Showing papers in "Journal of Human Resources in 1999"
TL;DR: In this article, the authors used data from Morocco to assess the role played by three possible mechanisms: (1) Formal education directly teaches health knowledge to future mothers; (2) Literacy and numeracy skills acquired in school assist future mothers in diagnosing and treating child health problems; and (3) Exposure to modern society from formal schooling makes women more receptive to modern medical treatments.
Abstract: Mothers education is often found to be positively correlated with child health and nutrition in developing countries yet the causal mechanisms are poorly understood. Three possible mechanisms are: (1) Formal education directly teaches health knowledge to future mothers; (2) Literacy and numeracy skills acquired in school assist future mothers in diagnosing and treating child health problems; and (3) Exposure to modern society from formal schooling makes women more receptive to modern medical treatments. This paper uses data from Morocco to assess the role played by these different mechanisms. Mothers health knowledge alone appears to be the crucial skill for raising child health. In Morocco such knowledge is primarily obtained outside the classroom although it is obtained using literacy and numeracy skills learned in school; there is no evidence that health knowledge is directly taught in schools. This suggests that teaching of health knowledge skills in Moroccan schools could substantially raise child health and nutrition in Morocco. (authors)
627Â citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explicitly model high school students' choice of college type (characterized by selectivity and control) based on individual and family characteristics (including ability and parental economic status) and an estimate of the net costs of attendance.
Abstract: Although a substantial and rising labor market premium is associated with college attendance in general, little is known about how this premium varies across institutions of different types and across time. In this paper we explicitly model high school students' choice of college type (characterized by selectivity and control) based on individual and family characteristics (including ability and parental economic status) and an estimate of the net costs of attendance. We estimate selectivity-corrected outcome equations using data from both the National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972 and High School and Beyond, which permit us to determine the effects of college quality on wages and earnings and how this effect varies across time. Even after controlling for selection effects, strong evidence emerges of a significant economic return to attending an elite private institution, and some evidence suggests this premium has increased over time.
490Â citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors reexamine the link between career interruptions and subsequent wages using a rich new Swedish dataset, and disaggregate time out of work into several components.
Abstract: This paper reexamines the link between career interruptions and subsequent wages. Using a rich new Swedish dataset, we are able to disaggregate time out of work into several components. Regressing ...
427Â citations
TL;DR: The authors analyzed the GPA of more than 5,000 undergraduates at the University of California, San Diego and found that personal background strongly affects GPA, even after controlling for personal background.
Abstract: The paper analyzes the Grade Point Average (GPA) of more than 5,000 undergraduates at the University of California, San Diego. Personal background strongly affects GPA. Graduates of different high schools obtain significantly different GPAs, even after controlling for personal background. These school effects in part reflect the incidence of poverty and the level of education among adults in the school neighborhood. Teachers' experience in the student's high school bears a positive and significant link to the student's university GPA, but the effect is small. No such positive link with GPA emerged for the teacher-pupil ratio or teachers' level of education.
322Â citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explicitly document the specificity and generality of employer-provided training, and analyze how wage growth and mobility are influenced by their direct measures of specific and general training.
Abstract: Using data from the Employer Opportunity Pilot Project (EOPP) survey and the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY), we explicitly document the specificity and generality of employer-provided training, and we analyze how wage growth and mobility are influenced by our direct measures of specific and general training In spite of the emphasis that labor economists have placed on specific training, we find that employers in the EOPP and workers in the NLSY indicate that most of the skills learned in training are useful elsewhere Our results are consistent with several recent models that predict that employers will often extract some of the returns to the general training they provide
317Â citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the impact of schooling on fertility decline in Brazil and found that the link between schooling and fertility decline occurred through parents investment in producing healthy well-educated children and trading off quantity for quality Data were obtained from retrospective fertility histories among over 100000 women who participated in the PNAD household survey in 1984.
