Klaus F. Zimmermann

A new paper published in the Journal of Population Economics shows that the effect of birth order on educational outcomes in Mexico is negative.

Read more in:

The importance of being earliest: birth order and educational outcomes along the socioeconomic ladder in Mexico

by Lucio Esposito, Sunil Mitra Kumar, Adrián Villaseñor

Journal of Population Economics (2020) 33, Issue 3:1069–1099
PDF of the article OPEN ACCESS

Author Abstract: We study the effect of birth order on educational outcomes in Mexico using 2 million observations from the 2010 Census. We find that the effect of birth order is negative, and a variety of endogeneity and robustness checks suggest a causal interpretation of this finding. We then examine whether these effects vary across households’ economic status, and we find significant heterogeneity across absolute as well as relative standards of living, operationalized as household wealth and relative deprivation. Finally, we find that firstborns’ advantage is amplified when they are male, and in particular when other siblings are female.

Access to the newly published complete Volume 33, Issue 3, July 2020.

LEAD ARTICLE OF ISSUE 3:
Blau, F.D., Kahn, L.M., Brummund, P. et al., Is there still son preference in the United States?.
Journal of Population Economics 33, 709–750 (2020). READ LINK FREE.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00148-019-00760-7

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The GLO Discussion Paper of the Month of April underscores the need for further research to consider the medium and long run economic impacts of COVID-19 and its impacts on human capital accumulation, early-life exposure and labor market discrimination.

See below links to further work of the GLO network on the corinavirus.

See also below the list of all GLO DPs of April with links to free access.

GLO Discussion Papers are research and policy papers of the GLO Network which are widely circulated to encourage discussion. Provided in cooperation with EconStor, a service of the ZBW – Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, GLO Discussion Papers are among others listed in RePEc (see IDEAS, EconPapers). Complete list of all GLO DPs downloadable for free.

GLO Discussion Paper of the Month: April

524 The Short-Term Economic Consequences of COVID-19: Exposure to Disease, Remote Work and Government Response – Download PDF
by Béland, Louis-Philippe & Brodeur, Abel & Wright, Taylor  

Author Abstract: In this ongoing project, we examine the short-term consequences of COVID- 19 on employment and wages in the United States. Guided by a pre-analysis plan, we document the impact of COVID-19 at the national-level using a simple difference and test whether states with relatively more confirmed cases/deaths were more affected. Our findings suggest that COVID-19 in- creased the unemployment rate, decreased hours of work and labor force participation and had no significant impacts on wages. The negative impacts on labor market outcomes are larger for men, younger workers, Hispanics and less-educated workers. This suggest that COVID-19 increases labor market inequalities. We also investigate whether the economic consequences of this pandemic were larger for certain occupations. We built three indexes using ACS and O*NET data: workers relatively more exposed to disease, work- ers that work with proximity to coworkers and workers who can easily work remotely. Our estimates suggest that individuals in occupations working in proximity to others are more affected while occupations able to work remotely are less affected. We also find that occupations classified as more exposed to disease are less affected, possibly due to the large number of essential workers in these occupations.

The Journal of Population Economics welcomes submissions dealing with the demographic aspects of the Coronavirus Crisis. After fast refereeing, successful papers are published in the next available issue. An example:

Yun Qiu, Xi Chen & Wei Shi (2020): Impacts of Social and Economic Factors on the Transmission of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in China, GLO Discussion Paper, No. 494.
REVISED DRAFT NOW forthcoming: Journal of Population Economics, Issue 4, 2020.
SEE FOR MORE DETAILS AND FREE ACCESS TO THE PREPUBLICATION REVISED DRAFT!

Further publication on COVID-19 of a GLO DP:

GLO Discussion Paper No. 508, 2020
Inter-country Distancing, Globalization and the Coronavirus Pandemic – Download PDF
by Zimmermann, Klaus F. & Karabulut, Gokhan & Bilgin, Mehmet Huseyin & Doker, Asli Cansin is now forthcoming in The World Economy doi:10.1111/twec.12969 PREPUBLICATION VERSION

More from the GLO Coronavirus Cluster

GLO Discussion Papers of April 2020

530 Is Happiness U-shaped Everywhere? Age and Subjective Well-being in 145 Countries  – Download PDF
by Blanchflower, David G.

