scholarly journals Does Home Production Drive Structural Transformation?

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 116-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessio Moro ◽  
Solmaz Moslehi ◽  
Satoshi Tanaka
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Labor Productivity ◽  
Structural Transformation ◽  
Productivity Growth ◽  
Income Elasticity ◽  
The United States ◽  
Production Data ◽  
Home Production ◽  
Lower Income ◽  
Production Sector

Using new home production data for the United States, we estimate a model of structural transformation with a home production sector, allowing for both non-homotheticity of preferences and differential productivity growth in each sector. We report two main findings. First, the estimation results show that home services have a lower income elasticity than market services. Second, the slowdown in home labor productivity, which started in the late 70s, is a key determinant of the rise of market services. Our counterfactual experiment shows that, without the slowdown, the share of market services would have been lower by 7.5 percent in 2010. (JEL D13, J24, L16)

scholarly journals The Productivity Gap between Europe and the United States: Trends and Causes

2008 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bart van Ark ◽  
Mary O'Mahony ◽  
Marcel P Timmer
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Labor Productivity ◽  
Productivity Growth ◽  
The United States ◽  
Information And Communications Technology ◽  
Market Regulation ◽  
Lower Growth ◽  
Labor Productivity Growth ◽  
High Level ◽  
Productivity Gap

Since the mid-1990s, labor productivity growth in Europe has significantly slowed compared to earlier decades. In contrast, labor productivity growth in the United States accelerated, so that a new productivity gap has opened up. This paper shows that this development is attributable to the slower emergence of the knowledge economy in Europe. We consider various explanations which are not mutually exclusive. These include lower growth contributions from investment in information and communication technology; the small share of information and communications technology–producing industries in Europe; and slower multifactor productivity growth, which proxies for advances in technology and innovation. Underlying these are issues related to the functioning of European labor markets and the high level of product market regulation in Europe. The paper emphasizes the key role of market service sectors in accounting for the productivity growth divergence between the two regions. We argue that improved productivity growth in Europe's market services will be needed to avoid a further widening of the productivity gap.

scholarly journals Gender Gaps and the Rise of the Service Economy

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Rachel Ngai ◽  
Barbara Petrongolo
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Structural Transformation ◽  
Comparative Advantage ◽  
The United States ◽  
Service Economy ◽  
Home Production ◽  
Gender Gaps ◽  
Relative Wages

This paper investigates the role of the rise in services in the narrowing of gender gaps in hours and wages in recent decades. We highlight the between-industry component of differential gender trends for the United States and propose a model economy with goods, services, and home production, in which women have a comparative advantage in producing services. The rise of services, driven by structural transformation and marketization of home production, raises women's relative wages and market hours. Quantitatively, the model accounts for an important share of the observed trends in women's hours and relative wages. (JEL J16, J21, J22, J24, J31, L80)

scholarly journals Income Elasticities and Global Values of a Statistical Life

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 226-250 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Kip Viscusi ◽  
Clayton J. Masterman
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Labor Market ◽  
World Bank ◽  
Income Elasticity ◽  
The United States ◽  
Lower Income ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Statistical Life ◽  
Income Elasticities ◽  
The World

Countries throughout the world use estimates of the value of a statistical life (VSL) to monetize fatality risks in benefit-cost analyses. However, the vast majority of countries lack reliable revealed preference or stated preference estimates of the VSL. This article proposes that the best way to calculate a population-average VSL for countries with insufficient or unreliable data is to transfer a base VSL from the United States calculated using labor market estimates from Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries data, coupled with adjustments for differences in income between the United States and the country of interest. This approach requires estimation of two critical inputs: a base U.S. VSL and the income elasticity of the VSL. Drawing upon previous meta-analyses that include adjustments for publication selection biases, we adopt a base VSL of $9.6 million. We utilize a sample of 953 VSL estimates from 68 labor market studies of the VSL covering fourteen lower-middle income to high income nations. We estimate the income elasticity of the VSL within the United States to be from 0.5 to 0.7 and to be just above 1.0 for non-U.S. countries. Quantile regression reveals that much of the disparity in income elasticities is attributable to income differences between the United States and other countries, as the income elasticity increases for lower income populations. Using income classifications from the World Bank, we calculate average VSLs in lower income, lower-middle income, upper-middle income, and upper income countries to be $107,000, $420,000, $1.2 million, and $6.4 million, respectively. We also present VSL estimates for all 189 countries for which World Bank income data are available, yielding a VSL range from $45,000 to $18.3 million.

scholarly journals Forces Shaping Hours Worked in the OECD, 1960–2004

2011 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 27-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cara McDaniel
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Productivity Growth ◽  
Income Tax ◽  
The United States ◽  
Labor Income ◽  
Tax Rates ◽  
Home Production ◽  
Catch Up ◽  
Key Features

The goal of this paper is to examine the role of taxes and productivity growth as forces influencing market hours. To achieve this goal, the paper considers a calibrated growth model extended to include home production and subsistence consumption, both of which are found to be key features influencing market hours. The model is simulated for 15 OECD countries. The primary force driving changes in market hours is found to be changing labor income tax rates. Productivity catch-up relative to the United States is found to be an important secondary force. (JEL E24, H24, H31, J22, J24)

Race and Ethnicity as Barriers to ART Access

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith Daar
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Factors ◽  
Race And Ethnicity ◽  
Women Of Color ◽  
The United States ◽  
Minority Populations ◽  
Lower Income ◽  
Patient Relationship ◽  
Power Structures ◽  
Income Levels

This chapter analyzes the racialization of infertility care in the United States, and seeks to understand why ART stratifies along race and ethnic lines. Researchers and scholars have proposed several theories, including lower income levels and access to insurance in minority populations, social factors that make women of color less likely to seek treatment for infertility, historic factors that give rise to a continuing aura of mistrust in the doctor–patient relationship, and express and implied discrimination by doctors who view minority populations as less deserving of parenthood than white patients. The chapter shows how these new eugenics, like the old eugenics, can persist only so long as political power structures support and advance their agenda.

scholarly journals Nature inequity and higher COVID-19 case rates in less-green neighbourhoods in the United States

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erica N. Spotswood ◽  
Matthew Benjamin ◽  
Lauren Stoneburner ◽  
Megan M. Wheeler ◽  
Erin E. Beller ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Vegetation Index ◽  
Normalized Difference Vegetation Index ◽  
The United States ◽  
Incidence Rates ◽  
Lower Income ◽  
Urban Nature ◽  
Urbanized Areas ◽  
Block Groups

AbstractUrban nature—such as greenness and parks—can alleviate distress and provide space for safe recreation during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, nature is often less available in low-income populations and communities of colour—the same communities hardest hit by COVID-19. In analyses of two datasets, we quantified inequity in greenness and park proximity across all urbanized areas in the United States and linked greenness and park access to COVID-19 case rates for ZIP codes in 17 states. Areas with majority persons of colour had both higher case rates and less greenness. Furthermore, when controlling for sociodemographic variables, an increase of 0.1 in the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index was associated with a 4.1% decrease in COVID-19 incidence rates (95% confidence interval: 0.9–6.8%). Across the United States, block groups with lower income and majority persons of colour are less green and have fewer parks. Our results demonstrate that the communities most impacted by COVID-19 also have the least nature nearby. Given that urban nature is associated with both human health and biodiversity, these results have far-reaching implications both during and beyond the pandemic.

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