Abstract: This study examined the impact of schooling on fertility decline in Brazil Brazils fertility decline began with few organized family planning programs and continued during periods of economic growth and recession It is argued that the link between schooling and fertility decline occurred through parents investment in producing healthy well-educated children and trading off quantity for quality Data were obtained from retrospective fertility histories among over 100000 women who participated in the PNAD household survey in 1984 Fertility decline was only weakly associated with increased female labor force participation The theoretical background suggests that schooling affects fertility investments in children and the labor market Child survival varied widely between women with no schooling and women with 11 years of schooling Mean schooling for males and females rose steadily over time The most rapid increase occurred for 1940-54 birth cohorts The percentage of women with under 1 year of schooling declined steadily for men and women and was faster for women (under 10% for the youngest cohort) An increase in wifes schooling from 0-4 years was associated with a decline in children by age 30 years of 085 births for younger women and 060 births for older women A model predicted 68% of actual fertility decline in 1935-39 and 1951-53 cohorts The effect of husbands schooling disappeared after 8 years of schooling while wifes effects continued to be negative Labor force participation was less at lower levels of education Schooling strongly effected measures of child quality
288Â citations
TL;DR: The authors investigated the persistence of poverty over individuals' life-times using a hazard rate approach that accounts for multiple spells of poverty and incorporates spell duration, individual and household characteristics, and unobserved heterogeneity.
Abstract: This paper investigates the persistence of poverty over individuals' life-times using a hazard rate approach that accounts for multiple spells of poverty and incorporates spell duration, individual and household characteristics, and unobserved heterogeneity. The findings highlight the importance of considering multiple spells in an analysis of poverty persistence, with half of those who end poverty spells returning to poverty within four years. Accounting for multiple spells shows that approximately 50 percent of blacks and 30 percent of whites falling into poverty in some year will have family income below the poverty line in five or more of the next ten years.
285Â citations
TL;DR: This paper examined the relationship among on-the-job training, starting wages, wage growth, and productivity growth and found that training lowers starting wages but the estimated magnitudes are small.
Abstract: We examine the relationships among on-the-job training, starting wages, wage growth, and productivity growth. Our models suggest that training lowers starting wages, but the estimated magnitudes are small. When firms are asked directly, we find that they pay higher starting wages to workers requiring less training than is typical, but do not pay lower starting wages to workers who require more training than is typical. In contrast to the results for wage growth, we find a large, robust impact of training on productivity growth, suggesting that firms pay most of the cost and reap most of the returns to training.
274Â citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a joint model of informal caregiving and labor force participation decisions of adult daughters who have a frail elderly parent in a broader framework of intergenerational household formation was developed and estimated.
Abstract: Children's provision of in-kind services to their elderly parents (informal caregiving) represents an important form of economic transfers to the elderly In this paper, we develop and estimate a joint model of informal caregiving and labor force participation decisions of adult daughters who have a frail elderly parent in a broader framework of intergenerational household formation Parent and daughter agree to a Nash bargaining rule as the solution to the household formation and intrahousehold decision making process However, rather than severed relationships, the threat point is given by a noncooperative equilibrium defined in terms of voluntary contributions toward a public good, the parental "well-being' Maximum likelihood parameter estimates derived from the simultaneous, multiequation, endogenous switching model are generally consistent with expectations Our results indicate that competing demands on daughters' time reduce both coresidence and informal caregiving We also find that intergenerational coresidence is an -important mode of assistance to elderly persons A simulation based on the estimated parameters suggests that public programs designed to meet the long-term care needs of elderly persons by subsidizing formal home care services may have substantial effects on intergenerational living and care arrangement decisions
268Â citations
TL;DR: The authors used tax information on about 400,000 father-son pairs, and found intergenerational earnings elasticities to be about 0.2, with higher mobility at the lower end of the income distribution than at the upper end.
