Showing papers in "Journal of Human Resources in 2001"
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigate the impact of child health (as indicated by nutritional status) on school enrollments in rural Pakistan using an explicit dynamic model for the preferred estimates, and find that child health is three times more important for enrollment than suggested by naïve estimates.
Abstract: Better child health is widely thought to improve school performance, and therefore post-school productivity. But most of the literature ignores that child health as well as child schooling reflects behavioral choices. Therefore the estimated impact of child health on child schooling in these studies may be biased, perhaps substantially. This study employs longitudinal data to investigate the impact of child health (as indicated by nutritional status) on school enrollments in rural Pakistan using an explicit dynamic model for the preferred estimates. These estimates use price shocks when children were of preschool age to control for behavior determining the child health stock measure. They indicate that child health (nutrition) is three times as important for enrollment than suggested by "naive estimates" that assume that child health is predetermined rather than determined by household choices in the presence of unobserved factors such as preferences and health endowments. These results, therefore, reinforce strongly the importance of using estimation methods that are consistent with the economic theory of households to explore the impact of some choice variables on others using socioeconomic behavioral data.
442Â citations
TL;DR: The distribution of job satisfaction widened across cohorts of young men in the United States between 1978 and 1988, and between 1978 to 1996, in ways correlated with changing wage inequality.
Abstract: The distribution of job satisfaction widened across cohorts of young men in the United States between 1978 and 1988, and between 1978 and 1996, in ways correlated with changing wage inequality. Satisfaction among workers in upper earnings quartiles rose relative to that of workers in the lowest quartile. An identical phenomenon is observed among men in West Germany in response to a sharp increase in the relative earnings of high-wage men in the mid-1990s. Several hypotheses about the determinants of satisfaction are presented and examined using both cross-section data on these cohorts and panel data from the NLSY and the German SOEP. The evidence is most consistent with workers' job satisfaction being especially responsive to surprises in the returns to observable skills, less so to surprises in the returns to unobservables. The effects of earnings shocks on job satisfaction dissipate over time.
362Â citations
TL;DR: This article found that even the poorest households use private schools extensively, and that utilization increases with income, consistent with evidence of higher mathematics and language achievement in private schools than in government schools.
Abstract: Variation in school attributes, proximity, and fees across neighborhoods is used to identify factors which affect whether poor households send their children to government school, private school, or no school. Analysis shows that even the poorest households use private schools extensively, and that utilization increases with income. Lowering private school fees or distance or raising measured quality raises private school enrollments, partly by transfers from government schools and partly from enrollments of children who otherwise would not have gone to school. The strong demand for private schools is consistent with evidence of greater mathematics and language achievement in private schools than in government schools. These results strongly support an increased role for private delivery of schooling services to poor households in developing countries.
327Â citations
TL;DR: In this article, the importance of networks in both the decision to migrate and the level of migration was analyzed using data from a national survey of rural Mexican households, showing that community and family networks are substitutes in assisting migration, suggesting that, once migration is well established in a community, family networks become less important.
Abstract: A household's decision to send migrants is based on infornation it has on the entry costs, expected returns, and risks of migration. Information and assistance flow from both family migrant networks and community migrant networks. Using data from a national survey of rural Mexican households, we show the importance of networks in both the decision to migrate and the level of migration. We find that community and family networks are substitutes in assisting migration, suggesting that, once migration is well established in a community, family networks become less important. In addition, the development of strong community networks erases the role of household characteristics in migration, allowing those initially least favored to also participate in migration. Finally, we show that network density at points of destination in the United States strongly affects where individuals choose to migrate.
270Â citations
TL;DR: It is concluded that many of the data quality problems found previously are present in the MFLS, fielded in Peninsular Malaysia in 1976 and 1988.
Abstract: The literature on reporting error provides insights into the quality of retrospective reports, particularly as it pertains to short-tern recall. Less is understood about the generalizability of these findings to longer-tern retrospective reports. We review studies analyzing the quality of retrospective reports in the Malaysian Family Life Surveys (MFLS), fielded in Peninsular Malaysia in 1976 and 1988, and conclude that many of the data quality problems found previously are present in the MFLS. We summarize this literature, place studies based on the MFLS within the context of the reporting error literature, and discuss implications for the design of future surveys.
