East‐Asian Happiness Gap

Despite spectacular economic growth, most East‐Asian countries (especially those with the Confucian cultures) score very low in happiness surveys. The present paper speculates on the reasons for this East‐Asian happiness gap, including environmental disruption, excessive competitiveness, repressive education, excessive conformity, negative attitudes towards enjoyment, and the emphasis on outward appearance. The desired direction of future growth, especially regarding the relative importance of public spending on the environment and research, and the non‐material aspects of life, are also briefly touched on.     

HUMAN CAPITAL AND THE PROBABILITY OF DIVORCE

Concern about the high poverty rates experienced by children in female‐headed households has led to policies aimed at increasing these households' income. In this paper we present a model that analyses decisions made before and during marriage to invest in the human capital of parents and children. These decisions result from a variety of anticipated post‐divorce monetary transfers between spouses.     

Child endowments and parental investments: Intra‐household allocation in oportunidades families in Mexico

This paper estimates a family fixed‐effects model to test whether parental educational investments are reinforcing or compensating differences in child height and body mass index (BMI) within Oportunidades households. The results indicate that allocations are not made in response to endowment differences in isolation, but depend on the interaction of child endowment, gender, and beneficiary status. Moreover, investments are made so as to counterbalance efficiency and equity considerations: widening differences in height but closing gaps in BMI, where both strategies maximize returns given the earnings–endowment function for height and BMI in Mexico. Finally, household socio‐economic status matters. Thus, discriminatory responses within the better‐off urban beneficiary households are smaller. In contrast, indigenous beneficiary households, which have the lowest average endowment z‐scores and fraction spent on education, see the largest differences in educational outlay between child subgroups. While the economic effects seem small, these are measured relative to the mean of the base category. In some cases, then, parents are dedicating nearly a quarter of all expenditures to education for a standard deviation increase in endowment over mean sibling endowment. Hence, it seems that the success of the Oportunidades program in improving overall human capital formation may be masking rising inequalities within recipient households.     

Gender Bias in Education: the Role of Inter-household Externality, Dowry and other Social Institutions

We analyze gender bias in school enrollment by developing a two‐period model where women become part of extended families of their in‐laws. Each family decides how many sons and daughters are sent to school and thus become skilled. Gender bias occurs due to failure of the families to internalize inter‐household externalities. “Groom‐specific” dowry worsens the situation. Under “bride‐specific” dowry, bias exists if and only if the skill premium in the labor market is bigger than that in the marriage market. A specific discriminatory “food‐for‐education” policy is shown to reduce bias, but increase total enrollment.     

CROSS‐BORDER MARRIAGE COSTS AND MARRIAGE BEHAVIOR: THEORY AND EVIDENCE

This article analyzes cross‐border marriages between mainland China and Hong Kong (HK). We examine the effects of a reduction in cross‐border marriage costs following an increase in marriage‐migration quotas and the handover of HK to China. We find that cross‐border marriages mainly involve men from the low tail of the HK attribute distribution. We also find that HK women's position in the marriage market and within households deteriorated following the reduction in cross‐border marriage costs and that their disadvantaged position exerts an incentive effect on their labor market behavior. These outcomes are consistent with our matching model.     

成年子女照料老年父母的积极体验研究

通过对14位成年子女照料者的深度访谈,揭示了成年子女照料者在照料老年父母过程中的种种积极体验,例如欣慰和满足、快乐与亲密的感觉,获得思想成熟和个人价值的实现等。这些积极的照料体验不仅强化着成年子女的照料责任感,也帮助他们在一定程度上对抗和克服照料压力。研究发现有助于人们获得关于家庭照料者角色的更为全面的认识,有利于老年人及其家庭照料者社会支持和服务工作的开展。     

Intergenerational transfers in Philippine rice villages. Gender differences in traditional inheritance customs

The author presents findings from a study of education, land, and nonland asset transfers from parents to children in 344 households in five rice villages in the Philippines. A model with family fixed effects is developed which explains transfers better than either individual heterogeneity or observed parent and child characteristics without family fixed effects. Analysis revealed that families facing different land constraints exhibit significantly different patterns of educational investment in children. In a subsample with completed inheritance, daughters receive less education, land, and total inheritance, but are compensated with nonland assets. Parents also exhibit preferential behavior toward children of the same gender such that daughters of better educated mothers receive more land, nonland assets, and total inheritance. Better educated fathers, however, give land preferentially to sons, but favor daughters in education.     

