Spousal Complementarity in Home Production

A bstract .   Economists have increasingly recognized the growing role of married women in the labor market by treating the labor supply decisions of married couples as joint decisions. However, they have yet to apply the same reasoning to home production. We build a more complete model of household time allocation that consists of a system of simultaneous equations estimating hours of labor supply and home production. Using data on white couples from Wave XXV of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, we find that working wives act as if their husbands are substitutes for home production while other wives do not. Husbands' responses to their wives' behavior depends upon whether children are present.     

Bargaining Over Housework

A bstract .   This paper investigates the limited increase in housework provided by husbands in response to higher earnings and labor force participation by their wives. An explanation is provided that integrates the time availability, relative resources, and gender ideology perspectives that traditionally have been used to explain housework decisions. The outcome is the result of a bargaining process in which two concerns are identified as limiting the response of primary wage earning spouses to the employment of secondary wage earning spouses. First, the secondary wage earners' employment may in part be motivated by a concern about the durability of their marriage rather than their family's welfare. Second, a balancing of the inconveniences and the net earnings of the additional employment may be viewed as making only a limited contribution to the family's welfare. Empirical results of an analysis of the individual household tasks imply that both gender ideology and the spouses' earnings are important in determining the hours that each spouse devotes to household tasks. When making decisions about the amount of housework to perform, both spouses respond to changes in relative earnings, but the response of husbands, who are usually the primary wage earners, is smaller than that of wives, who tend to be the secondary wage earners.     

The role of asset testing in public health insurance reform

Starting slowly with the 1996 Welfare Reform Act and culminating in the 2010 Affordable Care Act, means-tested public health insurance eligibility expanded to include adults in low-income families regardless of their asset holdings. This paper quantifies the effects of these eligibility expansions within the context of the 2010 Affordable Care Act. I construct a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model with indivisible labor supply expanded to include an endogenous household choice of health insurance coverage and calibrate it to U.S. data. I establish that changes in the distribution of labor and welfare associated with removal of asset testing are driven by exit of high productivity and high wealth households from the labor market. I then expand my analysis to the 2010 Affordable Care Act to demonstrate that removal of asset testing is critical to the obtained results even when combined with other provisions of the Act. Finally, I find that a simple asset test for eligibility of health insurance transfers undoes the distortion to the household labor supply decision among high productivity types. These results are robust to the introduction of employer premium contributions, an independent health insurance market, and idiosyncratic shocks to eligibility for employment-based health insurance.     

Household search and health insurance coverage

Health insurance in the United States is typically acquired through an employer-sponsored program. Often employees offered employer-provided health insurance have the option to extend coverage to their spouse and dependents. We investigate the implications of the “publicness” of health insurance coverage for the labor market careers of spouses. The theoretical innovations in the paper are to extend the standard partial–partial equilibrium labor market search model to a multiple searcher setting with the inclusion of multi-attribute job offers, with some of the attributes treated as public goods within the household. The model is estimated using data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) using a Method of Simulated Moments (MSM) estimator. We demonstrate how previous estimates of the marginal willingness to pay (MWP) for health insurance based on cross-sectional linear regression estimators may be seriously biased due to the presence of dynamic selection effects and misspecification of the decision-making unit.     

The effect of labor supply changes on output: empirical evidence from US industries

In this paper we examine the relationship between labor supply and industry-level output in the context of the specific factors model. Jones (Trade, balance of payment and growth: essays in honor of Charles P. Kindleberger, Amsterdam, pp 3–21, 1971) shows that a rise in the amount of labor in the economy will increase the output in all industries. We empirically show which industry output is predicted to expand more when the size of labor force grows. Unlike the commonly used Rybczynski Theorem (Economica 22:336–341, 1955) of the Heckscher-Ohlin model, the specific factors model shows that a comparison both of labor intensities and labor demand elasticities plays an important role in determining which output expands relatively more when the size of labor force grows. For this purpose, we illustrate the importance of the parameters of the model in determining how changes in the labor supply affect the output change, with special reference to elasticities of substitution in production. We estimate the elasticity of substitution by using CES production function and show how these estimates describe the general equilibrium of production with one mobile factor (labor) and 25 industries of the US economy using data for 1979–2001. We show that the increase in the supply of labor raise output in all industries, but the magnitudes of the increases in some industries are more than others depending on the value of the elasticity of substitution along with factor intensities between industries. The largest output effect occurs for educational, health care and social service, where a 1 % supply of labor increase would raise output 10.5 %. However, the growth in the labor supply has a small impact on output growth in the range of 0.1–0.6 % in agriculture, petroleum, coal product and finance and insurance industries.     

Work–family conflict among Chinese married couples: testing spillover and crossover effects

This study simultaneously examined the two mechanisms (i.e. spillover and crossover effects) that link work-to-family conflict and life satisfaction among Chinese married couples. Data were collected from a sample of 123 Chinese managers and their spouses. Work-to-family conflict was measured from two sources: self-reported ratings and spouse-reported ratings. The results provided support for the suggested direct spillover mechanism for both husbands and wives: work-to-family conflict to life satisfaction. In addition, we found that work-to-family conflict crossed over to life satisfaction from wives to husbands but not from husbands to wives. Practical implications and future research directions are discussed.     