217Â citations
TL;DR: This paper showed that having a single parent is highly correlated with many other socioeconomic disadvantages, and that negative outcomes might be caused by something beyond the parent's absence, such as the absence of a biological parent.
Abstract: It is widely recognized that children who grow up without a biological parent do worse, on average, than other children. However, because having a single parent is highly correlated with many other socioeconomic disadvantages, the negative outcomes might be caused by something beyond the parent's absence. Econometric tests using a variety of background controls and parental death as an exogenous cause of absence, show little evidence that a parent's presence during childhood affects economic well being in adulthood. The two exceptions are that living without a mother impacts girls' cognitive performance while having a father die lowers sons' chances of marriage.
191Â citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated the causes of the increase in public assistance caseloads through the end of the AFDC program in 1996, with particular attention paid to the rapid increase in cases between 1990 and 1994, and explored whether this increase was driven by changes in takeup rates versus in eligibility.
Abstract: This paper uses state panel data to investigate changes in public assistance caseloads through the end of the AFDC program in 1996, with particular attention to the rapid increase in caseloads between 1990 and 1994. Previous research has focused on total caseloads, with attention to economic and policy variables, and does a relatively poor job of explaining this caseload increase. This paper utilizes a much richer set of control variables to investigate the causes of caseload change; it separates AFDC caseloads into three subcomponent programs, separately investigating changes within the AFDC-UP program, AFDC child-only cases, and the remaining "core" AFDC cases (with benefits paid to single mothers and their children); and it explores whether this caseload rise was driven by changes in takeup rates versus in eligibility. The results indicate a large unexplained rise in total AFDC caseloads, even with a very rich specification. A good share of this is due to sharp increases in child-only cases, driven by program and demographic shifts. To a lesser extent, this rise was caused by the expansion of AFDC-UP to all states. These two factors explain half of the overall rise, and all of the unexplained rise in AFDC caseloads. The remaining increase in "core" AFDC cases-benefits received by single mothers and their children-is well explained within the model, and is the result of economic, demographic, political and policy changes. These variables appear to have increased eligibility among the core AFDC population in the early 1990s during the economic slowdown. Takeup rates also increased during this time period, but not by a large amount.
191Â citations
TL;DR: Thomas et al. as discussed by the authors used data from three waves of the Indonesia Family Life Survey (IFLS) to examine follow-up and attrition in the context of a large scale panel survey conducted in a low income setting.
Abstract: Author(s): Thomas, Duncan; Frankenberg, Elizabeth; Smith, James P. | Abstract: Data from three waves of the Indonesia Family Life Survey (IFLS) are used to examine follow-up and attrition in the context of a large scale panel survey conducted in a low income setting. Household-level attrition between the baseline and first follow-up four years later is 6%; the cumulative attrition between the baseline and second follow-up after a five year hiatus is 5%. Attrition is low in the IFLS because movers are followed: around 12% of households that were interviewed had moved from their location at baseline. About half of those households were "local movers." The other half, many of whom had moved to a new province, were interviewed during a second sweep through the study areas ("2 nd tracking"). Regression analyses indicate that in terms of household-level characteristics at baseline, households interviewed during 2 nd tracking are very similar to those not interviewed in the follow-up surveys. Local movers are more similar to the households found in the baseline location in the follow-ups. The results suggest that the information content of households interviewed during 2 nd tracking is probably high. The costs of following those respondents is relatively modest in the IFLS. While the analytical value of re-interviewing movers will vary depending on the specifics of the research, we conclude that, in general, tracking movers is a worthwhile investment in longitudinal household surveys conducted in settings where communication infrastructure is limited.
180Â citations
TL;DR: This paper examined the rise in college expectations among 15- and 16-year-olds in the 1979 and 1997 NLSY Probit models estimate the effects of gender, race/ethnicity, family characteristics, and local economic conditions on the probability of expecting a college degree.
