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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Malthus Was Right After All: Poor Relief And Birth Rates In Southeastern England, George R. Boyer
Malthus Was Right After All: Poor Relief And Birth Rates In Southeastern England, George R. Boyer
George R. Boyer
The payment of child allowances to laborers with large families was widespread in early nineteenth-century England. This paper tests Thomas Malthus's hypothesis that child allowances caused the birth rate to increase. A cross-sectional regression model is estimated to explain variations in birth rates across parishes in 1826-30. Birth rates are found to be related to child allowances, income, and the availability of housing, as Malthus contended. The paper concludes by examining the role played by the adoption of child allowances after 1795 in the fertility increase of the early nineteenth century.
[Review Of The Book Retirement Income Opportunities In An Aging America: Income Levels And Adequacy], Gary S. Fields
[Review Of The Book Retirement Income Opportunities In An Aging America: Income Levels And Adequacy], Gary S. Fields
Gary S Fields
[Excerpt] The slant of this volume will not appeal to everyone. Consider the following: "During the last twenty years, the elderly's financial status has improved substantially. Today those who are over age 65 receive income from more sources and have greater financial independence than previous generations of elderly. . . . This report concludes that the elderly's income levels and sources will continue to improve during the next twenty years or more" (p. v). But what of the poverty that remains among the elderly, especially single individuals? What of the threat to real social security benefit levels? What of the …
Abortion, Income, Wantedness: Evidence From The American Community Survey, Francisco Arceo
Abortion, Income, Wantedness: Evidence From The American Community Survey, Francisco Arceo
All Theses
This paper serves two purposes: (1) to find the effect of the legalization of abortion on future wages and (2) to test Donohue-Levitt's 'Wantedness Hypothesis' (i.e., that relatively more wanted children have superior economic outcomes). Non-parametric evidence suggests that the legalization of abortion increased the annual salary and wage and salary income for people born before 1973 in a state with legal abortion. The OLS specifications suggest that once state surveyed and state of birth effects are included into the models the effect is negative. Once macroeconomic and other unobservable effects are controlled for, I find no evidence of an …
[Review Of The Book Growth With Equity], Gary S. Fields
[Review Of The Book Growth With Equity], Gary S. Fields
Gary S Fields
[Excerpt] This book, by three nationally respected researchers in the Brookings Institution's Center on Economic Progress and Employment, addresses two problems facing the American economy: anemic productivity improvement and consequent slow economic growth, and growing income inequality. Contrary to their distinguished predecessor at Brookings, the late Arthur Okun, who maintained in a widely cited 1975 book that the twin goals of growth and more equal distribution of income conflict with each other (Arthur M. Okun, Equality and Efficiency: the Big Tradeoff [Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution, 1975]), Baily, Burtless, and Litan argue—correctly, I believe—that growth and equality are compatible goals. "Unless …
[Review Of The Book Private Pension Policies In Industrialized Countries: A Comparative Analysis], Gary S. Fields
[Review Of The Book Private Pension Policies In Industrialized Countries: A Comparative Analysis], Gary S. Fields
Gary S Fields
[Excerpt] John Turner and Noriyasu Watanabe have written numerous articles and books on pensions and employee benefits. In this collaborative effort, they synthesize a great deal of institutional and analytical material on a wide range of countries, including those typically regarded as industrialized (most of the OECD countries are the subjects of case studies and illustrations) and those that would probably be happy to learn that they now fall into that category (in particular, Chile and Argentina). The book is both accessible (there are no equations in sight) and analytical.
