Exchangeably weighted bootstrap schemes

Presentation (2022, November 18)

The exchangeably weighted bootstrap is one of the many variants of bootstrap resampling schemes. Rather than directly drawing observations with replacement from the data, weighted bootstrap schemes ... [more ▼]

The exchangeably weighted bootstrap is one of the many variants of bootstrap resampling schemes. Rather than directly drawing observations with replacement from the data, weighted bootstrap schemes generate vectors of replication weights to form bootstrap replications. Various ways to generate the replication weights can be adopted, and some choices bring practical computational advantages. This presentation demonstrates how easily such schemes can be implemented and where they are particularly useful, and introduces the exbsample command, which facilitates their implementation. [less ▲]

Higher Education Expansion and Labour Income Inequality in High-income Countries: A Gender-specific Perspective

Report (2022)

The expansion of higher education since the second half of the 20th century was particularly pronounced among women. In most high-income countries to date more women complete a tertiary level than men ... [more ▼]

The expansion of higher education since the second half of the 20th century was particularly pronounced among women. In most high-income countries to date more women complete a tertiary level than men. But research on the implications of higher education expansion for labour income inequality has largely treated expansion as gender neutral. With this paper we build on prior studies that have ignored potentially differential effects by factoring in what it means for earnings inequality to increase tertiary education among women as compared to men. To this end we draw on harmonised data from the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS) for 27 countries and two time points, 1995 and 2015, and use the method of Recentered Influence Function (RIF) regression. We obtain three main insights from our study. First, no average distributive effect of higher education expansion exists. Second, the distributive effect is gender-specific. The impact on the Gini coefficient of increasing tertiary attainment of men is positive and significant but the impact of increasing tertiary attainment of women is negative and significant. Third, the increasing share of tertiary educational attainment is the main factor explaining that distributive estimates shrink towards zero over time for both women and men. Only for men does larger inequality between and within educational groups significantly contribute to magnify the impact of educational expansion on earnings distributions across countries. Our analysis highlights that taking the gender dimension into account is crucial to obtain exhaustive understanding of the role of education for overall income inequality. [less ▲]

Measuring Poverty Persistence

Report (2022)

This chapter reviews the literature on the measurement of poverty persistence. The review has two parts. We first cover the literature on poverty persistence indicators which develops ` principled ... [more ▼]

This chapter reviews the literature on the measurement of poverty persistence. The review has two parts. We first cover the literature on poverty persistence indicators which develops ` principled', descriptive summary measures. We then review the econometric literature which teases out the determinants of poverty persistence. Finally, we describe the challenges and limitations the literature on poverty persistence face. [less ▲]

Understanding Twenty Years of Inequality and Poverty Trends in Russia

in Review of Income and Wealth (2022), 68(S1), 108-130

The distribution of income in Russia changed significantly over the past 25 years. This paper examines the factors that have been driving the fall in inequality and poverty over two recent decades in the ... [more ▼]

The distribution of income in Russia changed significantly over the past 25 years. This paper examines the factors that have been driving the fall in inequality and poverty over two recent decades in the Russian Federation. Changes in earnings from public and private sectors and pensions have been the main sources of changes in the income distribution between 1994 and 2015. Falling inequality and poverty were the result of a decrease in the dispersion of private sector earnings and an increase in the levels of pensions and public sector earnings. Neither the evolution of socio-demographic characteristics nor the level or structure of employment alone had big impacts. [less ▲]

The wealth (disadvantage) of single-parent households

in Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science (2022), 702(1), 188-204

Wealth is a buffer against economic shocks and the intergenerational transmission of disadvantage. We investigate the wealth of single-parent households in six high-income countries that span a variety of ... [more ▼]

Wealth is a buffer against economic shocks and the intergenerational transmission of disadvantage. We investigate the wealth of single-parent households in six high-income countries that span a variety of institutional contexts and welfare regimes. Using household survey data, we show that single-parent households in all these countries are disadvantaged in the wealth they hold, compared to dual-parent households—more so in Great Britain, France, Germany, and the United States; and less so in Italy and, especially, Spain. We tease out major differences in types of wealth holdings in single- and dual-parent households. We find that the single-parent wealth deficit is not explained by differences in age or number of children but that it is influenced by education, income, homeownership, and receipt of intergenerational transfers. We discuss the policy implications of our findings, both in terms of how single parents are treated in social protection and taxation systems and, more broadly, in the supports they require if they are to overcome barriers to accumulating wealth. [less ▲]

Inheritance, gifts and the accumulation of wealth for low-income households

in Journal of European Social Policy (2021), 31(5), 533-548

Many low-income households in rich countries have very little wealth, but the role of intergenerational wealth transmission in underpinning this deficit is not known. This article seeks to fill that gap ... [more ▼]