Abstract: We examine the rise in college expectations among 15- and 16-year-olds in the 1979 and 1997 NLSY Probit models estimate the effects of gender, race/ethnicity, family characteristics, and local economic conditions on the probability of expecting a college degree Race/ethnic differences and the influences of family resources and county economic conditions declined between 1979 and 1997 In contrast, girls became more likely to expect a college degree than boys, and family structure grew in importance over time Family resources and structure appear to shape expectations largely through differences in school peers, teacher quality and interest, and past academic performance
156Â citations
TL;DR: In this article, a group of health-impaired workers who self-report in the Survey of Income and Program Participation that their productivity is not affected by their impairment is used to separately measure the effects of discrimination from the negative effects of poor health on earnings in 1984 and 1993.
Abstract: A group of health-impaired workers who self-report in the Survey of Income and Program Participation that their productivity is not affected by their impairment is used to separately measure the effects of discrimination from the effects of poor health on earnings in 1984 and 1993. The results indicate that, in 1984, only 3.7 percentage points of the earnings gap is due to discrimination and the amount of discrimination did not decrease by 1993. Although discrimination did not change over the 1984 to 1993 period, the negative effects of poor health on the earnings of people with disabilities fell substantially.
126Â citations
TL;DR: The authors developed a theory of the survey response decision process and applied it to the analysis of field office policy measures in an attempt to see which of these are effective in reducing panel attrition.
Abstract: In this paper we develop a theory of the survey response decision process and apply it to the analysis of field office policy measures in an attempt to see which of these are effective in reducing panel attrition. We use data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) to assess the effectiveness of 1) reducing the length of the interview and 2) assigning the same initial interviewer wave after wave. There is virtually no evidence in the data that interview length affects subsequent wave response. Assigning the same interviewer wave after wave, however, has a strong positive effect on response rates.
TL;DR: This paper analyzed the elapsed time taken to earn a Ph.D. in economics with data from 618 1996-97 Ph.d. programs and found no difference in time-to-degree between men and women, married and single students, older and younger students, and those enrolled in larger or smaller programs.
Abstract: The elapsed time taken to earn a Ph.D. in economics is analyzed with data from 618 1996-97 Ph.D.s. A duration model indicates that students supported by fellowships, and those holding a prior Master's degree finish faster. Americans, those who take jobs before completing their degree, and those with children take longer. Kids slow the progress of women, but not men. The only difference among fields is more time required for industrial organization and international economics. There is no difference in time-to-degree between men and women, married and single students, older and younger students, and those enrolled in larger or smaller Ph.D. programs.
TL;DR: This article examined a set of latent growth curve models that interrelate children's family experiences and psychosocial adjustment using listwise deletion (LD) and multiple imputation (MI) procedures.
Abstract: Survey attrition and nonresponse, particularly when selective, present unique challenges to researchers interested in studying developmental processes and longitudinal change. Four distinct patterns of nonresponse on children's psychosocial adjustment and lifetime poverty experiences and family histories are identified using principal components analysis. In turn, membership in these four groups is significantly predicted by the child's demographic characteristics, family experiences, and previous values on adjustment variables, indicating selective nonresponse and raising the possibility of biased estimates based on listwise deletion of missing data. We then examine a set of latent growth curve models that interrelate children's family experiences and psychosocial adjustment using listwise deletion (LD) and multiple imputation (MI) procedures. Implications for treatment of nonresponse in national longitudinal surveys are discussed.
TL;DR: Using data from administrative records, the Survey of Income and Program Participation, and the Current Population Survey, this paper found that the proportion of never married mothers receiving child support rose sharply in the 1980s and 1990s, and that increased government expenditures on child support are responsible for about one quarter of the upward trend in child support receipt.
Abstract: Using data from administrative records, the Survey of Income and Program Participation, and the Current Population Survey, we find that the proportion of never married mothers receiving child support rose sharply in the 1980s and 1990s. Using within-state variation over time, we estimate that increased government expenditures on child support are responsible for about one quarter of the upward trend in child support receipt. Our results show that child support expenditures and legislation work best in tandem. States that both increased expenditures and adopted tougher laws experienced the largest increase in the proportion of never married mother families receiving support.
