What determines whether children grow up to be rich or poor? Arguing that parental actions are some of the most important sources of wealth inequality, Casey B. Mulligan investigates the transmission of economic status from one generation to the next by constructing an economic model of parental preferences. In Mulligan's model, parents determine the degree of their altruistic concern for their children and spend time with and resources on them accordingly—just as they might make choices about how they spend money. Mulligan tests his model against both old and new evidence on the intergenerational transmission of consumption, earnings, and wealth, including models that emphasize "financial constraints." One major prediction of Mulligan's model confirmed by the evidence is that children of wealthy parents typically spend more than they earn. Mulligan's innovative approach can also help explain other important behavior, such as charitable giving and "corporate loyalty," and will appeal to a wide range of quantitatively oriented social scientists and sociobiologists.

Parental Priorities and Economic Inequality

A review of the measures of the stock of human capital used in empiricalgrowth research - including adult literacy rates, school enrollmentratios, and average years of schooling of the working-age population -reveals that human capital is mostly poorly proxied. The simple use ofthe most common proxy, average years of schooling, misspecifies therelationship between education and the stock of human capital. Based onhuman capital theory, the specification of human capital is extended toallow for decreasing returns to education and for differences in thequality of a year of education. The different specifications give riseto hugely differing measures of the stock of human capital acrosscountries, and development-accounting results show that misspecifiedhuman capital measures can lead to severe underestimation of thedevelopment effect of human capital.

Specifying human capital

National Institutes of Health (NIA R01AG021650 and P01AG005842) and the Pershing Square Fund for Research in the Foundations of Human Behavior.

/pdf/measuring-time-preferences-4l2p0twnuk.pdf

Measuring Time Preferences

This paper analyzes the dynamics of the youth labor market in Tunisia using unique labor force survey data from 2005 to 2007 that include a longitudinal component. It first shows that sustained economic growth will reduce youth unemployment over the next few years. Second, forecasts indicate that the growth of private sector services has the highest potential to reduce youth unemployment. Third, the analysis of labor market characteristics reveals that young graduates experience long unemployment as they cue for high-skill jobs. Moreover, the public sector remains the main provider of employment opportunities for many graduates, in particular for women.

Working Paper 123 - Labor Market Dynamics in Tunisia: The Issue of Youth Unemployment

Revolutionary movements emerged from the “Arab spring” have determined undergoing socio-political changes in the region with significant implications and impacts on democratic transition and future sustainability. In this framework, the study explores Tunisian public universities’ social dimension and democratic implications of institutional partnerships in cooperation with local communities. In particular, it examines institutional, academic and students’ social responsibility as central elements of universities’ missions and students’ education. Existing complex dynamics linking social responsibility, social capital and democracy are considered within university contexts, taking also into consideration the role of Islam and Islamic values. In fact, university and students’ social responsibility have the potential to contribute to the redefinition of a post-revolution public sphere inspired by democratic participation and society-wide shared norms. Change in government policies affecting freedom of expression, restricted associational rights and political participation might result in institutional autonomy, allowing universities to fulfil their role in society while responding to economic and socio-cultural challenges. 

The study involved a sample of academic professors and students from Humanities and Engineering faculties from one public university. Research fieldwork was conducted combining qualitative and quantitative data collection. Questionnaires were employed to gather information from undergraduate students to explore university social responsibility, social capital creation, students’ identity formation, Islam and democracy. Interviews were used both to obtain insights from students and professors to consider their perceptions and self-awareness of social responsibility, while deepening contextual knowledge. Furthermore, official government documents and government policies in relation to higher education reforms were also consulted. 

In particular, the research points out the development of a structured under-utilisation of social capital for social responsibility. Government political control and socio-cultural censorship, as well as HE policies and legal frameworks have limited universities’ autonomy and their social dimension, restricting opportunities for students’ political and civic engagement in society. These aspects have also affected the provision of education for democracy and civic engagement courses; extra-curricular volunteering programs; as well as, support for community partnerships. Furthermore, Islamic associations’ social, political and cultural role has been under governmental control resulting in fragmented, marginal and often antagonist contributions to democracy and social responsibility. As such, in Tunisia, since the independence, the regime have hindered the development of a shared culture based on civically and politically active citizenship for the stabilisation and reproduction of democratic attitudes, behaviours and habits. 

Research findings present reflections and implications in relation to universities’ third mission in Tunisia to advance institutional and students’ autonomy to fulfil their wider civic role in society. Furthermore, suggestions for future research in the field have been made as a way to advance knowledge and provide information to support future policies and reforms.

Access to and use of the material contained in this thesis is subject to the terms and conditions of University of Nottingham's end user licence which can be found at http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/end_user_agreement.pdf

University social responsibility and academic social capital in Tunisia

. Increasing impatience reduces search efforts of unemployed job seekers and therefore decreases the exit rate from unemployment. Also, impatience reduces reservation wage and increases the exit rate. To determine the overall effect of impatience on the exit rate from unemployment, we distinguish between exponential and hyperbolic time preferences. Search effort dominates the reservation wage and decreases the exit rate from unemployment if individuals have hyperbolic, rather than exponential, preferences. Using the French sample of the European Household Panel Survey, we found that search effort has a strong effect on the duration of unemployment, whereas the reservation wage is not significant. This result shows that the job seekers have hyperbolic preferences. Hyperbolic preferences affect problems associated with job search and policies aimed at reducing unemployment.