Love and taxes – and matching institutions

Abstract Income disparities and the intra‐family redistribution implied by a marriage may induce a high‐income earner to abstain from marrying a low‐income earner even though they would be a perfect match emotionally. Redistributive income taxation eases this problem, and the design of marriage matching institutions interacts with this role of redistributive taxation. Matching institutions that ensure that people largely from the same income groups meet each other can substitute for redistribution. Matching across income groups that focuses on emotional quality or preference congruence of the match may increase the efficiency‐enhancing role of taxation.     

Canadian contributions to family economics

Canadian scholars have made substantial contributions to the relatively new field of family economics. These include new models of how men and women match in marriage markets, and of how decisions are made in multi‐person households. Several were early contributors to the literature on married women's labour supply and labour supply in a family context, and helped to develop empirical methods in this area. A particular focus has been on the impacts of policy‐relevant parameters, such childcare costs, on family labour supply and child well‐being. New work on child development, the impact of early life conditions, and the processes of intergenerational transmission also highlight the importance of family context in determining economic well‐being.     

Anthropometric failure and persistence of poverty in rural India

Recent studies have drawn attention to the high prevalence of stunting among children in rural India. In fact, these estimates point to more pervasive deprivation than conventional measures of poverty based on income or consumption expenditure shortfalls imply. Since stunting reflects cumulative nutritional and health deprivation, it is likely to persist despite higher incomes. With a view to shedding some new light on this issue, an analysis of the determinants of stunting is carried out, based on a recent all‐India survey of rural households. While income matters, other factors acting independently of it matter too. These include household size, whether household head is male, caste affiliation, mother’s age at marriage, mother’s age, age composition of children, male–female wage differences, hygiene and sanitation facilities, and prices of food items. So, while higher incomes will help mitigate stunting, careful attention must also be given to enhancing women’s autonomy through more remunerative employment opportunities for them, enabling households to improve hygiene and sanitation facilities, and facilitating more competitive local markets for food.     

我国不同经济发展水平地区农村居民生活幸福感的影响因素研究

本文利用对北京、辽宁和河北三省市调查所获得的1033个农户样本,运用有序逻辑模型进行数据处理,分析了不同的经济发展水平地区农村居民生活幸福感的影响因素。结果发现:收入、年龄、健康状况、对合作医疗满意度等因素对所有地区的农村居民生活满意度均有正向显著影响;性别、教育程度、婚姻状况、住房面积和结构等因素对不同经济发展水平地区农村居民生活幸福感的影响存在差异;宗教信仰、家庭人口、家庭成员的身体状况以及是否有需要赡养的老人等因素对我国不同经济发展地区农村居民生活幸福感的影响不显著。     

No country for young men: International migration and left‐behind children in Tajikistan

This paper investigates the effects of international migration on the schooling and labour outcomes of left‐behind children in rural Tajikistan. Using three‐wave panel survey data, I rely on an instrumental variable strategy to address the non‐random selection into migration. I identify important and gender‐differenced schooling and labour supply responses. My findings suggest that boys living in migrant households are less likely to lag behind at school or work. At the intensive margin, they also report fewer hours of work per week. On the other hand, left‐behind teenage females undertake a higher number of domestic chores. They appear to marry earlier as well. The migration impact on boys appears to be driven by remittances and the improved financial situation of households. The absence of any positive influence on the education of left‐behind girls is likely to be explained by Tajikistan's cultural norms and institutions.     

