Income Inequality and the Strength of the Origins-Health Gradient in 20 European Countries

Scientific Conference (2019, September 12)

Health is determined by socio-economic position not only of the individual, but also by that of their parents. The intergenerational transmission of health via parental socioeconomic status is suggested ... [more ▼]

Health is determined by socio-economic position not only of the individual, but also by that of their parents. The intergenerational transmission of health via parental socioeconomic status is suggested to vary according to contextual factors such as income inequality. Earlier studies with a comparative perspective had a limited number of countries available. This study uses 20 countries at up to five waves from the European Social Survey (2008-2016) and SWIID in order to examine the extent to which income inequality is related to the origins-health gradient. The higher the income inequality of a given country and year, the stronger the origins-health gradient. Contrary to earlier findings, this association can be fully explained by intergenerational transmission of status, i.e. education. Implications of this finding are that health is largely determined by educational attainment and associated health behaviors, giving societal context a less prominent role than earlier studies suggested. [less ▲]

Second-Chance Alternatives and Maintained Inequality in Access to Higher Education in Israel

in Social Inclusion (2019), 7(1), 28-37

Abstract Access to higher education (HE) has a long history. To offer a view on the current debates and worldwide issues regarding access to HE, this editorial depicts how the control of educational ... [more ▼]

Abstract Access to higher education (HE) has a long history. To offer a view on the current debates and worldwide issues regarding access to HE, this editorial depicts how the control of educational access has historically been used as an instrument of governance at the interface of two processes: social stratification and the territorialisation of politics. Access to HE has remained embedded in these large structural processes even though HE has expanded from a highly elitist institution into mass education systems with equity of educational opportunities having become a desirable goal across societies. Analysing these processes helps understand the complex mechanisms producing inequalities in HE today, which are brought together by the ten articles composing this special issue. Tacking stock of how inequalities in access are produced in different continents, countries, HE Institutions, applying to different social groups though evolving mechanisms, these articles document the importance of contrasting methodological and theoretical approaches to produce comprehensive knowledge on this sensitive issue for democratic societies. [less ▲]

More Necessary and Less Sufficient: An Age-Period-Cohort Approach to Overeducation in Comparative Perspective

in Higher Education (2019)

In many countries, the skilled labor market has lagged educational expansion. As a result of increased competition, younger cohorts of the highly educated face decreasing returns to education or ... [more ▼]

In many countries, the skilled labor market has lagged educational expansion. As a result of increased competition, younger cohorts of the highly educated face decreasing returns to education or overeducation. Surprisingly, decreasing occupational outcomes do not coincide empirically with the economic returns among those with tertiary education. Regarding the process of changes in economic returns to education based on cohort transformations, we expect that the expansion of tertiary education affects specific cohorts, which find themselves facing more labor market competition. As a result, the economic returns to education should decrease among younger cohorts even when the overall returns to education remain stable over time. To study this process, we model economic returns with a new age-period-cohort-trended lag (APCTLAG) method, which allows us to compare the gap in economic returns between tertiary and less than tertiary education over cohorts. Using the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS), we analyze trends over three decades in 12 countries. Our results confirm that educational returns for tertiary education have declined over time, even though the gap between the educated and the less educated has remained similar in most of the countries. For younger cohorts, tertiary education has become more necessary to survive in the competitive labor market, but the actual economic returns have decreased—making tertiary education less sufficient than before. [less ▲]

Taking Their Place: Educational Expansion and Inequality of Educational Opportunities—A Gendered Perspective

in Higher Education Policy (2018)

Educational expansion and gender differences in educational attainment have both been studied in various contexts, but their interdependence has rarely been examined, and even then, yielded conflicting ... [more ▼]

Educational expansion and gender differences in educational attainment have both been studied in various contexts, but their interdependence has rarely been examined, and even then, yielded conflicting results. We focus on the expansion of tertiary education in Israel resulting from several reforms introduced in the mid-1990s and ask two questions: (a) How did educational expansion affect inequality of opportunity (IEO)? (b) Did the effect of educational expansion differ between men and women? Based on the Israeli census, we examine changes in IEO between 1995 and 2008 across all levels of education. We find that women from lower socioeconomic background were the main beneficiaries of the expansion, especially at the MA+ level. Several explanations for these findings are discussed. [less ▲]

Inequality and generations - Age-Period-Cohort Modelling

Presentation (2018, July)

התרחבות ההשכלה הגבוהה, שוויון כלכלי ושוויון הזדמנויות

in Megamot (2018), 53(1), 101-124

This paper discusses changes in inequality of educational opportunity (IEO) between socioeconomic strata at the tertiary level. We suggest a new approach to the understanding of IEO, which combines both ... [more ▼]