Abstract: Our objective is to obtain an accurate estimate of the degree of intergenerational income mobility in Canada. We use income tax information on about 400,000 father-son pairs, and find intergenerational earnings elasticities to be about 0.2. Earnings mobility tends to be slightly greater than income mobility, but nonparametric techniques uncover significant nonlinearities in both of these relationships. Intergenerational earnings mobility is greater at the lower end of the income distribution than at the upper end, and displays an inverted V-shape elsewhere. Intergenerational income mobility follows roughly the same pattern, but is much lower at the very top of the income distribution.
246Â citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present new findings on the relationship between teenage childbearing and early human capital development and the resulting consequences for earnings in early adulthood, recognizing that the adolescent childbearing decision is endogenous because it is likely to be related to the expected costs of and returns to investing in education teen work experience and early adult work experience.
Abstract: The authors present new findings on the relationship between teenage childbearing and early human capital development and the resulting consequences for earnings in early adulthood. The analysis recognizes that the adolescent childbearing decision is endogenous because it is likely to be related to the expected costs of and returns to investing in education teen work experience and early adult work experience. Education and experience moreover are likely to be correlated with the error in the wage equation because in a lifecycle decision-making context adolescent investments in human capital will be related to expected future market returns. The empirical analysis uses instrumental variables procedures to generate unbiased estimates of the effects of early fertility on education and work experience and of the effects of all these outcomes on adult wages. A teen birth lowers completed years of schooling by 2.6 years for Whites and 2.4 years for Blacks. These imply declines of 31 and 22% in adult wages respectively for White and Black teenage mothers. A teen birth lowers early experience by 1.2 years for Whites and 1.7 years for Blacks. Teenage mothers loss of early work experience does not have a significant impact on adult wages however. Adolescent childbearing does not have a significant effect on adult work experience. For Whites there is no significant direct impact of adolescent childbearing on adult wages once the authors control for these human capital effects. Thus early childbearings effect on Whites wages is entirely indirect via education. For Blacks however even after controlling for human capital effects there is a marginally significant impact on adolescent childbearing on adult wages the meaning of which is not yet understood. (authors)
TL;DR: The authors investigated the role of information on participation in the Food Stamp Program and found that ignorance about the program contributes to non-participation, and there is evidence that knowledge about the SNAP program is endogenous-households generally avail themselves of information about the programme when the anticipated benefits of doing so are large.
Abstract: This paper explores why many low-income households do not participate in the Food Stamp Program. By analyzing detailed income and asset data from a sample of low-income households, we find that many households that appear to be eligible for food stamps in fact are not eligible. By conducting an experiment designed to investigate the role of information on participation in the Food Stamp Program, we observe that ignorance about the program contributes to nonparticipation. However, there is evidence that knowledge about the program is endogenous-households generally avail themselves of information about the program when the anticipated benefits of doing so are large.
TL;DR: This article found that the intergenerational earnings correlation is greater at the bottom of the son's conditional earnings distribution than at the top, and that controlling for son's education reduces the intra-generational correlation.
Abstract: In this paper we estimate intergenerational earnings mobility models using quantile regressions. Quantile regression is a less restrictive estimation approach than more commonly used methods such as ordinary least squares and instrumental variables, which only estimate the mean effects of intergenerational earnings correlation. Further, we investigate the role of education as an intergenerational transmission mechanism for earnings. We find that the intergenerational earnings correlation is greater at the bottom of the son's conditional earnings distribution than at the top, and that controlling for son's education reduces the intergenerational earnings correlation. We also find that education is relatively more valuable at the bottom of the conditional earnings distribution and thus tends to compress the distribution.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors measure the elasticity of worker effort with respect to changes in the piece rate using panel data collected from the payroll records of a British Columbia tree-planting firm.
