remains an open and newly quantifiable question. |
| Date: | 2026–08–21 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:9dphe_v1 |
| By: | Arthi, Vellore; Richardson, Gary; Van Orden, Mark |
| Abstract: | The failure of the Freedman's Savings Bank (FSB), one of the only Black-serving banks in the early post-bellum South, was an economic catastrophe and one of the great episodes of racial exploitation in post-Emancipation history. It was also most Black Americans' first experience of banking. Can events like these permanently alter financial preferences and behavior? To test this, we examine the impact of FSB collapse on life insurance-holding, an accessible alternative savings vehicle over the late 19th and early 20th centuries. We document a sharp and persistent increase in insurance demand in affected counties following the shock, driven disproportionately by Black customers. We also use FSB migrant flows to disentangle place-based and cohort-based effects, thus identifying psychological and cultural scarring as a distinct mechanism underlying the shift in financial behavior induced by the bank's collapse. Horizontal and intergenerational transmission of preferences help explain the shock’s persistent effects on financial behavior. |
| JEL: | G21 G22 G51 G52 D63 I30 N21 N22 N31 |
| Date: | 2024–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:19304 |
| By: | Ba, Bocar A.; Ndiaye, Abdoulaye; Rivera, Roman G.; Whitefield, Alexander |
| Abstract: | We study how negative sentiment around an industry impacts beliefs and behaviors, focusing on demands for racial justice after the murder of George Floyd and the salience of the ``defund the police" movement. We assess stakeholder beliefs on the impact of protests on the stock prices of police-affiliated firms. In our survey experiment, laypeople and finance professionals predicted more negative stock price outcomes when they lacked details on the products supplied by such firms. Exposure to narratives about the context of the protests further reduced the prediction accuracy of these groups. In contrast, product information improved the prediction accuracy of respondents. Turning to real-life behavior, we find that mutual funds exposed to protests were 20% less likely to hold police stocks, after the protests, than funds in areas without protests. Political support for maintaining police funding, though in the majority, declined by 4.3 percentage points in protest areas. The salience of the ``defund the police" narrative led to significant overreactions in both financial predictions and real-life behavior. |
| Keywords: | Narratives; Reasoning; Surveys |
| JEL: | D72 D74 D83 G41 |
| Date: | 2024–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:19308 |
| By: | Abdel Ghany, Jasmin; Romell, Emma; Wilde, Joshua |
| Abstract: | A large body of research documents the harm that armed conflict inflicts on the health of populations in conflict zones. Yet if violence injures collectivities rather than only those who experience it directly, its health consequences should extend to those who identify with affected populations wherever they reside. We test this hypothesis by examining the effects of the October 7, 2023, attacks in Israel and the ensuing onset of the Gaza War on infant health in the United States among mothers born in Israel, the West Bank, and neighboring, Arab, and Muslim-majority countries. In a novel application of the event-study design, we trace month-by-month changes in preterm birth and low birthweight – outcomes that shape health and socioeconomic attainment throughout the life course. Our analyses show that the Israel-born diaspora experienced an immediate, short-lived reversal in their previously substantial infant health advantage after the October 7 attacks. Infant health also deteriorated among mothers born in neighboring, other Arab, and other Muslim-majority countries. These findings indicate that the health consequences of violence are not confined to the conflict zone but extend to geographically distant diaspora communities who are connected to the affected populations by shared national and ethnic origin and religion. |
| Date: | 2026–08–19 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:zhyr7_v1 |
| By: | van der Naald, Joseph (School of Labor and Urban Studies, CUNY) |
| Abstract: | This research note presents estimates of union membership and collective bargaining coverage in the higher education industry using data from the Current Population Survey. The paper analyzes the extent of union membership and collective bargaining coverage from 1983-2025, both in the industry and among faculty specifically, and estimates of the variation in union membership by employment sector, race and gender for 2024. Using a 10-year span of data, the paper also estimates union wage premiums in the industry and among faculty. This note finds union membership and bargaining coverage has remained stable over the past four decades, but documents notable gendered and ethnoracial disparities in both measures in 2024. Faculty and industry collective bargaining results in earnings premiums ranging between 4% and 5%. The findings present quantitative estimates of unionism and its material effects for higher education workers that complement recent research published by the National Center for the Study of Collective Bargaining in Higher Education and the Professions. |
| Date: | 2026–08–20 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:uaj3n_v1 |
| By: | Dominic Rohner; Oliver Vanden Eynde; Philine Widmer |