刍议当前农村家庭养老中的新性别差异——对晋东S村的实地调查

通过对晋东S村的实地调查,分析了当前农村家庭养老中的新性别差异。虽然女儿越来越多地与儿子一样承担起了养老责任,但与儿子相比,村落社会中的女儿养老行为依然有很多独特之处。在赡养方式上,女儿多以"回娘家"的方式赡养父母,而儿子则以"轮养"的方式赡养父母;在赡养时间上,在双方自立时期女儿就已承担起了赡养责任,而儿子则在父母需要赡养时才承担养老责任;在赡养规则上,女儿赡养父母的逻辑以"情感"为主,儿子赡养父母则主要遵循理性逻辑。     

New Evidence on Intra‐Household Allocation of Resources in Japanese Households

This paper examines intra‐household allocation of resources to gain insight into family relationships and gender bias in Japanese households. We take the Engel curve approach to examine how adult consumption is affected by the presence of a child, either a boy or a girl, in the family. Empowered by diary‐based high quality spending data from the Family Income and Expenditure Survey, our empirical results show that adult consumption is significantly reduced in households with children; furthermore, gender bias is not observed in total adult expenditures, while responses of adult clothing expenses to the presence of a child are significantly different between a boy and a girl: spending on a father's clothing is reduced when the child is a school‐aged daughter, while spending on a mother's clothing decreases when a school‐aged son is in the home. Our analysis also shows that after the early 2000s girls receive a larger share of spending for children's clothing as well as for high school education than boys.     

CROSS‐BORDER M&As AND FIRM VALUE: A COMPARISON OF CHINA‐ AND US‐JAPAN M&As

We examine the effect of M&As conducted by U.S. and Chinese bidders (US‐Japan and China‐Japan M&As) on the stock prices of Japanese targets. We find that both types of M&As tend to increase the stock prices of the Japanese targets and that market reactions are significantly greater for US‐Japan M&As than for China‐Japan M&As. Additionally, capital participation produces greater market reactions to China‐Japan M&As than other structures, while acquisition produces this effect in US‐Japan M&As. Our results are consistent with previous research indicating that market reactions increase for bidders operating in a developed country with high‐quality institutions and corporate governance. (JEL G32, G34)     

Institutions for private sector development and pro‐poor growth: Evidence from Vietnam

Using the Vietnam Household Living Standards Survey 2008, we explore the differences in pro‐poor growth performance in provinces in Vietnam according to the quality of the provinces’ institutions that support private sector activity. We exploit the localized and varying effect of French colonial legacy across Vietnamese provinces to address the endogeneity of institutions. We find strong and robust evidence of a positive effect of good‐quality institutions that support private sector activity on pro‐poor growth and that enhanced working hours and hourly wage and extended income from non‐farm self‐employment play critical roles in this outcome.     

PRICE SEARCH,CONSUMPTION INEQUALITY AND EXPENDITURE INEQUALITY OVER THE LIFE ‐CYCLE

We differentiate consumption from expenditure by incorporating price search decision into an otherwise standard life‐cycle model. We first analytically show that, under very general conditions, poorer households search more and pay lower prices compared to wealthier ones. As a result, consumption inequality is smaller than expenditure inequality, and the gap between them increases over the life‐cycle. Next, using a plausibly calibrated model, we find that life‐cycle increase in consumption inequality is about 30% lower than the increase in expenditure inequality. Price search provides an insurance mechanism against income shocks and increases the welfare of a newborn by 3.9%.     

MARRIAGE,MARKETS, AND MONEY: A COASIAN THEORY OF HOUSEHOLD FORMATION

This article integrates search‐based models of marriage and money. We think about households as organizations, the way Coase thinks about firms, as alternatives to markets that become more attractive when transactions costs increase. In the model, individuals consume market‐ and home‐produced goods, and home production is facilitated by marriage. Market frictions, including taxes, search, and bargaining problems, increase the marriage propensity. The inflation tax encourages marriage because being single is cash intensive. Microdata confirm singles use cash more than married people. We use macrodata over many countries to investigate how marriage responds to inflation, taxation, and other variables.     

Relative price shifts,economies of scale and poverty during economic transition1

Economic transition is associated with significant shifts in relative prices between private and public goods. If, as a result, public goods claim a larger share of total expenditures, economies of scale in consumption increase. We show how relative price changes might alter the welfare of different‐sized households in the short run and over time. We illustrate, for a selection of transition economies, that conventional poverty profiles are quite sensitive to assumptions made about economies of scale in consumption. In particular, the common view that large households with many children are poor relative to small households (such as those comprising the elderly) is shown to be highly non‐robust.