Abstract: We measure the elasticity of worker effort with respect to changes in the piece rate using panel data collected from the payroll records of a British Columbia tree-planting firm. Our data contain information on daily worker productivity and the piece rate received over a five-month period. Using a structural model to control for the endogeneity of the piece rate, we estimate this elasticity to be approximately 2.14. We also calculate a nonstructural lower bound to this elasticity equal to 0.77. Structural estimation also allows us to perform policy experiments and to compare firm profits under alternative compensation systems. Our results suggest that profits would increase by at least 17 percent were the firm to implement the optimal static contract as predicted by principal-agent theory. This increase in profits would be due to capturing worker rents after the revelation of private information over ability. Yet, only a negligible proportion of these rents could be captured while inducing workers to reveal ability truthfully, suggesting that dynamic considerations were important in determining the firm's actual choice of contract.
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TL;DR: Estimated price elasticities are larger in absolute value than most previous estimates and the magnitude of the price elasticity suggests that there is a place for price competition in this market.
Abstract: Using a unique panel dataset of health plan choices and personal characteristics of employees at a single firm, this paper provides estimates of price elasticities for health insurance plans in a managed competition setting. Estimated price elasticities are larger in absolute value than most previous estimates and the magnitude of the price elasticity suggests that there is a place for price competition in this market. We also find evidence of transition costs in switching health plans for older and less healthy employees. Such differential responses to price may contribute to adverse selection in this market.
TL;DR: The effect of group size, staff-child ratio, training, and other characteristics of child care on child development is estimated using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, which is large and nationally representative, and there are repeated measures of child development.
Abstract: The effect of group size, staff-child ratio, training, and other characteristics of child care on child development is estimated using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. In contrast to most previous research, the sample is large and nationally representative, the data contain good measures of the home environment, and there are repeated measures of child development. Child care characteristics have little association with child development on average. Associations are found for some groups of children, but they are as likely to be of the "wrong" sign as they are to be of the sign predicted by developmental psychologists.
TL;DR: In this paper, a measure of "true" disability is constructed as a continuous index of unobserved work limitation using information from the Health and Retirement Study, and estimates from a simultaneous model of work participation, disability, and income flows suggest that nonworkers tend to substantially overreport limitation, with overreporting most prevalent among nonworking women, high school dropouts, nonwhites, and former blue collar workers.
Abstract: A measure of "true" disability is constructed as a continuous index of unobserved work limitation using information from the Health and Retirement Study. Estimates from a simultaneous model of work participation, disability, and income flows suggest that nonworkers tend to substantially overreport limitation, with overreporting most prevalent among nonworking women, high school dropouts, nonwhites, and former blue collar workers. Former white collar workers are found unlikely to overreport limitation. Use of a "biased" disability measure in the model leads to an upward-biased estimate of the effect of limitation on nonwork and to a downward-biased estimate of the effect of income.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated whether human capital affects the productivity and labor allocation of rural households in four districts of Pakistan and found that households with better educated males earn higher off-farm income and divert labor resources away from farm activities toward non-farm work.
Abstract: This paper investigates whether human capital affects the productivity and labor allocation of rural households in four districts of Pakistan. We find that households with better educated males earn higher off-farm income and divert labor resources away from farm activities toward non-farm work. Education has no significant effect on productivity in crop and livestock production. The effect of human capital on household incomes is partly realized through the reallocation of labor from low productivity activities to nonfarm work. Female education and nutrition do not affect productivity and labor allocation in any systematic fashion, consistent with the marginal role women play in market oriented activities in Pakistan. As a by-product, our estimation approach also tests the existence of perfect labor and factor markets; this hypothesis is strongly rejected.
TL;DR: In this paper, the effects of employer-provided health insurance on the labor supply of married women were investigated using data from the April 1993 Current Population Survey Benefits Supplement, and they exploited variation in coverage under husbands' health plans to estimate the magnitude of this effect.
Abstract: We investigate the effects of employer-provided health insurance on the labor supply of married women. Because health benefits commonly are restricted to full-time workers, wives who prefer to work short hours but have no alternate source of insurance may work long hours in order to acquire coverage for their families. We use data from the April 1993 Current Population Survey Benefits Supplement, and we exploit variation in coverage under husbands' health plans to estimate the magnitude of this effect. Our reduced-form labor supply models indicate a strong negative effect of husbands' health insurance on wives' work hours, particularly in families with children. This effect persists when we replace husbands' insurance coverage with husbands' offered insurance, and when we use a multinomial logit model that accounts for unobserved heterogeneity in family labor supply preferences.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors used exogenous variations in fertility due to twin births to measure the impact of an unplanned child on married women's labor supply and earnings, and found significant effects in the years immediately following the unplanned birth, especially in 1970.