| Abstract: | Academic freedom has come under growing strain worldwide. To study whether and how academics respond to political pressure, we exploit a natural experiment: the publication in early 2025 of a "blacklist" of words flagged by the U.S. government. We find that the release of this list led to a sharp reduction in the use of these flagged words among economists at universities that rely heavily on federal funding, relative to scholars from institutions that are less dependent on federal funding or based in the UK. The drop is driven by content related to gender, race, and environment. We show that changes are not simply semantic but reflect actual paper content and that neither the individual funding status nor time-invariant author characteristics are driving the effects. We also document interesting heterogeneous effects by department quality and author gender and ethnicity. Our findings are consistent with the idea that scholars respond strongly to political pressure. |
| Date: | 2026–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2608.14164 |
| By: | Meißner, David; Schubart, Constantin |
| Abstract: | Die vorliegende Studie untersuchte dyadische Zusammenhänge zwischen Big-Five-Persönlichkeit, Persönlichkeitsdifferenzen und Beziehungszufriedenheit. Analysiert wurden 232 Personen aus 116 eindeutig zuordenbaren heterosexuellen Paaren auf Basis einer quantitativen Querschnittsstudie. Beziehungszufriedenheit wurde mit dem ZIP, Persönlichkeit mit dem BFI-2 auf Dimensions- und Facettenebene erfasst. Zusätzlich wurden paarspezifische absolute Differenzwerte berechnet und getrennt innerhalb von vier Beziehungsdauergruppen ausgewertet. Alle dyadischen Analysen waren explorativ angelegt. Die weibliche Beziehungszufriedenheit war sowohl mit eigenen Persönlichkeitsmerkmalen als auch mit Merkmalen des männlichen Partners assoziiert. Das Modell mit ausschließlich eigenen Merkmalen (Actor-Modell) sagte die weibliche Beziehungszufriedenheit signifikant vorher, F(2, 113) = 5.80, p = .004, R² = .09, korr. R² = .08. Die Aufnahme männlicher Partnermerkmale ergab ein signifikantes finales Modell, F(7, 108) = 3.86, p |
| Abstract: | The present study examined dyadic associations between Big Five personality traits, within-couple personality differences, and relationship satisfaction. A total of 232 individuals from 116 clearly identifiable heterosexual couples were analyzed on the basis of a quantitative cross-sectional study. Relationship satisfaction was assessed using the ZIP, while personality was measured with the BFI-2 at the domain and facet levels. In addition, couple-specific absolute difference scores were calculated and examined separately within four relationship-duration groups. All dyadic analyses were exploratory. For female relationship satisfaction, the actor model, which contained the woman's own personality characteristics only, was significant, F(2, 113) = 5.80, p = .004, R² = .09, adjusted R² = .08. Adding characteristics of the male partner resulted in a significant final model, F(7, 108) = 3.86, p |
| Keywords: | Beziehungszufriedenheit, Big Five, dyadische Effekte, Partnerpersönlichkeit, Persönlichkeitsdifferenz |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:iubhso:343090 |
| By: | Arroyo-Machado, Wenceslao; Rafols, Ismael; Díaz-Faes, Adrian A. (CSIC) |
| Abstract: | Background: A central concern in global health priority-setting is whether the supply of scientific knowledge aligns with health needs and demands. This alignment is usually assessed by comparing research effort with disease burden, overlooking other type of “social demand” of disease, in particular whether diseases are socially visible and generate public attention. We develop an analytical framework that treats public attention and epidemiological burden as complementary dimensions of health demand and examines their alignment with knowledge supply. Methods: We combine data on publications indexed in OpenAlex, disability-adjusted life years from the Global Burden of Disease, and Wikipedia pageviews for 2016 to 2023, as indicators of research effort, disease burden, and public attention, respectively. We map 19 disease groups and 138 specific diseases across these three dimensions. Ternary plots are used to position diseases according to their relative balance across dimensions and to identify diseases that are over- or under-represented in research effort relative to epidemiological burden and public attention. We compare Global North-South patterns using German, Persian, Swahili, and Vietnamese language areas to assess how these relationships vary across territories. Results: The three dimensions show limited alignment. At the disease group level, cardiovascular diseases account for the largest share of disease burden, mental disorders attract the largest share of public attention, and neoplasms concentrate the largest share of research effort. Public attention and disease burden are weakly correlated at both group and specific disease levels, indicating that Wikipedia pageviews and DALYs capture distinct dimensions of health demand. Ternary plots reveal different forms of misalignment, with some diseases showing plots dominated by burden, others by research effort, and others by public attention. Territorial analyses add a further layer by showing that diseases follow disparate patterns of supply-demand (mis)alignment across different linguistic territories. Conclusions: Public attention provides a complementary dimension for mapping global health needs and demands. Our approach identifies where scientific knowledge supply fails to match epidemiological and/or public attention, supporting more nuanced global health analysis that may be useful for priority-setting. |
| Date: | 2026–08–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:jc49u_v1 |