/pdf/time-preferences-and-job-search-evidence-from-france-3cpg1w4lqj.pdf

Time Preferences and Job Search: Evidence from France

Increasing impatience reduces search efforts of unemployed job seekers and therefore decreases the exit rate from unemployment. Also, impatience reduces reservation wage and increases the exit rate. To determine the overall effect of impatience on the exit rate from unemployment, we distinguish between exponential and hyperbolic time preferences. Search effort dominates the reservation wage and decreases the exit rate from unemployment if individuals have hyperbolic, rather than exponential, preferences. Using the French sample of the European Household Panel Survey, we found that search effort has a strong effect on the duration of unemployment, whereas the reservation wage is not significant. This result shows that the job seekers have hyperbolic preferences. Hyperbolic preferences affect problems associated with job search and policies aimed at reducing unemployment.

In the case of France, we analyse the changes (i) in the skill premium linked to each level of education and (ii) in the impact of parents’ skill and income upon the educational attainment of their children. To this end, we build a theoretical model which is subsequently estimated. Our calculations firstly reveal (i) a critical decline in the skill premium of the Baccalaureate in relation to the lowest skill level, and (ii) an increase in the skill premia of higher education in relation to the Baccalaureate, which however is not large enough to avoid the decrease in all the skill premia relative to the lowest skill. Secondly, we find (i) a significant increase in the impact of the family backgrounds upon the individuals’ education from 1993 to 2003 which essentially derives from a higher impact of parental income upon the educational attainment, and (ii) an increase in the impact of public expenditure upon education. Consequently, if inequality has decreased among the employed population, the slowdown in intergenerational mobility could reverse this tendency in the longer term. This may however be offset by higher public educational expenditure.

/pdf/skill-premia-and-intergenerational-skill-transmission-the-4n1qninweq.pdf

Skill Premia and Intergenerational Skill Transmission: The French Case *

La progression rapide des niveaux d'education en Tunisie s'est traduite par un accroissement de l'off re de competences qui, comme en temoigne le taux de chomage eleve des jeunes diplomes de l'enseignement superieur, n'a pas rencontre une demande aussi dynamique. L'objectif de cette etude est d'expliquer le role joue par les evolutions de la demande de travail emanant de la sphere publique. Dans quelles mesures les choix de formation sont-ils in fluences par le secteur (public versus prive) dans lequel les individus esperent decrocher un emploi ? Ces preferences sont-elles justi fiees par des ecarts en termes de remuneration entre le secteur public et prive ? Nous exploitons une base de donnees issue de l'enquete sur l'insertion professionnelle des diplomes de l'enseignement superieur realise par le Ministere de l'Emploi et de l'Insertion Professionnelle des Jeunes en Tunisie aupres d'un echantillon de 4763 diplomes de 2004 en vue de suivre leur devenir professionnel apres une periode de 18 mois a compter du mois d'obtention du diplome. Nous estimons un modele d'equations de salaire a double regime (public - prive) avec controle des biais de selection endogene qui caracterise l'acces a un emploi remunere et le choix entre le secteur public ou prive. Les resultats montrent que l'ecart salarial entre emplois du secteur public et du secteur prive est quasi-exclusivement lie aux caracteristiques de l'insertion des maitrisards. Sur les autres diplomes, nous observons, a diplome equivalent, des distributions des salaires tres proches qui ne rendent pas assez attractif le secteur prive.

https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00943982/document

Insertion Professionnelle des Diplômés Universitaires en Tunisie: Comparaison Public-Privé

Le taux de preference pour le present est un facteur important qui conditionne la duree des episodes de chomage. Les transitions du chomage sont analysees par l'estimation d'un modele a hasard proportionnel a temps discret avec trois sorties a risques concurrents : contrat a duree indeterminee, contrat a duree determine, et inactivite. Nous mobilisons les donnees de l'echantillon francais du Panel europeen des menages (1994 a 2001). Les resultats de l'estimation montrent que l'impatience diminue les chances d'acceder a un CDI alors qu'elle augmente les taux de transition vers un CDD. Les resultats de l'estimation du modele econometrique sur les deux sous echantillons (chomeurs patients, chomeurs impatients) montrent, d'une part, que les chomeurs patients transitent souvent vers un CDI pour de faibles durees de chomage et vers l'inactivite en cas de survie trop elevee dans cet etat. Les individus caracterises par une forte preference pour le present quittent le chomage rapidement sans tenir compte ni de la qualite de l'emploi trouve ni de l'adequation entre l'emploi retrouve et l'experience professionnelle.

/pdf/duree-de-chomage-et-heterogeneite-des-issues-le-role-des-1nvo9td73k.pdf

Durée de chômage et hétérogénéité des issues : le rôle des préférences temporelles

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Papers

Time Preferences and Job Search: Evidence from France

Time Preferences and Job Search: Evidence from France

Skill Premia and Intergenerational Skill Transmission: The French Case *

Insertion Professionnelle des Diplômés Universitaires en Tunisie: Comparaison Public-Privé

Durée de chômage et hétérogénéité des issues : le rôle des préférences temporelles