Tied Migration and Subsequent Employment: Evidence from Couples in Britain*

We use unique information on migration behaviour and reasons for migration to study the impact of tied migration on labour market outcomes among husbands and wives. Fewer than 2% of couples migrate for job‐related reasons and the majority of these move for reasons associated with the husband's job. Estimates from dynamic random‐effects models indicate that husbands and wives in couples that migrated for job‐related reasons suffer lower job retention rates than non‐migrants. Tied migration reduces the probability of subsequent employment for both husbands and wives and in particular has a large negative impact on job retention rates among wives.     

A collective labor supply model with complementarities in leisure: Identification and estimation by means of panel data

We present a novel identification strategy for a collective labor supply model that allows for complementarities in leisure (i.e., individuals may enjoy leisure more in company of their spouse). Individual preferences and the Pareto weights (which capture the intra-household bargaining process) are identified by making use of panel data with couples and individuals who became a widow(er) in the observation period, along with the assumption that an individual's preferences can only change in a particular manner after the spouse's death. The change in preferences comes from changes in observable variables that can be controlled for (like mental health) and from the loss of the possibility to jointly enjoy leisure after the couple's dissolution. We apply the model to American households coming from the first nine waves of the Health and Retirement Study (1992-2008) and show that complementarities in leisure are indeed important when modeling spouses' labor supply choices.     

Estimation of econometric models of some discrete games

This paper discusses, estimates and compares some microeconometric models for simultaneous discrete endogenous variables. The models are based on the assumption that observed endogenous variables represent the outcome of a static discrete game. I discuss models based on non-cooperative equilibrium concepts (Nash, Stackelberg), as well as models which presume Pareto optimality of observed outcomes. The models are estimated using data on the joint labor force participation decisions of husbands and wives in a sample of Dutch households.     

Are two birds in hand worth more than one in the bush: The case of paired employees

Changing demographics of the labor force are increasing the likelihood that a single employer will hire both husbands and wives to meet staffing goals. We call these employees paired employees. While there may be some reasons for being reluctant to hire paired employees, economic necessity may mandate a revision of an anti-nepotism policy. This article suggests that most of the potential disadvantages of paired employees can be reduced through relatively conventional personnel practices. These practices cover selection, promotion, performance appraisal, and compensation.     

FLEXIBLE RETIREMENT

Flexible retirement – that is, the opportunity to choose one's own personal retirement age – is a hedge against pension risk and provides insurance to workers facing health or productivity shocks. Flexible retirement and flexible pension schemes are in practice closely linked because of imperfect capital markets and institutional restrictions. I discuss three necessary conditions to provide insurance through flexible retirement. First, it should be possible to adjust the pension starting date at limited cost. This condition is gradually being fulfilled, as many countries are moving toward more actuarially neutral pension schemes. Second, individuals should be willing to adjust their labor supply in case of a wealth shock. This condition seems largely fulfilled, although the available empirical evidence suggests that the ‘standard retirement age’ is at least as important as the income effect. Third, the labor market should be able to deal with flexible individual retirement decisions. This condition is gaining importance, but has not yet received much attention in the literature. Institutions often hamper employment past the ‘standard retirement age’. Moreover, the hiring rates of older workers are low and their unemployment duration is high. Institutional reforms facilitating flexible retirement opportunities are desirable from an insurance perspective.     

Health insurance and retirement of married couples

Most health insurance in the USA is provided by employers until eligibility for public health insurance (Medicare) begins at age 65. Retiring before 65 exposes workers who lack retiree health insurance coverage to the risk of catastrophic medical expenditure. We solve and estimate a dynamic model of the employment behavior of older married couples that includes risky medical expenditure and health insurance. Parameter estimates imply that the risk‐reducing feature of health insurance can account for about half of the observed association between retiree health insurance and employment for married men, but can account for only one tenth of the much larger observed association for married women. Policy simulations imply very small effects on employment of changing the age of eligibility for Medicare from 65 to 67. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Who is more important,parents or children? Economic and environmental factors and health insurance purchase

The existing research indicates that insurance demand is affected by the policyholder’s occupation, family economy, urbanization level, and insurance coverage. Using micro data of insurance purchase at the individual level, this study investigates the influence of economic and environmental factors on the priorities of health insurance purchase decision. The results reveal that the more developed the economy and the more financial knowledge people possess, the more the latter tend to prioritize health insurance for their children. Furthermore, the study investigates the influence of air pollution on the decision to purchase health insurance. If the air pollution level is high, policyholders prioritize obtaining insurance for their children. Our research on the order of insurance purchase indicates that Chinese families have a lack of support from their children, and the function of family pension is gradually weakening. Our research also reveals that families are willing to spend money on the insurance of their children. Therefore, to solve the problem of health and old-age security for the elderly, it is more effective to promote health insurance by considering families as a unit     

Labor supply and the optimality of Social Security

Traditional economic theory predicts that an unfunded public pension system can be justified on the basis of its ability to provide intergenerational transfers, and also for its ability to provide partial insurance against mortality and labor income risks. In this paper, I demonstrate that the quantitative importance of these traditional roles depends on how the pension system distorts households' labor supply decisions. Using a general-equilibrium life-cycle consumption model calibrated to the U.S. economy, I show that these distortions can be large enough to erase much of the traditional welfare gains from Social Security. I also find that this fact is robust within the range of labor supply elasticities usually encountered in the macroeconomic literature.     

