This paper attempts to bridge the gap between previous cross-national work estimating rates of return to education and the current trend toward examining rates over time. Changes in the returns to education in the 1980s over five countries were driven by different forces across the countries.

This paper explores the income distribution position of immigrants and nonimmigrants using three different approaches. The results indicate that there is virtually no difference between the distributional profiles of immigrant and nonimmigrant families in Australia. However, when a similar...

It is widely held that people who work have no difficulty in avoiding poverty and guaranteeing their family a decent standard of living. This idea has proved false, as many authors have shown that the ranks of the poor are filled with active people, sometimes even working full time. But,...

This study addresses the effect of marital status on economic well-being by comparing the economic situation of never- and ever-married single mother families in the United States, Australia, Canada, and France. The paper presents cross-national, descriptive and analytic data on poverty levels,...

Using LIS data, Jäntti examines levels and trends in income inequality among families in five industrialized countries, namely Canada, the Netherlands, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States, exploring the possibility that markets, the public sector or demographic shifts would...

This paper investigates the relationship between educational attainment and earnings inequality in eight nations using the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS) database. Although the results should be considered exploratory rather than definitive until verified and qualified by more detailed...

This paper was originally presented a the Fourth International Research Seminar of the Foundation for International Studies on Social Security (FISS) in June 1997 in Sigtuna, Sweden. In the United States, several public policy initiatives have been undertaken to encourage more work and later...

Problems of the systems for protecting the elderly have become pressing on a world wide scale albeit for different reasons. In many industrialized countries with mature systems the share of GDP that is redistributed via the mandatory pension system is criticized as being too high. High...

The goal of this paper is to compare the well-being of young children in Canada, Norway and the United States. Many economic models focus on children's eventual well-being by adopting an investment perspective. While this is important, children's well-being today should also count when we assess...

The goal of this project is to explore possible linkages between social policy mix and outcomes for young children (i.e., aged 0 to 11 years) in Canada, the Netherlands, Norway, the UK and the US. Of course, social policy is obviously not the only potential determinant of children's well-being....