The Long-lasting Impact of Inequality of Educational Opportunities on Later-life Cognitive Functioning

Scientific Conference (2019)

DYNAMICS OF INDIVIDUAL INCOME RANK VOLATILITY: EVIDENCE FROM WEST GERMANY AND THE US

in B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis and Policy (2019)

This paper presents a methodology for comparing income rank volatility profiles over time and across distributions. While most of the existing measures are affected by changes in marginal distributions ... [more ▼]

This paper presents a methodology for comparing income rank volatility profiles over time and across distributions. While most of the existing measures are affected by changes in marginal distributions, this paper proposes a framework that is based on individuals’ relative positions in the distribution, and is neutral in relation to structural changes that occur in the economy. Applying this approach to investigate rank volatility in Germany and the US over three decades, we show that while poorer individuals within both countries are the most volatile, the volatility trend for the middle class in each of these countries differs. [less ▲]

Income and Wealth Above the Median: New Measurements and Results for Europe and the United States

in Decancq, Koen; van Kerm, Philippe (Eds.) What Drives Inequality (2019)

The study of the upper tail of the income and wealth distributions is important to the understanding of economic inequality. By means of the ‘isograph’, a new tool to describe income or wealth ... [more ▼]

The study of the upper tail of the income and wealth distributions is important to the understanding of economic inequality. By means of the ‘isograph’, a new tool to describe income or wealth distributions, the authors compare wealth and income and wealth-to-income ratios in 16 European countries and the United States using data for years 2013/2014 from the Eurozone Household Finance and Consumption Survey and the US Survey on Consumer Finance. Focussing on the top half of the distribution, the authors find that for households in the top income quintile, wealth-to-income ratios generally increase rapidly with income; the association between high wealth and high incomes is highest among the highest percentiles. There is generally a positive relationship between median wealth in the country and the wealth of the top 1%. However, the United States is an outlier where the median wealth is relatively low but the wealth of the top 1% is extremely high. [less ▲]

Overweight and obesity of mid-aged cohorts: Increasing burden, increasing educational inequalities

in Innovation in Aging (2018, November)

Inequality and generations - Age-Period-Cohort Modelling

Presentation (2018, July)

Detecting Public Health crises: APC-Detrended methodology and residuals in a 25-country, 35-year mortality matrix

Scientific Conference (2018, June 09)

Background. Mortality-by-cause analyses as done in the Global Burden of Disease 2016 update are helpful to monitor progress of public health improvements within and across countries. However, separate ... [more ▼]

Background. Mortality-by-cause analyses as done in the Global Burden of Disease 2016 update are helpful to monitor progress of public health improvements within and across countries. However, separate analyses by cause and country miss larger patterns of public health crises that are restricted to certain cohorts and periods. Those public health crises may go unnoticed even if they affect several countries and thus come with some threat potential. We propose a new method to detect cohorts with increased mortality at certain ages and periods. Method. We develop an analytical and visualizing technique based on established Age-Period-Cohort-Detrended (APCD) methodology (Chauvel and Schröder 2014). After detecting all-cause mortality increases, plotting the resulting age-period coefficients and APCD residuals in equilateral Lexis diagrams, mortality patterns can be distinguished as age, period, or cohort trends and fluctuations. Age-period interactions are plotted as ‘big red spots’. We employ the new technique in data from the Human Mortality Database, spanning 25-60 years of age, calendar years 1975-2010, and 25 countries. Results. We detect age-period interactions of young-adult cohorts in the early 1990s in Spain, other southern European countries and the U.S. Additional analyses with WHO mortality data show that mortality increases are mostly due to increased HIV/AIDS mortality. Discussion. Country-specific explanations, such as political frustrations in Spain, have been proposed to explain the 1990s increases in HIV/AIDS mortality. However, the new technique suggests that increases in HIV/AIDS mortality were more likely to be due to specific behaviors of cohorts of certain ages in a certain period. We discuss limitations of the method, such as detecting social class mortality differences of affected cohorts. Altogether, the new technique offers intuitive and efficient handling of large amounts of age-country-year mortality information. The method can further be applied in the fields of education, longevity, and demography at large. [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 ▲]

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

E-print/Working paper (2018)

In many countries, the skilled labor market has lagged behind 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 behind 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 over cohorts even though they remain stable and even increase during the same period. To study this process, we model economic returns with a new Age-Period- Cohort-Trended-Lag (APCTLAG) method, which allows comparing 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 to it have decreased - making tertiary education less sufficient than before. [less ▲]

„Bréngt et eppes ze studéieren?“ Zur Entwicklung der Erträge von Bildungsinvestitionen in Luxemburg

in Nationaler Bildungsbericht Luxembourg 2018 (2018)