Place-To-Place Migration: Some New Evidence, Gary S. Fields
Place-To-Place Migration: Some New Evidence, Gary S. Fields
Gary S Fields
[Excerpt] This paper presents new evidence on the determinants of place-to-place migration in the United States. For understanding the causes of differential migration rates into and out of labor markets, knowledge of place-to-place migration functions is of interest for a number of reasons. Given a thorough understanding of gross place-to-place flows, one can proceed to calculate net flows; the reverse, of course, is not possible. There are also other advantages of place-to-place studies: parallelism to microeconomic behavior, opportunity to investigate specific 'origin-destination match-ups, recognition of the number and location of alternative opportunities for persons residing in different origins, and exploration …
Assessing Progress Toward Greater Equality Of Income Distribution, Gary S. Fields
Assessing Progress Toward Greater Equality Of Income Distribution, Gary S. Fields
Gary S Fields
[Excerpt] Income distribution is only one indicator of economic well-being useful in gauging improvements in the economic position of the poor; change in income distribution, appropriately conceived and measured, is as good a criterion as any for assessing progress toward the alleviation of poverty. Income is intimately bound up with a family's command over economic resources. Rising modern-sector employment or reduced infant mortality might be suggestive of improvements in the economic position of the poor; gains in real income among low-income groups provide direct evidence that poverty is being alleviated. This chapter answers the following questions: What are the strengths …
The Economics Of Retirement Behavior, Olivia S. Mitchell, Gary S. Fields
The Economics Of Retirement Behavior, Olivia S. Mitchell, Gary S. Fields
Gary S Fields
This paper examines the role of economic factors in determining retirement behavior using a unique new data archive on more than 8,700 workers covered by 10 different pension plans. We build on our earlier work by estimating several different retirement models including both linear and discrete choice formulations. This framework provides new insights into how and why retirement ages differ across firms. We conclude that older workers' income opportunities differ depending on their pension rules, which in turn have a powerful influence on their retirement patterns. In addition, the models indicate that older workers' tastes for income are not uniform, …
Regional Inequality And Other Sources Of Income Variation In Colombia, Gary S. Fields, T. Paul Schultz
Regional Inequality And Other Sources Of Income Variation In Colombia, Gary S. Fields, T. Paul Schultz
Gary S Fields
[Excerpt] Regional inequality is of interest for a variety of reasons: planning development policies aimed at alleviating poverty and reducing personal inequality, gauging the degree of a country's labor market integration, understanding patterns of population movement in general and labor force migration in particular, predicting future urbanization, and characterizing the poor. Policymakers often aim development programs at particular target groups such as those living in certain regions of a country. In this paper we analyze the determinants of incomes and income inequality in one less developed country, Colombia, examining both personal and regional aspects. The results help clarify the potential …
Reducing Poverty: The Overall Framework, Guy Pfeffermann, Gary S. Fields
Reducing Poverty: The Overall Framework, Guy Pfeffermann, Gary S. Fields
Gary S Fields
[Excerpt] How private firms contribute to economic mobility and poverty reduction and what governments can do to enhance their contribution is the theme of this book. We look first at the positive role the private sector plays in economic development, a role that has received less emphasis that that of other players. We then focus on the labor market and how various mechanisms in the economy interact to affect conditions for people as workers and as consumers. The volume examines the links among the business environment, private sector development, economic growth, poverty reduction, and economic mobility. Until recently, development economists …
Employment In Low-Income Countries: Beyond Labor Market Segmentation?, Gary S. Fields
Employment In Low-Income Countries: Beyond Labor Market Segmentation?, Gary S. Fields
Gary S Fields
[Excerpt] Throughout the world, there are fundamentally two, and only two, ways that people can escape from poverty. One is by earning their way out of poverty. The other is by receiving socially-provided goods and services that lift them out of poverty. Even with multilateral and bilateral assistance, low-income countries are too poor to be able to make a significant dent in poverty by the social services route alone. This means that creating more and better earning opportunities for the poor is the only other option available. In policy discussions, two mistakes are often made. One is to assume that …
Do Inequality Measures Measure Inequality?, Gary S. Fields
Do Inequality Measures Measure Inequality?, Gary S. Fields
Gary S Fields
[Excerpt] In the literature, much attention has been paid to a number of aspects of inequality including the distinction between relative and absolute inequality, axiomatization of inequality, the Lorenz criterion for inequality comparisons, properties of various inequality measures, and inequality decomposition. In no way do I wish to argue with the main results derived in these areas. Rather, my purpose here is to add to the theory of inequality measurement by dealing with one aspect of inequality which has been largely ignored by economists and by others. This is the question of how inequality changes - in particular, whether it …