The effects of labor supply shocks on labor market outcomes: Evidence from the Israeli–Palestinian conflict

Since September 2000, as a result of mobility restrictions, the supply of Palestinian workers competing for local jobs in the West Bank has increased by about fifty percent. This paper takes advantage of this unique natural experiment to study the effects of labor supply shocks on labor market outcomes. Using quarterly information on wages and employment in each city in the West Bank, the paper analyzes the short-run adjustment of labor markets to a large inflow of workers separately from the effects of political instability. The results suggest that low-skilled wages are adversely affected by an increase in the supply of low- and high-skilled workers, while high-skilled wages are only weakly negatively related to an increase in their own supply. This is consistent with a scenario in which high-skilled workers compete for low-skilled jobs, pushing the low-skilled into unemployment. This latter hypothesis is confirmed by analyzing the effects of changes in labor supply on unemployment.     

Wages,implicit contracts,and the business cycle: Evidence from a European panel

We study the joint behavior of hours and wages over the business cycle in a unique panel of 13 European countries, and document significant history dependence in wages. Workers who experience favorable market conditions during their tenure on the job have higher wages, and work fewer labor hours. Unobserved differences in productivity, such as varying job quality, or match-specific productivity are not likely to explain this variation. The results instead point to the importance of contractual arrangements in wage determination. In economies with decentralized bargaining practices, such arrangements resemble self-enforcing insurance contracts with one-sided commitment (by the employer). On the other hand, in countries with strong unions and centralized wage bargaining, wage behavior is better approximated by full-commitment insurance contracts. The co-movement of hours and wages further confirms a contractual framework with variable worker hours. Despite the strong prevalence of contracts in Europe, however, the elasticity of labor supply is considerably smaller compared to the U.S. labor market.     

Deposit insurance and banking system risk: Some empirical evidence

This paper examines the effect of federal deposit insurance on the riskiness of the commercial banking system. It is generally acknowledged that a system affixed rate deposit insurance creates incentives for banks to increase their risk-taking activities. Yet very little empirical evidence exists confirming or refuting this supposition. The coefficient of variation of bank profits and the standard deviation of profits are used as measures of bank risk. How these measures of bank risk are affected by deposit insurance coverage, and other variables thought to affect bank risk, is examined. Deposit insurance is found to have a statistically significant positive effect on bank risk. This result provides empirical support for the FDIC Improvement Act requirement of risk related deposit insurance premiums starting January 1994.     

我国新业态从业人员职业伤害保险制度:模式选择与构建思路

现阶段应对新业态从业人员职业伤害风险的法律机制主要有工伤保险和商业保险两种模式,前者遵循无过失补偿原则,确保遭受职业伤害的劳动者可按照法定标准获得救济,但这种模式主要保障建立稳定劳动关系的劳动者群体。而商业保险遵循经济对等性原则,导致收入不稳定的新业态从业人员难以通过持续缴费来获得稳定保障。构建专门的新业态职业伤害保险制度尤为必要,但在制度构建过程中却面临着认识不统一、存在路径依赖等困境。未来的新业态职业伤害保险制度应与劳动关系脱钩,且需采取扩大覆盖人员范围、出台专门立法、建立职业伤害基金、优化缴费方式以及完善职业伤害认定规则等具体措施。     

Health insurance reform: The impact of a Medicare buy-in

The steady-state general equilibrium and welfare consequences of a Medicare buy-in program, optional for those aged 55–64, is evaluated in a calibrated life-cycle economy with incomplete markets. Incomplete markets and adverse selection create a potential welfare improving role for health insurance reform. We find that adverse selection eliminates any market for a Medicare buy-in if it is offered as an unsubsidized option to individual private health insurance. The subsidy needed to bring the number of uninsured to less than 5 percent of the target population could be financed by an increase in the labor income tax rate of just 0.03–0.18 percent depending on how the program is implemented.     

企业社会保险责任研究

我国企业社会保险责任源于法律的规定,具有正当性。同时,这种责任源于权利、社会期望、生存需要及劳动关系因而具有合理性。这种责任包括:为职工缴纳养老、医疗、工伤、失业、生育保险费;提供解除劳动关系的证明以及办理社会保险登记。但是,当前我国企业社会保险责任追究机制存在着职工个人社会保险救济程序单一、举证难、企业违法成本太低等问题,不足以约束企业履行其社会保险责任,必须予以完善。