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We study the relevance of gender norms in accounting for the incidence and intensity of domestic violence. We use data for 28 European countries from the 2012 EU survey on violence against women, and focus on first- and second-generation immigrant women. We find that, after controlling for country-of-residence fixed effects, as well as demographic characteristics and other source-country variables, higher gender equality in the country of ancestry is significantly associated with a lower risk of victimization in the host country. This suggests that gender norms may play an important role in explaining the incidence of intimate partner violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This paper provides evidence of different teenage-smoking dynamics between genders with social progression. In particular, we find that descending from more gender-equal societies makes girls relatively more prone to smoke than those from less gender-equal societies relative to their male counterparts. Using data from over 6,000 second-generation immigrant teenagers sharing culture and institutions from one host country (Spain) but coming from 45 different countries of ancestry, we find that the higher the degree of gender equality in the country of ancestry, the higher the likelihood that girls smoke relative to boys. Our result holds even after we control for parental, sibling, and peer smoking, as well as for country-of-ancestry indicators of economic development and the smoking gender gap, among others. Highlights • Gender social norms determine the gender smoking gap among teenagers. • Descending from less traditional societies raises females smoking relative to males. • Result are robust to including both individual and country-of-ancestry controls. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Using a nationally representative sample of 12,344 immigrants from 41 different countries of ancestry living in Spain in 2007, we find that the higher the housing‐loan penetration in the country of ancestry, the higher the likelihood of having a mortgage in Spain. Similarly, the higher the mortgage depth in the country of ancestry, the higher the present value of the monthly mortgage payments. Our results suggest that social norms regarding mortgage finance in the country of ancestry matter in determining immigrants’ mortgage finance in the host country. More specifically, the effect of social norms on the decision to have a mortgage (the extensive margin) and the amount of the mortgage payments (the intensive margin) is about one third and tenth the size of the effect of having a college degree on mortgage debt, respectively. Evidence of strong persistence of culture among those with longer tenure in the host country, those who immigrated as children or young adults, and second‐generation immigrants suggests that vertical transmission of beliefs (from parents to children) is a plausible channel of transmission. Perhaps most importantly, we find that cultural attitudes regarding property rights are most relevant when explaining individuals’ decision to get a mortgage, but those regarding credit information matter most when explaining the amount of the mortgage debt. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using PISA test scores from 11,527 second-generation immigrants coming from 35 different countries of ancestry and living in 9 host countries, we find that the positive effects of country-of-ancestry gender social norms on girls’ math test scores relative to those of boys expand to other subjects (namely reading and science). We further find that gender norms shaped by beliefs on women's political empowerment and economic opportunity affect the gender gaps in test scores in general. Interestingly, gender norms do not seem to particularly influence math-related stereotypes, but instead, preferences for math. Finally, the evidence indicates that these findings are driven by cognitive skills, suggesting that social gender norms affect parent's expectations on girls’ academic knowledge relative to that of boys, but not on other attributes for success—such as non-cognitive skills. Taken together, our results highlight the relevance of general (as opposed to math-specific) gender stereotypes on the math gender gap. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper finds that the expensive, comprehensive, and controversial mentoring program, Quantum Opportunity Program (QOP), was successful among youths with ex-ante high-predicted risk of drug-use as it increased their likelihood of graduating from high-school by 15%, attending post-secondary education by 21%, and completing 2 years of post-secondary education by 32%. It also finds some evidence that, for this group, QOP improved employment and wages. Many of these impacts persisted 10 years after random assignment. The lack of QOP effects on curbing these youths’ risky behaviors while they were in their late teens hides beneficial results for those with ex-ante bad peers, and detrimental effects for those with ex-ante good peers as other treated youths during QOP group activities may have been a bad influence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – Much of the literature on immigrants' cash-welfare benefits use has focused on countries with a large tradition of receiving immigrants and with well-established welfare states. