Labor force competition and the black-white wage gap

Have the increasing numbers of women and immigrants in the U.S. labor force adversely affected the relative earnings of black men? A recent article in this journal argued that they have, based on empirical analysis of 1970 census data. The present study begins with a critique of both the theoretical assumptions and the empirical methods of this earlier article. A regression analysis of 1980 census data is then undertaken, which indicates that recent immigration has not had a negative impact on the relative wages of central-city black men. The findings also suggest that while higher rates of female labor force participation are statistically associated with lower black-white wage ratios, this effect is limited to teenagers.     

Gender earnings gap among the youth in Malawi

While young women's engagement in economic activities is an essential component of development, gender gaps are still commonly observed worldwide and especially in developing countries like Malawi. This study introduces recent data to provide new evidence for a sub‐Saharan country that has yet been closely examined. Using the International Labour Organization's School‐to‐Work Transition Survey (ILO SWTS) individual‐level data, I examine the gender earnings gap among the youth in Malawi by conducting Mincer earnings regressions with Heckman selection correction and applying Blinder–Oaxaca decomposition methods. I find that young women in Malawi earn significantly less than young men and that women are significantly less likely to engage in income‐generating work activities. Also, substantial unadjusted gender earnings difference in Malawi is overwhelmingly due to differences in returns. Moreover, detailed decomposition results show that gender differences in work‐related individual characteristics and firm characteristics also contribute to the gender earnings gap. The results suggest that any effort to reduce the gender earnings gap should involve improved access to education as well as better workplaces for women.     

The consumption–wealth ratio,real estate wealth,and the Japanese stock market

The first contribution of this paper, in following the works of Lettau and Ludvigson, 2001a, Lettau and Ludvigson, 2001b, is to construct a Japanese consumption–wealth ratio data series and to examine whether it explains Japanese stock market data. We find that the consumption–wealth ratio does predict future stock returns, but the evidence is weaker than that from US data, and the source of predictability is limited to observations after the collapse of the asset bubble at the beginning of the 1990s. The consumption–wealth ratio also helps to explain cross-sectional Japanese stock returns. The second contribution of the paper is that we propose new consumption–wealth ratio that more explicitly deal with household real estate wealth utilizing Japanese aggregate-level data. Such “real estate augmented” consumption–wealth ratio perform better than the consumption–wealth ratio calculated with only financial wealth data. While the scaled factor model proposed by Lettau and Ludvigson performs relatively well with Japanese data, the book-to-market related anomaly pointed out by Chan et al. (1991) and Jagannathan et al. (1998) remains strong.     

Family formation and economic insecurity among youth in South Africa

ABSTRACT

Youth unemployment continues to be a burden and concern for the South African government. Being economically insecure, the situation is dire with the government needing to provide resources to a population who should be economically independent. There is a need to look at the social determinants of economic insecurity among youth in South Africa. Family formations could either promote or inhibit economic well-being. This article aims to assess whether economic security improves as youth enter into unions and/or have children. The South African National Income Dynamics Study is used. Unmarried youth with no children are measured at baseline (2008) and followed up over time to examine whether economic security status changes as union status changes. Results show that while economic security, employment (from 7.61% to 25.67%) and net income per month (from 19.48% to 32.79%) increase over time, youth who marry but have no children have the lowest risk of economic insecurity (relative risk ratio?=?0.02, p < 0.05) compared with those who remain unmarried but have children. Special attention needs to be given to youth who have children and are unmarried and among those who marry and have children soon after.     

2000年以来广东四大区域财政收支差异演变态势初析

通过分析2000年以来广东省财政收支差异的演变态势,同时与全国及江苏省的财政收支差异演变情况进行比较,本文发现广东珠三角人均财政支出水平低于我国西、东北部区域。广东四大区域财政均等化程度仍然较低,且缩小进程慢于全国,也低于江苏等省区,突显广东省地区财政的均等化程度低的严峻性;进而提出建议：必须深化广东财政转移支付体制改革,加大对粤东西北地区的财力支持,加快缩小区域财政收支差距、区域投资差距、区域城镇化水平差距、区域产业结构差距和区域公共教育设施及水平差距。     

Migration to the agricultural frontier and wealth accumulation, 1860-1870

I use a new data set of households linked between the 1860 and 1870 censuses to study frontier migration. Households that moved to the frontier to farm were more likely than non-migrants to have been poor, landless, and illiterate, and to have had young children. Also, after controlling for observable differences, migrants had below average abilities to accumulate wealth. These findings suggest fewer opportunities for migrants to accumulate wealth in non-frontier areas and a reason for their migration. Nonetheless, migrants fared well, accumulating wealth at high rates. The gains in wealth of migrants, especially those with long tenure on the frontier, suggest the extraordinary benefits of migration.     

A model of migration and wealth accumulation: Farmers at the antebellum southern frontier

Studies for portions of the 19th-century United States have shown that earlier arrivals have greater wealth than do later migrants. This paper finds that the same was true for the frontier states Texas and Arkansas in 1860 using real wealth. Within the context of a specific model it is shown that the relatively high price appreciation for improved land at the frontier, the larger initial (1850) wealth endowments of the earlier arrivals, and the cost of migration largely account for this.     

COVID-19 and the employment gender gap in Japan

This paper examines how the COVID-19 pandemic affected female employment in Japan. Our estimates indicate that the employment rate of married women with children decreased by 3.5 percentage points, while that of those without children decreased by only 0.3 percentage points, implying that increased childcare responsibilities caused a sharp decline in mothers’ employment. Further, mothers who left or lost their jobs appear to have dropped out of the labor force even several months after school reopening. In contrast to women, the employment rate of married men with children was not affected, which hindered progress in narrowing the employment gender gap.     

商品房价格与贫富差距关系分析

为了研究商品房价格与城镇基尼系数之间的动态关系,本文利用1996～2009年中国省际面板数据,建立了商品房价格和城镇基尼系数的面板VAR模型,利用平稳性检验、协整检验和Granger因果关系检验,对商品房价格和城镇基尼系数之间的动态关系进行了实证研究分析。其结果显示:基尼系数对商品房价格强度具有显著的负效应。     

Parenthood and the gender wage gap in urban China

Using data from the Chinese Household Income Project survey and decomposition methods, this study explored the influence of parenthood on the gender wage gap in urban China in 2002 and 2018. Our findings showed that the employment rate is lower for women than men in both childless and with child groups, and the gender gap expanded from 2002 to 2018. The data revealed a parenthood wage penalty in 2002 and a parenthood wage premium in 2018. Moreover, the parenthood wage penalty was greater for women than for men and contributed to the formation of the gender wage gap. We also found that three components: motherhood wage penalty, fatherhood wage premium, and gender wage gap in the childless group contributed to the formation of the gender wage gap. From 2002–2018, the motherhood wage penalty decreased, whereas the fatherhood wage premium increased.