529 Do Swedish schools discriminate against children with disabilities?  – Download PDF
by Ahmed, Ali & Hammarstedt, Mats & Karlsson, Karl

528 Working From Home Under COVID-19: Who Is Affected? Evidence From Latin American and Caribbean Countries – Download PDF
by Delaporte, Isaure & Peña, Werner

527 The Perceived Well-being and Health Costs of Exiting Self-Employment – Download PDF
by Nikolova, Milena & Nikolaev, Boris & Popova, Olga

526 When Goal-Setting Forges Ahead but Stops Short – Download PDF
by Islam, Asad & Kwon, Sungoh & Masood, Eema & Prakash, Nishith & Sabarwal, Shwetlena & Saraswat, Deepak

525 Longer School Schedules, Childcare and the Quality of Mothers’ Employment: Evidence from School Reform in Chile – Download PDF
by Berthelon, Matias & Kruger, Diana & Lauer, Catalina & Tiberti, Luca & Zamora, Carlos

524 The Short-Term Economic Consequences of COVID-19: Exposure to Disease, Remote Work and Government Response – Download PDF
by Béland, Louis-Philippe & Brodeur, Abel & Wright, Taylor

523 Misclassification-errors-adjusted Sahm Rule for Early Identification of Economic Recession – Download PDF
by Feng, Shuaizhang & Sun, Jiandong

522 A spatial analysis of inward FDI and rural-urban wage inequality: Evidence from China – Download PDF
by Wang, Hao & Fidrmuc, Jan & Luo, Qi

521 The technological contest between China and the United States – Download PDF
by Toro Hardy, Alfredo

520 How do we think the COVID-19 crisis will affect our careers (if any remain)?  – Download PDF
by Baert, Stijn & Lippens, Louis & Moens, Eline & Sterkens, Philippe & Weytjens, Johannes

519 Bottom incomes and the measurement of poverty and inequality – Download PDF
by Hlasny, Vladimir & Ceriani, Lidia & Verme, Paolo

518 Automation and Demographic Change – Download PDF
by Abeliansky, Ana Lucia & Prettner, Klaus

517 Biomarkers, disability and health care demand – Download PDF
by Davillas, Apostolos & Pudney, Stephen

516 Confronting COVID-19 Myths: Morbidity and Mortality – Download PDF
byJelnov, Pavel

515 The Semicircular Flow of the Data Economy and the Data Sharing Laffer curve – Download PDF
by de Pedraza, Pablo & Vollbracht, Ian

514 Commuting and self-employment in Western Europe – Download PDF
by Giménez-Nadal, José Ignacio & Molina, José Alberto & Velilla, Jorge

513 Italian Workers at Risk During the Covid-19 Epidemic – Download PDF
by Barbieri, Teresa & Basso, Gaetano & Scicchitano, Sergio

512 Do Quarantine Experiences and Attitudes Towards COVID-19 Affect the Distribution of Psychological Outcomes in China? A Quantile Regression Analysis – Download PDF
by Lu, Haiyang & Nie, Peng & Qian, Long

511 Teaching ‘out of field’ in STEM subjects in Australia: Evidence from PISA 2015 – Download PDF
by Shah, Chandra & Richardson, Paul & Watt, Helen

510 BrExit or BritaIn: Is the UK more Attractive to Supervisors? An Analysis of Wage Premium to Supervision across the EU – Download PDF
by Biagetti, Marco & Giangreco, Antonio & Leonida, Leone & Scicchitano, Sergio

509 What makes work meaningful and why economists should care about it – Download PDF
by Nikolova, Milena & Cnossen, Femke

508 Inter-country Distancing, Globalization and the Coronavirus Pandemic – Download PDF
by Zimmermann, Klaus F. & Karabulut, Gokhan & Bilgin, Mehmet Huseyin & Doker, Asli Cansin

507 The children are alright: Revisiting the impact of parental migration in the Philippines – Download PDF
by Pajaron, Marjorie & Latinazo, Cara T. & Trinidad, Enrico G.

GLO DP Managing Editor: Magdalena Ulceluse, University of Groningen. DP@glabor.org  

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A new GLO Discussion Paper provides global evidence that the U-shaped happiness-age curve is everywhere.

The Global Labor Organization (GLO) is an independent, non-partisan and non-governmental organization that functions as an international network and virtual platform to stimulate global research, debate and collaboration.