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to this literature by analyzing differences in cash-welfare benefits receipt between immigrants and natives and their determinants in Spain, a country with a small level of social assistance and a welfare state heavily reliant on conditioned access to pensions; and an unprecedented immigration boom. Design/methodology/approach – Different probit models of social program intake are estimated for immigrants and native-born individuals using pooled cross-sectional data from the 1999 to 2009 Spanish Labor Force Survey (LFS). Findings – Results show that a negative residual welfare gap exists and that it is mainly driven by recently arrived immigrants, whose legal status or insufficient contribution is likely to hamper participation in social programs. In addition, it is found that immigrants with more than five years in the host country are more likely to receive unemployment benefits than natives, consistent with findings in other countries. These findings hold, regardless of immigrants' continent of origin. Research limitations/implications – Return migration related (or not) to an amnesty may be worrisome, as both return migration and under-reporting of immigrants may generate deterministic biases in an analysis. Although the direction of the biases caused by return migration is not always obvious, sensitivity analysis has been undertaken to evaluate the extent of this problem by comparing the population sizes for the different entry cohorts of immigrants at each LFS. While there is some variation in sizes across LFS, no clear pattern is observed that would raise major concerns of return migration (as there are no regular patterns for decreases in cohort sizes). Nonetheless, for this to be a problem, it needs to generate a deterministic bias in any analysis. Analyzing the demographic characteristics of the different cohorts of immigrants at each of the different LFSs only reveals small changes across surveys; in essence, the socio-demographic characteristics of the cohort remain quite stable across surveys, implying that no deterministic bias would emerge in an analysis. Originality/value – The paper highlights the relevance of accounting for cohort of arrival in the host country, especially when welfare benefits are based on workers' contribution. Indeed, failure to account for this would lead to the conclusion that immigrants are less likely to receive unemployment insurance (UI) benefits than natives. However, once cohort of arrival is included as a covariate, this paper finds that the lower UI intake is explained by the most recent immigrants, as their legal status and lower contributions hamper participation in social programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The association between the math gender gap and gender equality is not robust • Country-level confounding factors are relevant • The relationship is non-existent in OECD and non-OECD countries • Gender equality is associated with a narrowing of the math gender gap in poorer countries In their seminal article, Guiso et al. (2008) uncover a positive relationship between several measures of gender equality and the math gender gap (which tends to favor boys) by exploiting cross-sectional variation in PISA test scores from 39 countries - the majority of which belong to the OECD - at a given year (2003). Using five waves of PISA data spanning the period 2003-2015 and exploiting variation both across- and within-countries, we find that the positive association between the female-male gender gap in math test scores and several measures of gender equality vanishes in OECD countries once we account for country fixed effects. Interestingly, our analysis also uncovers a positive and statistically significant association between the math gender gap and several gender equality indicators for countries in the bottom quartile of per capita GDP. This association is robust to controlling for country-level time-invariant unobserved heterogeneity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a US nationally representative sample of over 6000 adults from 26 countries of ancestry, we find a strong association between their financial literacy in the US and the financial literacy level in their self-reported country of ancestry. More specifically, if an individual from a country of ancestry with 'average' financial literacy had instead come from a country with financial literacy one-standard deviation above the mean, his or her likelihood of answering correctly basic financial literacy questions regarding inflation, risk diversification, and interest rate in the US would have increased by 4 percentage points, a 9% increase relative to the average financial literacy in our sample of 43%. The cultural components behind this observed association include a strong emphasis on patience, long-term orientation and risk-aversion in the country of ancestry. We also find that the association is driven by financial literacy on risk diversification and interest compounding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We use three complementary quasi-experimental approaches to study the causal effect of introducing a penalty-point system (PPS) in Spain in July 1 2006, on drivers' behavior. According to Regression-Discontinuity (RD) estimates, the PPS decreased the number of traffic offenders by 14%, and this deterrence effect was directly related to the severity of the penalty. Concerns that RD estimates may over- or under-state the longer-run effects of the policy change are addressed by presenting the Difference-in-Differences (DiD) estimates, which reveal that the deterrence effect of this reform increased over time. Crucially, the reform also curbed accidents by 14%, injuries by 16%, and fatalities by 14%, and these effects persisted over time. Difference-in-RD estimates are consistent with the other two approaches. Altogether, the reform represented net benefits of over 946 million EUR per year (or 0.09% of the Spanish GDP) during the first three years after implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What happens to children's long-run cognitive development when introducing universal high-quality childcare for 3-year-olds mainly crowds out family care? To answer this question, we take advantage of a sizeable expansion of publicly subsidized full-time high-quality childcare for 3-year-olds in Spain in the early 1990s. Identification relies on variation in the initial speed of the expansion of childcare slots across states. Using a difference-in-difference approach, we find strong evidence for sizeable improvements in children's reading skills at age 15 (0.15 standard deviation) and weak evidence for a reduction in grade retentions during primary school (2.5 percentage points). The effects are driven by girls and disadvantaged children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]