In developed countries, most workers depend on government-based social security systems and private company-based pensions to smooth their consumption. In the developing world, the mechanisms are quite different. In the absence of significant formal institutional support, older individuals rely on their own labor income and on family support in the form of transfer payments, coresidence, and pa...

From 1975 to 2005, the variance in incomes of American families with children increased by two-thirds. Labor market studies of the growth in inequality emphasize the rising pay of college graduates, while demographers study changes in family structure. We join these lines of research by viewing income inequality as the product of the distribution of earnings in the labor market and the pooling ...

We study the role of the most primitive institution in society: the family. Its organization and relationship between generations shape values formation, economic outcomes, and influences national institutions. We use a measure of family ties, constructed from the World Values Survey, to review and extend the literature on the effect of family ties on economic behavior and economic attitudes. W...

In this study we explore and document perceptions of slum dwellers about causes of poverty and petty corruption in slum areas of Karachi (Pakistan). Moreover, we examine the effects of fatalism on poverty, large family size, and child labor. We conduct a survey by interviewing 100 respondents covering all districts (Central, West, East, Malir, and South) to document slum dwellers’ perceptions. ...

One of the central tasks that couples face in coparenting is the division of labor. In this study, we explored division of family labor among lesbian and heterosexual couples who were parenting 4 to 6 year-old children. Sixty-six families, half headed by lesbian couples and half headed by heterosexual couples, participated in the study. Measures of parental attitudes, resources, demographics, a...

The Shodagor of Matlab, Bangladesh, are a seminomadic community of people who live and work on small wooden boats, within the extensive system of rivers and canals that traverse the country. This unique ecology places particular constraints on family and economic life and leads to Shodagor parents employing one of four distinct strategies to balance childcare and provisioning needs. The purpose...

Employing data from the China rural-urban mobility survey conducted in 2010, this study investigates the influence of family demographic characteristics on the income, life satisfaction, and potential for rural-urban mobility at the rural household level of two provinces of China: Shaanxi and Henan. A larger labor force in a rural household was found to reduce a family's ability or inclination ...

1. Simple labor supply models with correction for non-participation (PS #3) 2. Other approaches to kinked budget sets discretization 3. Dynamic labor supply introduction and overview Readings Thomas A. Mroz. “The Sensitivity of an Empirical Model of Married Women’s Hours of Work to Economic and Statistical Assumptions.” Econometrica, 55 (4) (July, 1987), pp. 765-799. Arthur van Soest "Structura...