Abstract: We use exogenous variations in fertility due to twin births to measure the impact of an unplanned child on married women's labor supply and earnings. Although the overall effects of an unplanned birth on labor supply are small, we find significant effects in the years immediately following the unplanned birth, especially in 1970. We estimate that declining fertility explains between 6 and 13 percent of the increase in married women's labor supply between 1970 and 1980. Twin births are also associated with a substantial short-run loss in earnings. This effect persists longer than the labor supply effects, though it does eventually disappear.
TL;DR: The effects of private schools on public elementary and secondary school achievement in Illinois are estimated in this article, where the percentage of students in private schools in a school district is treated as an endogenous variable in the achievement equation.
Abstract: The effects of private schools on public elementary and secondary school achievement in Illinois are estimated The percentage of students in private schools in a school district is treated as an endogenous variable in the achievement equation Catholic religion is used to identify a two-stage model It is shown that private schools have no direct effect on public school achievement
TL;DR: In this article, a simple model of job choice was applied to data from the 1987 National Medical Expenditure Survey to examine whether workers with weak preferences for health insurance sort themselves into jobs without coverage.
Abstract: Analysts have frequently interpreted the uneven distribution of health insurance across firms of varying size as evidence of insurance market failure in the small group market. We explore an additional explanation by considering the relationship between employee preferences for health insurance and its availability at the workplace. We apply a simple model of job choice to data from the 1987 National Medical Expenditure Survey to examine whether workers with weak preferences for health insurance sort themselves into jobs without coverage. Our results for a sample of single workers are consistent with such sorting behavior.
TL;DR: This paper examined the antipoverty effectiveness of child support, social insurance, and welfare among mother-only families in 1995 and found that child support brought about 6-7 percent of poor mothers over the poverty line, an effect similar to that of social insurance and welfare.
Abstract: The Current Population Survey is used to examine the antipoverty effectiveness of child support, social insurance, and welfare among motheronly families in 1995. Child support brought about 6-7 percent of pretransfer poor mother-only families over the poverty line, an effect similar to that of social insurance and welfare. A brief trend analysis shows that child support's antipoverty effectiveness has been growing. Some potential reasons why child support's effect is still so small in the face of substantial changes in child support policy are hypothesized.
TL;DR: The authors found that despite its relatively low cost, attendance at Australian Catholic schools increases the probability of completing high school by 17 percentage points and is associated with a superior performance in the labor market.
Abstract: This paper examines whether the substantial benefits reported for attending Catholic schools in the United States also exist for students of Catholic schools in Australia. We find that despite its relatively low cost, attendance at Australian Catholic schools increases the probability of completing high school by 17 percentage points. The evidence also suggests that attendance at Australian Catholic schools increases the probability of obtaining higher education and is associated with a superior performance in the labor market.
TL;DR: The authors showed that vocational school completers achieved higher earnings than their counterparts who attended academic secondary schools, but only if they worked in occupations related to the vocational course of study pursued and not the result of the training received.
Abstract: In an earlier paper based on Israeli census data, the authors showed that vocational school completers achieved higher earnings than their counterparts who attended academic secondary schools, but only if they worked in occupations related to the vocational course of study pursued. These findings were challenged by Lawrence Hotchkiss; using U.S. follow-up data from the High School and Beyond survey, he argued that the wage advantage of vocational school completers working in related occupations stemmed from employment in a well-paid occupation (a possibility not examined in our earlier estimating model) and was not the result of the training received. In this paper, we replicate the U.S. study using our Israeli data base; the results strongly confirm those from our earlier study. How may the contrasting results for Israel and the United States be explained? We suggest that the U.S. study may be faulted; its focus on young workers in theirfirst job after graduation, may have led to unduly pessimistic results with regard to the labor market outcomes of vocational schooling.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors evaluate the potential effectiveness of alternative child support policies in reducing welfare program participation and show that higher child support payments would decrease welfare participation and increase average hours of work.