TL;DR: This paper provided empirical evidence on the structural relationship between alcohol use and teen childbearing by exploiting the exogenous variation in youth alcohol availability generated by changes in state minimum legal drinking ages and found that alcohol availability and use have large independent and statistically significant effects on childbearing among black teens but not necessarily among white teens.
Abstract: This study provides empirical evidence on the structural relationship between alcohol use and teen childbearing by exploiting the exogenous variation in youth alcohol availability generated by changes in state minimum legal drinking ages. The reduced-form childbearing models are based on state-level panel data and two-way fixed effect specifications as well as models that incorporate as controls the contemporaneous childbearing data from older women who were unaffected by the state changes in youth alcohol policy. The results indicate that alcohol availability and use have large independent and statistically significant effects on childbearing among black teens but not necessarily among white teens. (authors)
TL;DR: This article examined the relationship between Head Start and school suspensions, grade retentiois, and scores on achievement tests and found that I-lead Start participation does not have lonqg-term benefits.
Abstract: ABSTRA(C'T Usinig a new data set, the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 (AIJSY97), this paper examines the relationships between Head Start and school suspensions, grade retentiois, and scores onz miath achievement tests. The body o'jprevious work that has studied the eJffcts (J'Head Start oni child outrotnes has examined relatliiely young chillren or smail samples ,from compensatorIy preschool programs other than Ilend Start. Using tihe Nl.SY97 helps to remnedy somne qf the datat issues because it is a large nationially representative data set anid contains outconmes uip to the teenzage years. The estinates indicate that I-lead Start participation does not have lonqg-term benefits. i'hisfindizng is compatible with past work- showing that compensatory preschool /programis that lire in duration and intenisive cre inore likely to imnprove participanits' ouitcouies.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors evaluate the data quality of two demographic variables in light of hypotheses on respondent recall from the literature on survey methodology and provide empirical evidence consistent with this hypothesis by assessing the quality of demographic data on two event history variables as supplied by female respondents.
Abstract: This paper evaluates the data quality of two demographic variables in light of hypotheses on respondent recall from the literature on survey methodology. An emerging consensus in this literature is that recall of the timing of an event declines with recall duration unless the dating of an event is frequently "rehearsed." We provide empirical evidence consistent with this hypothesis by assessing the quality of demographic data on two event history variables as supplied by female respondents. A first outcome concerns the interval between a first and second birth. We assess examine birth intervals using birth registration data from the Vital Statistics on Natality (VSN) and individual-level survey data from the 1990 June Current Population Survey (CPS), the 1979-93 waves of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY), and the 1988 National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG). Overall, we find relatively little variation in the quality of birth interval data across these four surveys, with onie exception-CPS data in which responses have been allocated. A second demographic variable is age at first sexual intercourse. We engage in several analyses of this variable. First, we use NLSY data to analyze discrepan
TL;DR: The authors analyzes interethnic variation in the gender wage gap among immigrants in the United States and finds that cultural factors, in addition to human capital and institutional factors, explain why some women earn more relative to men than others.
Abstract: This paper analyzes interethnic variation in the gender wage gap among immigrants in the United States. Controlling for human capital factors does not eliminate interethnic variation in the gender wage gap. Moreover, a positive correlation exists between the gender wage gaps of first generation immigrants and the same gaps in those groups' countries of origin. Although I cannot detect a home country effect for second-and-higher generation immigrants, the pattern for the first generation gap is consistent with a role for cultural factors, in addition to human capital and institutional factors, in explaining why some women earn more relative to men than others.
TL;DR: The authors used data from the new National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 (NLSY97) to examine the employment and earning behavior of youths aged 12-16 as well as the cash transfers received from their parents.