GLO Discussion Paper No. 530, 2020

Is Happiness U-shaped Everywhere? Age and Subjective Well-being in 145 Countries – Download PDF
by Blanchflower, David G.

GLO Fellow David G. Blanchflower

Author Abstract: A large empirical literature has debated the U-shaped happiness-age curve. This paper re-examines the relationship between various measures of well-being and age in one hundred and forty-five countries, including one hundred and nine developing countries, controlling for education, marital and labor force status, among others on samples of individuals under the age of seventy. The curve is forcefully confirmed with an age minimum, or nadir, in midlife around age fifty, employing separate analyses for developing and advanced countries as well as for the continent of Africa as robustness checks. While panel data are largely unavailable for this issue, and the finding using such data largely confirms the cross-section results, the paper discusses insights on why cohort effects do not drive the findings. I find the minima has risen over time in Europe and the United States. The happiness curve seems to be everywhere.

GLO Discussion Papers are research and policy papers of the GLO Network which are widely circulated to encourage discussion. Provided in cooperation with EconStor, a service of the ZBW – Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, GLO Discussion Papers are among others listed in RePEc (see IDEAS,  EconPapers). Complete list of all GLO DPs – downloadable for free.

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A new GLO Discussion Paper provides evidence that Swedish schools discriminated against children with certain disabilities, and that discrimination is most prevalent in private schools.

The Global Labor Organization (GLO) is an independent, non-partisan and non-governmental organization that functions as an international network and virtual platform to stimulate global research, debate and collaboration.

GLO Discussion Paper No. 529, 2020

Do Swedish schools discriminate against children with disabilities? – Download PDF
by Ahmed, Ali & Hammarstedt, Mats & Karlsson, Karl

GLO Fellow Mats Hammarstedt

Author Abstract: We present results from a field experiment in which fictitious parents to children with certain types of disabilities, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM), make inquires to Swedish schools about admission for their children to the compulsory preschool class. Our results reveal that Swedish schools discriminated against children with these disabilities and that discrimination is most prevalent in private schools. Private schools discriminated against boys with ADHD and T1DM and against girls with ADHD. Furthermore, public schools discriminated against girls with ADHD. One potential effect of our results is that children with disabilities are referred to less attractive schools than children with no such medical conditions. These results may have implications for the possibilities for individuals with ADHD and T1DM to succeed in the labor market in the long run.

GLO Discussion Papers are research and policy papers of the GLO Network which are widely circulated to encourage discussion. Provided in cooperation with EconStor, a service of the ZBW – Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, GLO Discussion Papers are among others listed in RePEc (see IDEAS,  EconPapers). Complete list of all GLO DPs – downloadable for free.

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A new GLO Discussion Paper documents considerable variation in the potential to work from home across occupations, industries, regions and workers’ socioeconomic characteristics in Latin American and Caribbean Countries.

The Global Labor Organization (GLO) is an independent, non-partisan and non-governmental organization that functions as an international network and virtual platform to stimulate global research, debate and collaboration.

GLO Discussion Paper No. 528, 2020

Working From Home Under COVID-19: Who Is Affected? Evidence From Latin American and Caribbean Countries – Download PDF
by Delaporte, Isaure & Peña, Werner

GLO Fellow Isaure Delaporte

Author Abstract: Millions of individuals are required to work from home as part of national efforts to fight COVID-19. To evaluate the employment impact of the pandemic, an important point is whether individuals are able to work from home. This paper estimates the share of jobs that can be performed at home in 23 Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries as well as examines the workers’ characteristics associated with such jobs. To carry out this analysis, this paper uses rich harmonised household surveys and presents two measures of teleworkability. The first measure of the feasibility of working from home is borrowed from Dingel and Neiman (2020), while the second closely follows the methodology of Saltiel (2020). We use the second measure as our benchmark, as it is based on a more representative task content of occupations for LAC countries. We find that the share of individuals who are able to work from home varies from 7% in Guatemala to 16% in the Bahamas. We document considerable variation in the potential to work from home across occupations, industries, regions and workers’ socioeconomic characteristics. Our results show that some individuals are better positioned to cope with the current situation than others. This highlights the need to assist the most vulnerable workers in the context of the global pandemic.

