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This paper uses Canada's National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth to examine whether greater cash transfers available to parents with disabilities when their child was aged 5 to 15 increase the chances that the child will attend postsecondary education (PSE) as a young adult. We exploit differences across provinces and over time in the generosity of provincial disability benefits programs in Canada and find that higher disability benefits when the child was aged 5 to 15 years increase the probability that he or she will have attended or be attending PSE by age 19 to 25. The estimated effect size increases with the severity of the parental disability and the number of disabled parents. Because lower disability benefits significantly worsen performance of public school aged children on standardized math tests and elevate anxiety symptoms, one plausible pathway from disability benefit levels to PSE attendance may be through the cognitive and non-cognitive skills children acquire by the age of 15. We conclude that the level of disability transfers available early in a child's life mitigates the impact of having a parent with a disability as a source of inequality of opportunity and of unequal probability of PSE participation.

Although disability has been on the psychological agenda for some time, there is limited empirical evidence on the life satisfaction of youth with a disability, especially the effect of discrimination and factors that might mitigate it. We address this critical gap by examining the complex social experiences of youth with a disability and the culminating effect on life satisfaction. We ask three questions: (1) Is having a disability associated with lower life satisfaction? (2) Do youth with a disability experience discrimination and, if so, how does this affect life satisfaction? (3) Can a sense of belonging mitigate the negative effect of discrimination? We address these questions using microdata from the Canadian Community Health Survey, which is nationally representative. Our sample consists of 11,997 adolescents, of whom 2193 have a disability. We find that life satisfaction is lower among youth with a disability. Moreover, many experience disability-related discrimination, which has a negative effect on life satisfaction. However, this is mitigated by a sense of belonging to the community. Specifically, youth with a disability do not report lower life satisfaction when high belonging is present, even if they experience discrimination. This is true for boys and girls. We conclude that belonging, even if it is not disability-related, is protective of well-being. This has important implications for policy whereby organizations that cultivate a sense of belonging may alleviate the harm sustained by youth who experience discrimination as a result of their disability.

We explore the effects of parental economic insecurity on their children’s hyperactivity and anxiety. Our central argument is that even after controlling for current family income and employment status, parents may have legitimate feelings of economic insecurity, and these may be detrimental for their children. Data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth indicate that the health of 2- to 5-year-old children is worse when parents report themselves to be “worried about having enough money to support the family.” In particular, boys are more hyperactive and girls are more anxious when parents feel less economically secure. Changes in parenting styles appear to be channels through which parental economic insecurity affects their children.

This article provides a statistical picture of the economic well-being of Canadian children. We discuss changes in families, nationally and by province. We outline how Canadian policy in support of children has changed and how it differs across regions. Changes or differences in median incomes, in income distributions and in child poverty both before and after taxes and transfers, at different points of time, in different kinds of families, and in different provinces constitute the core of the article. Finally, the economic well-being of Canadian children in 2010 is compared with that of children in eight other affluent countries.

Despite the compelling evidence of the long-run consequences of childhood inattention/hyperactivity and harmful side effects of stimulant medication, relatively little is known about accessible non-pharmacological options to reduce inattentive/hyperactive behaviours. This study evaluates the effect of daily exercise on inattentive/hyperactive behaviours among young children by leveraging evidence from a quasi-experiment generated when 3 Canadian provinces adopted mandatory requirements for all students in grades 1 through 6 to participate in 20–30 min of daily physical activity at school between 1994 and 2009. By exploiting plausibly exogenous variations in the timing of implementation and duration of physical activity mandated as well as over 20,000 observations on a sample of nationally representative children, our difference-in-differences estimates indicate that brief bouts of daily exercise at school effectively reduce inattention/hyperactivity in children – with the beneficial effect enhanced by the duration of exercise mandated. Importantly, most of the exercise effect is concentrated on boys. Since boys' higher rates of inattention/hyperactivity contribute to the explanation for boys’ lagging academic motivation and achievement, we argue that providing more scope for physical activity during the school day might be a feasible policy option not only for reducing inattentive/hyperactive behaviours, but also for helping to close the educational gender gap in the longer run.

When comparing economic well-being using income or expenditures, an equivalence scale is often used to adjust for differences in characteristics that affect needs. For example, a family of two is a...

When comparing economic well-being using income or expenditures, an equivalence scale is often used to adjust for differences in characteristics that affect needs. For example, a family of two is assumed to need more income than a single person, but not twice as much due to the economies of scale in consumption. In this study, we ask whether it is appropriate to use a common equivalence scale when comparing economic well-being across countries and/or time if consumption expenditure patterns differ?Based on an Engel methodology, we estimate equivalence scales for a diverse set of countries (Canada, France, Israel, Poland, South Africa, Switzerland, Taiwan, United States) in different time periods (1999-2012). We find considerable differences in economies of scale across countries, as well as increases over time. Notably, we find that economies of scale are larger than those implied by the widely accepted 'square root of household size' equivalence scale.Our results indicate that using a common equivalence scale to compare economic well-being across countries and/or time is misleading. Specifically, if economies of scale are understated (as is the case when using the 'square root of household size'), the relative poverty experienced by larger versus smaller families is being overstated.