Abstract: This study evaluates the potential effectiveness of alternative child support policies in reducing welfare program participation. Employing longitudinal data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, the analysis addresses the simultaneity of women's decisions regarding welfare participation, labor force participation, and annual hours of work following marital breakup. The estimation framework accounts for the endogeneity of child support payments with female labor supply and for the selection bias due to differential rates of remarriage among divorced/separated women. Results show that higher child support payments would (i) decrease welfare participation and (ii) increase average hours of work. The empirical estimates are used to assess the potential effects of adopting alternative child support policies such as the Wisconsin child support assurance system. These results suggest that large potential welfare cost savings are attainable but significant reductions in welfare participation rates would only be achieved through substantial improvements in child support enforcement or through government-assured child support payments.
TL;DR: In this article, levels of, and (cross-sectional) returns to, education across ethnic groups in Canada are estimated and large differences observed, suggesting a role for home production as a complement to formal education and supporting models of child quantity-quality tradeoffs.
Abstract: Ethnic and intergenerational aspects of human capital investment are explored. Levels of, and (cross-sectional) returns to, education across ethnic groups in Canada are estimated and large differences observed. For men, a positive correlation exists between ethnic group average years of education and its return. We also find large negative correlations between ethnic group average educational outcomes and the previous generation's fertility, suggesting a role for home production as a complement to formal education and supporting models of child quantity-quality trade-offs. Very slow intergenerational convergence in ethnic group level educational and labor market outcomes is also observed.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors test the importance of accommodation and other policy variables on the timing of application for Social Security Disability Insurance benefits following the onset of a work-limiting condition using data from the 1978 Survey of Disability and Work and the 1992 Health and Retirement Study.
Abstract: Using data from the 1978 Survey of Disability and Work and the 1992 Health and Retirement Study, we test the importance of accommodation and other policy variables on the timing of application for Social Security Disability Insurance benefits following the onset of a work-limiting condition. We correct for choice-based sampling in the Survey of Disability and Work by extending the Manski and Lerman (1977) correction to the likelihood function of our continuous time hazard model, we find that this correction significantly affects the results. Similar findings emerge from these two data sets. Accommodation significantly reduces the speed of application and more generous benefits increase the speed of applying for SSDI.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined whether traditional defined benefit (DB) plans are replacing them with 401(k) or other defined contribution (DC) plans and found that offering a DC plan of any type increases the probability of a DB termination.
Abstract: This paper examines whether sponsors of traditional defined benefit (DB) plans are replacing them with 401(k) or other defined contribution (DC) plans. I compare pension plan offerings by sponsors of a DB plan in 1985 with their offerings in 1992 using Form 5500 filings. I find that 401(k) and other DC plans are substituting for terminated DB plans and that offering a DC plan of any type increases the probability of a DB termination. Thus, it appears that, at the sponsor level, many of the new 401(k) plans are not avenues for net saving but are replacements for the more traditional pension forms.
TL;DR: The authors compared the gender gap in the pay of British, full-time workers from two cohorts, born in 1946 and 1958 and observed in their early thirties in 1978 and 1991 respectively.
Abstract: This paper compares the gender gap in the pay of British, full-time workers from two cohorts, born in 1946 and 1958 and observed in their early thirties in 1978 and 1991 respectively. These dates are separated by 13 years of Equal Pay Legislation coupled with active labor market deregulation. Although women's human capital endowments had improved on average more than men's, there may have been little improvement in the differential treatment of the average woman in full-time employment. When the whole distribution of female earnings was considered, a general improvement in the treatment of women became apparent.