Essays in applied microeconomics -PhD thesis-

Publication type

Thesis/Degree/Other Honours

Author

Publication date

February 1, 2023

Summary:

Low fertility rates and population aging are established trends in high-income countries. In the United Kingdom (UK), the fertility rate remains below the replacement level. Low fertility rates impact economies, for instance, through social security systems. The increase in unemployment during recessions decreases the opportunity costs of having a child. At the same time, it also raises income uncertainty, which may curb fertility rates. Recent studies suggest that experiencing the Great Recession reduces women’s childlessness in Italy while it increases white women’s childlessness in the United States. This paper examines if experiencing the Great Recession affects men’s and women’s first birth decisions in a rapidly aging country, the UK. Using pseudo-cohorts and later panel cohorts of women from the British Household Panel Survey and the United Kingdom Household Longitudinal Study, this study assesses the causal effect of experiencing the Great Recession on the probability of childlessness of the 26- to 45-year-olds with a Difference-in-Differences approach. Women in their mid-30s experiencing the Great Recession significantly delay their first births, while women in their early-40s accelerate their first births after the Great Recession, which suggests that experiencing the Great Recession significantly reduces women’s permanent childlessness in the UK. Moreover, the Great Recession impacts women in England and men in Scotland/Wales/Northern Ireland. These results are robust within a Triple Differenced (DDD) model in both pseudo cohorts and panel cohorts. Further results suggest that the Great Recession decreases women’s permanent childlessness in the UK through changes in job loss and marriage timing. This paper contributes to the debate on whether and how economic crises affect fertility by assessing the Great Recession’s impacts on men’s and women’s childlessness in the UK.

This study uses the UK Household Longitudinal Studies (UKHLS) data and a difference-GMM model to further our understanding of the relationship between health and subjective wellbeing in the United Kingdom. In this paper, health effects are differentiated by separating onsets of health problems from recoveries from health problems. After addressing the endogeneity of past life satisfaction in a first-difference GMM model, health has a significant effect on life satisfaction. I find a significant association between health problems and life satisfaction for various demographic subgroups of the population: recoveries from health problems positively correlate with life satisfaction in females and those living in urban areas; onsets of activity limitations negatively correlate with life satisfaction in people younger than 65. Moreover, the change in health status, both positive and negative, is associated with life satisfaction in urban and more educated residents.

Subjects

Link

https://research.library.fordham.edu/dissertations/AAI30000959/

#578269

News

Latest findings, new research

Publications search

Search all research by subject and author

Podcasts

Researchers discuss their findings and what they mean for society

Projects

Background and context, methods and data, aims and outputs

Events

Conferences, seminars and workshops

Survey methodology

Specialist research, practice and study

Taking the long view

ISER's annual report

Themes

Key research themes and areas of interest