Assessing the Equalizing Force of Mobility Using Short Panels: France, 1990–2000

In this paper, we document whether and how much the equalizing force of earnings mobility has changed in France in the 1990's. For this purpose, we use a representative three-year panel, the French Labour Force Survey. We develop a model of earnings dynamics that combines a flexible specification of marginal earnings distributions (to fit the large cross-sectional dimension of the data) with a tight parametric representation of the dynamics (adapted to the short time-series dimension). Log earnings are modelled as the sum of a deterministic component, an individual fixed effect and a transitory component which is assumed first-order Markov. The transition probability of the transitory component is modelled as a one-parameter Plackett copula. We estimate this model using a sequential expectation-maximization algorithm.
We exploit the estimated model to study employment/earnings inequality in France over the 1990–2002 period. We show that, in phase with business-cycle fluctuations (a recession in 1993 and two peaks in 1990 and 2000), earnings mobility decreases when cross-section inequality and unemployment risk increase. We simulate individual earnings trajectories and compute present values of lifetime earnings for various horizons. Inequality presents a hump-shaped evolution over the period, with a 9% increase between 1990 and 1995 and a decrease afterwards. Accounting for unemployment yields an increase of 11%. Moreover, this increase is persistent, as it translates into a 12% increase in the variance of log present values. The ratio of inequality in present values to inequality in one-year earnings, a natural measure of immobility or of the persistence of inequality, remains remarkably constant over the business cycle.     

RESEARCH MODELLING IMPLICATIONS OF CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORKS IN FAMILY MANAGEMENT

The development of family management as a field of study has offered, to date, a number of conceptual frameworks which attempt to explain family behaviour with respect to management activities. Historically, the application of these conceptual frameworks has proceeded without orderly empirical testing. This paper attempts to provide guidelines for the empirical testing of these conceptual frameworks by developing a general research model and suggesting empirical testing procedures. The research issues of the unit of analysis, data availability, variable measurement, simultaneity and functional form are discussed. Suggestions for the future direction and the focus of family management research include the development and testing of measurement instruments for the components of the management process and the empirical testing of a general research model which represents the conceptual frameworks in family management.     

Twenty Years of Rising Inequality in U.S. Lifetime Labour Income Values

In this paper we study the evolution of lifetime labour income inequality by constructing present value life cycle measures that incorporate both earnings and employment risk. We find that, even though lifetime income inequality is 40% less than earnings inequality, the total increase in lifetime income inequality over the past 20 years is the same as earnings inequality. While the total increase is the same, the pathways there differ with earnings inequality experiencing a steady increase and lifetime income inequality increasing in spurts particularly in the latter half of the 1990s. Finally, we find the changes in lifetime income inequality are primarily driven by changes in earnings mobility and changes in the earnings distribution itself, changes in employment risk and the composition of the sample, such as the shift toward attaining more education and the ageing population, do not play a large role.     

Implications for Australia of Cross-Country Comparisons in Economic Performance*

What can be learnt about the economic experience of Australia in the 1970s by comparing the performances of other countries with that of Australia? In particular, what do those comparisons suggest about the nature of and reasons for, the Australian outcomes for prices, production and employment? These are the main questions addressed in this paper. In Section II, comparisons are made for several indicators between the experiences of Australia and nine other countries. In Section III the outcomes are analyzed and in Section IV some implications for Australia are drawn.