What We Know (And Want To Know) About Earnings Mobility In Developing Countries, Gary S. Fields
What We Know (And Want To Know) About Earnings Mobility In Developing Countries, Gary S. Fields
Gary S Fields
[Excerpt] Some developing countries have experienced rapid economic growth, some slow economic growth, some no growth at all, and some economic decline. The traditional way of gauging the distributional consequences of economic growth, if in fact there was economic growth, is to use data from comparable cross sections to calculate various measures of (relative) inequality and (absolute) poverty. The very large literature on inequality and poverty will not be reviewed here. A newer approach in the development literature is to study the distributional consequences of economic growth (or non-growth) by using data for the same recipient units for two or …
The Impacts Of Drinking Alcohol, Using Marijuana, And Smoking Cigarettes As A Teenager On The Educational Attainment And The Income Of Young Adults, Thomas Carnot
All Theses
It is widely believed that activities such as drinking alcohol, smoking cigarettes, and using marijuana during the teenage years have a harmful effect on a youth's development, thus damaging his or her value in the labor market once the individual reaches adulthood. There have been several studies in the past that have looked into the consequences of partaking in such activities during both the adult and college years, but this paper will investigate how the use of alcohol, marijuana, and cigarettes at the age of 16 affects the average individual's future income and the amount of education completed by the …
The Poverty Of Wealth And Income In The United States, Luke E. G. Feudner
The Poverty Of Wealth And Income In The United States, Luke E. G. Feudner
Professional Projects
An alternative poverty rate was calculated using poverty thresholds from the U.S. Census Bureau to assess income poverty and a similar set of thresholds at four months’ of the poverty threshold for annual income to assess wealth (i.e. net worth) poverty. Using point estimates derived from the multiple imputations of the Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) between the years of 1989 and 2007, the findings revealed the percentage of households in poverty by both measures was 6% in 2007 compared to 11.1% of households experiencing poverty of income only and 22.4% experiencing a poverty of at least one of the …
Effects Of Multicollinearity On The Estimation Of Macroeconomic Variables: Using Data From Sudan, Professor Issam A.W. Mohamed
Effects Of Multicollinearity On The Estimation Of Macroeconomic Variables: Using Data From Sudan, Professor Issam A.W. Mohamed
Professor Issam A.W. Mohamed
The problem of multicollinearity in the assessments of coefficients is well established. However, it is rarely researched in the estimations of macroeconomic variables and economic performance of developing countries. Predicatively, it has impacts on the estimations of coefficients that should be used in economic decisions, strategic planning and if researchers are more industrious estimations of monetary supplies and demands. All such parameters are very basic and essential in economic plannings and their applications should be done not only in research but in ground applications of the specialized authorities, e.g., Ministries of Finance, Central Banks, Pricing Units, etc. However, that is …
Part 4: The Economic Plight Of African American Men In Hampton Roads, Regional Studies Institute, Old Dominion University
Part 4: The Economic Plight Of African American Men In Hampton Roads, Regional Studies Institute, Old Dominion University
State of the Region Reports: Hampton Roads
The worldwide recession significantly worsened the economic condition of African American men. There are multiple reasons why this was so and credible solutions often are controversial.
Troubling Tradeoffs In The Human Development Index, Martin Ravallion
Troubling Tradeoffs In The Human Development Index, Martin Ravallion
Martin Ravallion
The 20th Human Development Report introduced a new version of its famous Human Development Index (HDI), which aggregates country-level attainments in life expectancy, schooling and income. The main change was to relax the past assumption of perfect substitutability between its components. Most users will not, however, realize that the new HDI has also greatly reduced its implicit weight on longevity in poor countries, relative to rich ones. By contrast, the new HDI’s valuations of extra schooling are now very high—many times the economic returns. An alternative index is proposed that embodies less troubling tradeoffs while still allowing imperfect substitution.
Matching Grants, Income Redistribution And Decentralized Leadership, Arthur J. Caplan, C. Emilson, D. Silva
Matching Grants, Income Redistribution And Decentralized Leadership, Arthur J. Caplan, C. Emilson, D. Silva
Applied Economics Faculty Publications
We examine the decentralized provision of an impure public good by regional governments in a federation similar in certain respects to both the European Union and the United States. The central authority redistributes income and provides matching grants on a per rate basis after it observes the regions’ contributions to the impure public good. Imperfectly mobile workers react to regional and central governments’ policies by establishing residence in their most preferred region. Despite imperfect labor mobility, we show that the allocation of the impure public good and the interregional income redistribution policy are generally efficient in a federation with decentralized …