The Journal of Population Economics welcomes submissions dealing with the demographic aspects of the Coronavirus Crisis. After fast refereeing, successful papers are published in the next available issue. An example:

Yun Qiu, Xi Chen & Wei Shi (2020): Impacts of Social and Economic Factors on the Transmission of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in China, GLO Discussion Paper, No. 494.
REVISED DRAFT NOW forthcoming: Journal of Population Economics, Issue 4, 2020.
SEE FOR MORE DETAILS AND FREE ACCESS TO THE PREPUBLICATION REVISED DRAFT!

More from the GLO Coronavirus Cluster

GLO Discussion Papers are research and policy papers of the GLO Network which are widely circulated to encourage discussion. Provided in cooperation with EconStor, a service of the ZBW – Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, GLO Discussion Papers are among others listed in RePEc (see IDEAS,  EconPapers). Complete list of all GLO DPs – downloadable for free.

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A new GLO Discussion Paper shows that transitioning from self-employment to salaried employment brings small improvements in health and life satisfaction, but the negative psychological costs of business failure are substantial and exceed the costs of involuntarily losing a salaried job.

The Global Labor Organization (GLO) is an independent, non-partisan and non-governmental organization that functions as an international network and virtual platform to stimulate global research, debate and collaboration.

GLO Discussion Paper No. 527, 2020

The Perceived Well-being and Health Costs of Exiting Self-Employment – Download PDF
by Nikolova, Milena & Nikolaev, Boris & Popova, Olga

GLO Fellows Milena Nikolova, Boris Nikolaev & Olga Popova

Author Abstract: We explore how involuntary and voluntary exits from self-employment affect life and health satisfaction. To that end, we use rich longitudinal data from the German Socio-Economic Panel from 1985 to 2017 and a difference-in-differences estimation. Our findings suggest that while transitioning from self-employment to salaried employment (i.e., a voluntary self-employment exit) brings small improvements in health and life satisfaction, the negative psychological costs of business failure (i.e., switching from self-employment to unemployment) are substantial and exceed the costs of involuntarily losing a salaried job (i.e., switching from salaried employment to unemployment). Meanwhile, leaving self-employment has no consequences for selfreported physical health and behaviors such as smoking and drinking, implying that the costs of losing self-employment are largely psychological. Moreover, former business owners fail to adapt to an involuntary self-employment exit even two or more years after this traumatic event. Our findings imply that policies encouraging entrepreneurship should also carefully consider the costs of business failure.

GLO Discussion Papers are research and policy papers of the GLO Network which are widely circulated to encourage discussion. Provided in cooperation with EconStor, a service of the ZBW – Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, GLO Discussion Papers are among others listed in RePEc (see IDEAS,  EconPapers). Complete list of all GLO DPs – downloadable for free.

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A new GLO Discussion Paper shows that on Zanzibar goal-setting among students has a significant positive impact on time use, study effort, and self-discipline – but no impact on their test scores.

The Global Labor Organization (GLO) is an independent, non-partisan and non-governmental organization that functions as an international network and virtual platform to stimulate global research, debate and collaboration.

GLO Discussion Paper No. 526, 2020

When Goal-Setting Forges Ahead but Stops Short – Download PDF
by Islam, Asad & Kwon, Sungoh & Masood, Eema & Prakash, Nishith & Sabarwal, Shwetlena & Saraswat, Deepak

GLO Fellow Asad Islam & Nishith Prakash

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Author Abstract: In this study, we use at scale randomized control trial among 18,000 secondary students in 181 schools in Tanzania (Zanzibar) to examine the effects of personal best goal-settings on students’ academic performance. We also offer non-financial rewards to students to meet the goals they set. We find that goal-setting has a significant positive impact on student time use, study effort, and self-discipline. However, we do not find any significant impact of goalsetting on test scores. We find that, this could be partially because about 2/3rd of students do not set realistic goals. Third, we find weaker results on time use, study effort, and discipline when we combine goal-setting with non-financial rewards, suggesting that typing goal-setting to extrinsic incentives could weaken its impact. We also find that female students improved on outcomes much more than male students and that students coming from relatively weaker socio-economic backgrounds improved more than their counterparts.

GLO Discussion Papers are research and policy papers of the GLO Network which are widely circulated to encourage discussion. Provided in cooperation with EconStor, a service of the ZBW – Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, GLO Discussion Papers are among others listed in RePEc (see IDEAS,  EconPapers). Complete list of all GLO DPs – downloadable for free.

