This paper considers a simple model of self-fulfilling expectations that leads to a multiple equilibrium of gender gaps in wages and participation rates. Rather than resorting to moral hazard problems related to unobservable effort, like in most of the related literature, our model fully relies...

Gaps in welfare attainment between boys and girls in China have attractedinternational attention. In this paper demand analysis is used to try and uncoverthe factors which may be driving the emergence of these gender gaps.Drawing on household expenditure data from a poor (Sichuan) and rich...

This paper examines the extent to which mothers that care for children where thefather is non-resident have an award or agreement for child support in place. Datafrom the Families and Children Study are used to explore not only whether mothershave an award or order but the type of award they...

The construction industry is important for Chinese rural to urban migrants. Over 90%of urban construction workers are rural migrants, and over a third of all rural migrantswork in construction. The construction industry is not only particularly important, butis also different from other...

Fifteen per cent of British babies are now born to parents who are neithercohabiting nor married. Little is known about non-residential fatherhood thatcommences with the birth of a child. Here, we use the Millennium Cohort Studyto examine a number of aspects of this form of fatherhood. Firstly,...

In this paper we provide evidence on how the UK government’s welfarereforms since 1998 have affected the material well-being of children in lowincomefamilies. We examine changes in expenditure patterns and ownership ofdurable goods for low- and higher-income families between the...

This paper argues that our understanding of income and poverty dynamicsbenefits from taking a life cycle perspective. A person’s age and familycircumstances – the factors that shape their life cycle – affect the likelihood ofexperiencing key life events, such as partnership formation,...

This paper analyses the economic disadvantage experienced by disabled personsof working-age using data from the British Household Panel Survey. We arguethat there are three sources of disadvantage among disabled persons: preexistingdisadvantage among those who become disabled (a ‘selection’...

Utilizing data from the June Current Population Survey (CPS) Fertility Supplement mergedwith data from other months of the CPS, we describe trends in parents´ employment andleave-taking after birth of a newborn and analyze the extent to which these behaviors areassociated with parental leave...

The principal means by which individuals and families achieve economic self-sufficiency is through labor market earnings. As a consequence, it is natural for policy makers to look to interventions that increase the ability of individuals and families to achieve an adequate standard of living...