Abstract: The employment behavior of youths under age 16 has been neglected in the literature. This paper uses data from the new National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 (NLSY97) to examine the employment and earning behavior of youths aged 12-16 as well as the cash transfers received from their parents. Nearly half the youths (47 percent) earned income in 1996. As youths age, the amount of money they control increases as earnings grow faster than allowances. Results also suggest that a negative relationship exists both between youth employment and parental allowances and between earnings and parental allowances for youths aged 14-16.
TL;DR: This paper analyzed the effect of less frequent interviews on the quality of data collected by the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79) with respect to data collected using event history techniques, namely food stamp recipiency and employment history.
Abstract: Prior to its switch from an annual interviewing format to a biennial one, the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79) conducted an experiment to see how less frequent interviews would affect data quality. This paper analyzes this experiment with respect to data collected using event history techniques, namely AFDC and food stamp recipiency and employment history. Respondents faced with the longer recall period failed to report short spells of recipiency, employment, and nonemployment. The pattern of the coefficients in econometric models of the type often used to study event history did not change greatly, though tests reject the equality of the coefficients between the recall sample and the control group in half of the models estimated.
TL;DR: In this paper, the effects of guidelines on children born out of wedlock versus children whose parents divorced or separated were compared using state guideline formulas and a sample of women drawn from the NLSY.
Abstract: Federal legislation mandates the use of child-support guidelines to improve adequacy and horizontal equity of child-support awards. Using state guideline formulas, and a sample of women drawn from the NLSY we compare the effects of guidelines on children born out of wedlock versus children whose parents divorced or separated. Our analyses indicate that guidelines increase the probability of child-support awards for children born out of wedlock. Guidelines also reduce variation in awards by eliminating outliers, not by equalizing awards across the entire distribution. Awards for high-income divorced or separated fathers fall substantially below the guideline amount.
TL;DR: This paper used the entire set of an individual's responses to control for this unobserved individual heterogeneity, which can improve the information content in responses regarding intergenerational transfer and labor force participation plans.
Abstract: The Health and Retirement Study asks respondents their subjective probabilities about 12 future events. An individual's responses contain a common component that is unrelated to the true probability of the event in question. Use of the entire set of an individual's responses to control for this unobserved individual heterogeneity can improve the information content in responses regarding intergenerational transfer and labor force participation plans. Although there is little overall gain from renormalization, in samples where the respondent may not fully have understood the question adjusting the responses for heterogeneity leads to an improved ability to predict outcomes in later waves.
TL;DR: In this paper, the consequences of school-to-work programs for youth employment and schooling decisions while in high school, and students' subjective assessments of the likelihood of future schooling and work behavior were analyzed.
Abstract: The new NLSY offers researchers opportunities to analyze direct evidence on school-to-work programs, using data collected from individuals and schools. This paper focuses on the consequences of school-to-work programs for youth employment and schooling decisions while in high school, and students' subjective assessments of the likelihood of future schooling and work behavior. School-to-work participation does not appear to influence behavior likely associated with future college attendance, although it does appear to increase respondents' subjective probabilities of obtaining a high-school diploma. More in accordance with the traditional view of school-to-work programs, participation increases the perceived likelihood of future labor market activity.
TL;DR: This paper analyzed the responses of UC's faculty to three waves of buyout incentives and found that an individual presented with 10 percent higher severance benefits has a 7-8 percent higher probability of quitting.
Abstract: In response to huge budgetary shortfalls in the early 1990s, the University of California offered its older and longer-service employees financial inducements to leave. This paper analyzes the responses of UC's faculty to three waves of buyout incentives. It is estimated that an individual presented with 10 percent higher severance benefits has a 7-8 percent higher probability of quitting. However, quit probabilities are very difficult to forecast with accuracy. This casts doubt on arguments that maintain that buyouts are superior to employer-initiated layoffs as a mechanism to effect large employment changes.
TL;DR: The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, 1997 Cohort (NLSY97) as discussed by the authors is the data set used in the articles in this volume and is the only data set available for the first year of the survey.
