Institute for the Study of Labor

About: Institute for the Study of Labor is a nonprofit organization based out in Bonn, Germany. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Wage & Unemployment. The organization has 2039 authors who have published 13475 publications receiving 439376 citations.

The Effects of a Mother's Return to Work Decision on Child Development in the UK

Abstract: The last 20 years has seen a huge increase in employment among mothers in the first year after giving birth in the UK. We examine whether early maternal employment has an adverse effect on child outcomes. We analyse rich data from a cohort of children born in the UK in the early 1990s and examine the impact of early maternal employment on three outcome variables measuring child cognitive development between four and seven years of age. We also explore whether the effect varies with the mother's educational attainment, lone parent status or the type of replacement non-maternal childcare used.

Poles Apart? EU Enlargement and the Labour Market Outcomes of Immigrants in the UK

Abstract: The UK was one of only three countries to allow migrants from accession countries to enter their labour markets more or less without restriction following EU enlargement in May 2004. Therefore, it is important to establish the characteristics and labour market performance of migrants from these countries who have subsequently entered the UK. We principally analyse Labour Force Survey data to compare the labour market outcomes of recent migrants from Poland and other accession countries to those of earlier migrant cohorts from these countries as well as to those of other recent migrants to the UK. We find that the majority of post-enlargement migrants from accession countries have found employment in low paying jobs, despite some (especially Poles) having relatively high levels of education. It follows that recent Polish migrants typically have lower returns to their education than other recent arrivals. Migrants from the new entrants who arrived immediately prior to enlargement possess similar characteristics and labour market outcomes, apart from having a higher propensity to be self-employed. These results are discussed in the context of policy changes, migration strategies, assimilation effects and possible impacts on the sending countries.

Human Capital and Labor Supply: A Synthesis

Abstract: It is by now widely recognized that investment decisions play a major role in the determination of individual age-earnings profiles. The purpose of this paper is to present a simple life-cycle model of investment in human capital in which leisure choices are explicitly incorporated. In so doing, we integrate two previously disparate branches of life-cycle theory: models of labor supply with exogenous wages, and models of human capital formation with exogenous leisure. Of course, to accomplish this, we must posit utility maximization as the individual's goal rather than income maximization.

The American Family and Family Economics

Abstract: Gary Becker's path-breaking Treatise on the Family (1981) subjected individuals' decisions about sex, marriage, childbearing, and childrearing to rational choice analysis The American family has changed radically in recent decades; we survey these changes as well as the ongoing effort to understand partnering, parenting, and care of the elderly as results of maximizing choices made by individuals First, we describe the recent changes in the American family: the separation of sex, marriage, and childbearing; fewer children and smaller households; converging work and education patterns for men and women; class divergence in partnering and parenting strategies; and the replacement of family functions and home production by government programs and market transactions Second, we examine recent work in family economics that attempts to explain these changes Third, we point out some challenging areas for further analysis and highlight issues of commitment in two primary family relationships: those b

Using a Discontinuous Grant to Identify the Effect of Grants on Local Taxes and Spending

Abstract: When investigating the effects of federal grants on the behavior of lower-level governments, it is hard to defend the handling of grants as an exogenous factor affecting local governments; federal governments often set grants based on characteristics and performance of local governments. In this paper we make use of a discontinuity in the Swedish grant system in order to estimate the causal effects of general intergovernmental grants on local spending and local tax rates. The formula for the distribution of funds is used as an exclusion restriction in an IV-estimation. We find evidence of crowding-in, where federal grants are shifted to more local spending, but not to reduced local tax rates. Our results thus confirm a flypaper effect for Sweden.