Many low-income households in rich countries have very little wealth, but the role of intergenerational wealth transmission in underpinning this deficit is not known. This article seeks to fill that gap by investigating patterns of past wealth transfer receipt for low-income versus other households in seven rich countries and assessing the contribution that these transfers, or their absence, make to current wealth levels. We find that households on low incomes are relatively disadvantaged in terms of intergenerational transfers received in the past, both in terms of the likelihood of having received any and the amounts received by those who do benefit from such transfers. The role that this disadvantage plays in the linkage between current low-income and low wealth is assessed and evidence presented that it is significant. Simulation of a universal wealth transfer scheme or ‘capital endowment’ on reaching adulthood for two countries shows that such a policy could lead to a marked decline in the proportion of low-income adults with negative or no wealth. This and alternative or complementary policy responses to these wealth deficits merit the most serious attention. [less ▲]

New Estimates of Inequality of Opportunity Across European Cohorts (and Some Insights on the Long-term Impact of Educational Policy)

Scientific Conference (2021, August 25)

This paper provides a set of new estimates of inequality of opportunity (IOp) in Europe, using the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Condition (EU-SILC). Unlike previous research, we estimate ... [more ▼]

This paper provides a set of new estimates of inequality of opportunity (IOp) in Europe, using the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Condition (EU-SILC). Unlike previous research, we estimate inequality of opportunity within birth cohorts, which we argue is the most appropriate population level for inequality of opportunity analysis. Most IOp measures require estimation of the conditional distribution of the outcome of interest given circumstances. With multiple circumstances and the sample sizes available in EU-SILC, we use distribution regression methods combined with local kernel weighting and show how these can be used to estimate a large set of IOp measures. Endowed with cohort-level estimates of IOp, we finally examine the relationship between educational policy variables measured at the time of parental education and offspring generation inequality of opportunity in adulthood. We find a negative relationship between the duration of compulsory education of the parents and IOp among offspring, but the relationship is not very strong. [less ▲]

Higher Education Expansion and Inequality in Labour Incomes: The Importance of a Gendered Perspective

Article for general public (2021)

Intergenerational wealth transfers and wealth inequality in rich countries: What do we learn from Gini decomposition?

in Economics Letters (2021), 199

The role of intergenerational transfers of wealth via inheritance and gifts inter vivos in the accumulation of household wealth and the generation of wealth inequality has been hotly debated. This paper ... [more ▼]

The role of intergenerational transfers of wealth via inheritance and gifts inter vivos in the accumulation of household wealth and the generation of wealth inequality has been hotly debated. This paper uses data from household wealth surveys for six rich countries – Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the US – to assess the contribution of intergenerational wealth transfers to wealth inequality using decomposition methods for the Gini coefficient. The results show that transfer wealth is consistently a good deal more unequally distributed than non-transfer wealth and total wealth. Transfer wealth accounts for only about one-tenth of overall wealth inequality for the US compared to one-third for Germany and Italy. This mirrors the importance of transfer wealth in total wealth in each country, with differences in inequality in transfer wealth and its correlation with total wealth having only a modest impact. We find that a marginal percentage increase in all transfers reduces total wealth inequality in Britain, Germany and the US, while it would increase total wealth inequality in France, Italy and Spain. [less ▲]

Rotation group bias in European Union social indicators

in Guio, Anne-Catherine; Marlier, Eric; Nolan, Brian (Eds.) Improving the understanding of poverty and social exclusion in Europe (2021)

EU-SILC relies on a 4-wave rotating panel design. A new population sample is drawn every year and selected respondents are interviewed annually for up to four years. A complete EU-SILC cross-section ... [more ▼]

EU-SILC relies on a 4-wave rotating panel design. A new population sample is drawn every year and selected respondents are interviewed annually for up to four years. A complete EU-SILC cross-section dataset therefore contains data from samples drawn independently in four different years. This paper applies influence function regressions methods to examine to what extent the rotating panel design of EU-SILC influences the estimates of four social indicators such as income poverty rates or income inequality measures, in other words whether a “rotation group bias” is observed. Our analysis of the 2014 EU-SILC cross-sectional data highlights that estimates of income inequality and poverty rates for newer rotation groups are often higher than for older ones. Individuals interviewed at least twice (and especially those who have been three or more years in the sample) tend to drag the selected social indicators downwards, compared to individuals interviewed for the first time. These impacts remain significant even when accounting for different socio-demographic characteristics of households. Not all countries are affected by the bias however. [less ▲]