Abstract: This essay describes the new National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, 1997 Cohort (NLSY97) that is the data set used in the articles in this volume. It briefly describes the background for the survey, its sponsorship by the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics, its fielding, and the nature of the substantive content of the first-year questionnaire. The paper notes major differences between this new survey and the earlier data sets in the National Longitudinal Survey Program.
TL;DR: Baker and Benjamin this paper analyzed the receipt of unemployment insurance by immigrant men using two years of the Canadian Survey of Consumer Finances and found that immigrants assimilate toward greater receipt of benefits.
Abstract: Baker and Benjamin (1995) analyse the receipt of unemployment insurance by immigrant men using two years of the Canadian Survey of Consumer Finances. This study replicates their research on 13 of the annual surveys. Estimates are found to be sensitive to the choice of survey years. Furthermore, the standard fixed effects model of assimilation is rejected when tested against a model that allows for separate year-since-migration effects by arrival cohort. Estimates from the more general model do not indicate higher incidence of benefit receipt, ceteris paribus, among more recent cohorts or that immigrants assimilate toward greater receipt of benefits.
TL;DR: This paper presented an extensive analysis of the behavior of union and nonunion wages over the business cycle, using quasi-panels developed from the Current Population Survey, in an attempt to resolve or reconcile competing claims about the cyclical behavior of unions and non-union wages.
Abstract: This paper presents an extensive analysis of the behavior of union and nonunion wages over the business cycle, using quasi-panels developed from the Current Population Survey, in an attempt to resolve or reconcile competing claims about the cyclical behavior of union and nonunion wages. Union wages were roughly as procyclical as nonunion wages were, prior to the early 1980s. Substantial reductions in union wage procyclicality since then are associated with reductions in the procyclical exercise of bargaining power.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors implemented an experimental poverty measure based on recommendations by a National Academy of Sciences panel and found that while child poverty rates continue to surpass those of others, the gap between child and adult poverty rates is smaller under the experimental measure.
Abstract: Although child poverty rates continue to surpass those of others, there is growing consensus that current official poverty measure has become outdated and flawed Using data from the Current Population Survey and the Survey of Income and Program Participation, we implement an experimental poverty measure based on recommendations by a National Academy of Sciences panel We find that while child poverty rates continue to surpass those of others, the gap between child and adult poverty rates is smaller under the experimental measure Results highlight the impact of noncash government benefits and the Earned Income Tax Credit in reducing child poverty:
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined household savings using data from the National Longitudinal Survey, Cohort 1997, which provides detailed information about assets and liabilities of parents with teenage children.
Abstract: In this paper, we examine household savings using data from the National Longitudinal Survey, Cohort 1997. This data set provides detailed information about assets and liabilities of parents with teenage children. In our empirical work, we have to first deal with several problems in measuring wealth. Although many responding parents report owning assets and liabilities, they often do not report their values. To get around the nonresponse problem, we impute the missing values for assets and liabilities. To study the patterns of accumulation of young parents, we examine wealth holdings and asset ownership across several demographic groups.
TL;DR: The authors examined one way in which welfare actually may keep families together: the fact that benefits increase with family size may encourage teenagers to stay in welfare-recipient households, and found that children are more likely to leave their parents the smaller the benefit loss that the parent suffers.
Abstract: The welfare system has long been criticized for its incentives against marriage. This paper examines one way in which welfare actually may keep families together: the fact that benefits increase with family size may encourage teenagers to stay in welfare-recipient households. Welfare benefit incentives affecting coresidence are twofold: (1) a parent loses benefits if a child leaves the household and (2) a child may receive additional benefits if s/he leaves the parental household. At a theoretical level, these incentives are shown to have an ambiguous effect on the coresidence decision. Empirically, Ifind that children are more likely to leave their parents the smaller the benefit loss that the parent suffers. This result illustrates a potential side-effect of welfare time limits, which effectively make children less "valuable" to welfare parents who reach the time limit. When children no longer increase the benefits available to lowincome parents, more children may leave the parental household before age 18. Welfare's effects on living arrangements are estimated to be considerably stronger than most previously estimated effects on childbearing or female headship.