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The GLO Discussion Paper finds that measures of globalization are positively related to the spread of the virus, both in speed and size. However, the study also confirms that globalized countries are better equipped to keep fatality rates low.

The Global Labor Organization (GLO) is an independent, non-partisan and non-governmental organization that functions as an international network and virtual platform to stimulate global research, debate and collaboration.

GLO Discussion Paper No. 508, 2020

Inter-country Distancing, Globalization and the Coronavirus Pandemic – Download PDF
by Zimmermann, Klaus F. & Karabulut, Gokhan & Bilgin, Mehmet Huseyin & Doker, Asli Cansin

NOW FORTHCOMING IN: The World Economy PREPUBLICATION VERSION

GLO Fellows Klaus F. Zimmermann, Gökhan Karabulut, Mehmet Huseyin Bilgin & Asli Cansin Doker

Author Abstract: Originating in China, the Coronavirus has reached the world at different speeds and levels of strength. This paper provides some initial understanding of some driving factors and their consequences. Since transmission requires people, the human factor behind globalization is essential. Globalization, a major force behind global wellbeing and equality, is highly associated with this factor. The analysis investigates the impact globalization has on the speed of initial transmission to a country and on the size of initial infections in the context of other driving factors. Our cross-country analysis finds that measures of globalization are positively related to the spread of the virus, both in speed and size. However, the study also finds that globalized countries are better equipped to keep fatality rates low. The conclusion is not to reduce globalization to avoid pandemics, but to better monitor the human factor at the outbreak and to mobilize collaboration forces to curtail diseases.

The Journal of Population Economics welcomes submissions dealing with the demographic aspects of the Coronavirus Crisis. After fast refereeing, successful papers are published in the next available issue. An example:

Yun Qiu, Xi Chen & Wei Shi (2020): Impacts of Social and Economic Factors on the Transmission of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in China, GLO Discussion Paper, No. 494.
REVISED DRAFT NOW forthcoming: Journal of Population Economics, Issue 4, 2020.
SEE FOR MORE DETAILS AND FREE ACCESS TO THE PREPUBLICATION REVISED DRAFT!

More from the GLO Coronavirus Cluster

GLO Discussion Papers are research and policy papers of the GLO Network which are widely circulated to encourage discussion. Provided in cooperation with EconStor, a service of the ZBW – Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, GLO Discussion Papers are among others listed in RePEc (see IDEAS,  EconPapers). Complete list of all GLO DPs – downloadable for free.

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A new GLO Discussion Paper shows that school reform in Chile improving childcare increased the quality of parents’ jobs. Less educated mothers benefited most.

The Global Labor Organization (GLO) is an independent, non-partisan and non-governmental organization that functions as an international network and virtual platform to stimulate global research, debate and collaboration.

GLO Discussion Paper No. 525, 2020

Longer School Schedules, Childcare and the Quality of Mothers’ Employment: Evidence from School Reform in Chile – Download PDF
by Berthelon, Matias & Kruger, Diana & Lauer, Catalina & Tiberti, Luca & Zamora, Carlos

GLO Fellow Luca Tiberti

Author Abstract: Ample empirical evidence has found that access to childcare for preschool children increases mothers’ labor force participation and employment. In this paper, we investigate whether increased childcare for primary school children improves the quality of jobs mothers find by estimating the causal effect of a school schedule reform in Chile. Combining plausibly exogenous temporal and spatial variations in school schedules with a panel of individual mothers’ employment between 2002 and 2015, we estimated a fixed-effects model that controlled for unobserved heterogeneity. We found a positive effect of access to full-day schools on several measures of ’the quality of mothers’ jobs, which were correlated to working full-time. We also found small, positive effects on quality of fathers’ jobs. Our evidence suggests that the mechanism driving the effect was the effect of the reform’s implicit subsidy to the cost of childcare on the opportunity cost of mothers’ time. We also found that less educated mothers benefited most from the reform. Thus, childcare can increase household welfare by improving parents’ jobs and can play a role in reducing inequality.

GLO Discussion Papers are research and policy papers of the GLO Network which are widely circulated to encourage discussion. Provided in cooperation with EconStor, a service of the ZBW – Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, GLO Discussion Papers are among others listed in RePEc (see IDEAS,  EconPapers). Complete list of all GLO DPs – downloadable for free.

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