This paper discusses changes in inequality of educational opportunity (IEO) between socioeconomic strata at the tertiary level. We suggest a new approach to the understanding of IEO, which combines both economic inequality and educational expansion as determinants of change. The paper begins with a discussion of the theoretical distinction between economic inequality and inequality of opportunities and a discussion of the relationship between the two concepts. This is followed by a review of changes in Israeli higher education and economic inequality. Lastly, we analyze several data sets (ESS, ISSP and LIS) to estimate the effects of the expansion of higher education and the increase in income inequality in Israel on the IEO. We show that the failure of educational expansion to reduce IEO at the tertiary level is partially due to the contemporaneous increase in economic inequality, which has a positive effect on IEO. [less ▲]

The persistence of the gender earnings gap: cohort trends and the role of education in twelve countries

in Inequality Matters - LIS newsletter, Issue No. 6 (2018)

Studying twelve countries over 30 years, we examine whether women’s educational expansion has translated into a closing gender earnings gap. As educational attainment is cohort-dependent, an Age-Period ... [more ▼]

Studying twelve countries over 30 years, we examine whether women’s educational expansion has translated into a closing gender earnings gap. As educational attainment is cohort-dependent, an Age-Period-Cohort analysis is most appropriate in our view. Using the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS) data, we show that while in terms of attainment of tertiary education women have caught up and often even outperform men, substantial gender differences in earnings persist in all countries. These results are consistent with the composition of the top earnings decile. Using Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition methods, we demonstrate that the role of education in explaining the gender earnings gap has been limited and even decreased over cohorts. Contrary, employment status as well as occupation explain a more substantial part in all countries. We conclude that earnings differences at levels far from gender equality likely also persist in the future, even if the “rise of women” in terms of education continues. [less ▲]

Increasing Inequality in Joint Income and Wealth Distributions in the United States, 1995 to 2013

in Conference Online Programme & Papers (2018, May)

The study of joint income and wealth distributions is important to the understanding of economic inequality. However, these are extremely skewed variables that present tails containing strategic ... [more ▼]

The study of joint income and wealth distributions is important to the understanding of economic inequality. However, these are extremely skewed variables that present tails containing strategic information that usual methods – such as percentile grouping – cannot easily underline. In this paper, we propose a new method that is able to provide a thorough examination of tails: the isograph and the logitrank. These tools entail a more detailed conception of inequality by describing inequality at different points of the distribution. Using US data 1995-2013 from the Luxembourg Wealth Study (LWS), we find first that income inequality increased significantly, in particular in the upper middle classes. Second, the wealth- to-income ratio measuring the importance of wealth relative to income, increased significantly. The association between high wealth and high incomes, fourth, increased as well. Based on our analysis, we can conclude that this increase in the association between wealth and income is not a trivial consequence of increasing inequality, but a stronger coherence of the diagonal at the top of the income and wealth distributions. [less ▲]

„Bréngt et eppes ze studéieren?“ Sur l’évolution du retour sur investissement dans l’éducation au Luxembourg

Report (2018)

Disciplines and the Categorization of Scientific Truth: The Case of Social Sciences in the Hebrew Wikipedia

in Journal of Sociocybernetics (2018), 15(2), 20-37

For the general audience, Wikipedia is considered the source of “truth,” especially for scientific knowledge. While studies of Wikipedia usually focus on the accuracy of the knowledge within it, few ... [more ▼]

For the general audience, Wikipedia is considered the source of “truth,” especially for scientific knowledge. While studies of Wikipedia usually focus on the accuracy of the knowledge within it, few studies have explored its hierarchy and categorization. This study aims to describe how scientific information is organized into disciplines in Wikipedia. I take as a case study the Hebrew Wikipedia and examine the representation and interrelations of five social sciences: sociology, anthropology, economics, political science, and psychology. I gather data from Wikipedia entries categorized under each of these disciplines and create a network that contains categories and subcategories derived from these entries. Using network analysis techniques, I estimate the strength of the relations between the disciplines. Results indicated that while sociology, anthropology, and political science are strongly linked to each other, psychology and economics are relatively isolated. As there is a hierarchical difference between these disciplines, the result is a hierarchical value of the scientific knowledge presented in these Wikipedia entries. An interesting case is the distance between economics and sociology, since under the subcategory “Inequality,” the entries are uniquely categorized under sociology or economics but rarely under both categories. I claim this is an example of a fractal walking the distinction between the two disciplines. [less ▲]