A l’aide des donnees de quatre cycles de l’Enquete nationale (longitudinale) sur la sante de la population, qui couvrent la periode 1994-2001, nous tentons de voir si l’insecuriteeconomique est une cause de prise de poids et d’obesite chez les Canadiens. En juillet 1996, l’adoption du Projet de loi C-12 a eu pour effet de reduire considerablement les prestations d’assurance-emploi, ce qui a tres probablement accru l’insecurite economique chez les Canadiens qui risquaient de se retrouver au chomage. En utilisant la methode de la difference dans la difference, nous comparons donc les variations de prises de poids chez des adultes de 25a 64 ans avant et apres l’adoption du Projet de loi. Nos resultats montrent que, apres l’adoption du Projet de loi, le chomage a entraine chez les hommes peu instruits une augmentation de l’indice de masse corporelle de 3,2 points. Abstract: Using four cycles of longitudinal National Population Health Survey (NPHS) data from 1994 to 2001, we examine whether increasing economic insecurity causes weight gain and obesity. In July 1996, Bill C-12 reduced Canadian unemployment insurance benefits considerably, arguably increasing the economic insecurity of Canadians exposed to unemployment risk. Using a difference-in-difference methodology, this paper compares the change in weight gain of adults 25 to 64 before and after this policy shift. For poorly educated males, the onset of unemployment in the post-policy change era is predicted to increase their body mass index (BMI) by 3.2 points.

Using data from the Statistics Canada National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (NLSCY), this paper investigates the impact of school entry age on inattentive/hyperactive behaviours. We employ both an across-provinces and time difference-in-differences approach and a within-province regression discontinuity design. We find that being young in class causes greater inattentive/hyperactive behaviour, exacerbating any inattentive/hyperactive behaviour exhibited prior to school entry. These results also hold in sibling fixed effect models. We do not find gender differences in the effects, although since boys are more likely to be inattentive/hyperactive at school entry, they are more affected. These effects persist into early adolescence.

We provide the first direct comparisons of poverty and inequality in the North (i.e. Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut) with elsewhere in Canada. We do so by first constructing a northern equivalence scale. Based on an Engel methodology, we estimate the extra income needed by families in the North to devote the same share to necessities as those in southern Canada. Using econometric techniques and public use microdata from the Survey of Household Spending, we find that cost of living is 1.46 times higher in the North. We use this scale to adjust the incomes of northern residents so that purchasing power is, for the purposes of our model, equal to that in the South. We subsequently measure poverty and inequality in northern versus southern Canada over the period 1997–2009. Our findings indicate that incidence of poverty is much higher in the North. For example, 31.1% of northern families with children are poor, compared with 9.9% in the South. Moreover, while approximately 10% of the southern populatio...

The Territorial North (i.e. Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut) is markedly different from the rest of Canada; yet there is little statistically reliable information about adolescent well-being in the region. The objective of this paper is to create a portrait of adolescent well-being in the Territorial North relative to Southern Canada. We do so using the Canadian Community Health Survey, a nationally representative dataset. We examine seven domains of well-being with 23 indicators by region and Aboriginal identity for youth aged 12 to 17. We include objective and subjective measures, reflecting the importance of adolescents’ perspectives in studies of their own well-being. We find negligible differences among the non-Aboriginal population; while most indicators are substantially worse for Aboriginal youth, especially in Northern Canada (e.g. income, poverty, household education, family structure, crowding, food insecurity, exposure to second-hand smoke, school enrolment, smoking, sexual activity, obesity and overweight, oral and mental health). However, there are exceptions (e.g. physical activity, fruit and vegetable consumption, stress, body image, belonging). Nevertheless, Aboriginal youth in the North are generally less satisfied with life. This is not surprising since they fare worse in most well-being indicators considered in this study.

This paper uses longitudinal microdata from the Statistics Canada National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (NLSCY) to study the family income dynamics of Canadian children from the time they are 4 or 5 until they are 14 or 15. Dynamics of family income have been studied less often than dynamics of child poverty. Yet we argue that from the perspective of equity, it is important to know the extent to which some children are always affluent while other children are always poor. Also, since our social safety net is designed to shelter Canadians, including children, from both economic hardship and economic loss, it is also important, from the perspective of policy, to assess risk factors for persistent low income as well as correlates of major economic loss.

We ask how the paid work of Canadian married mothers and fathers is affected when a child has a physical/mental condition or health problem that leads to restrictions in daily activities. Using the Statistics Canada National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth, we find that married mothers of children with disabilities are less likely to engage in paid work and/or work fewer paid hours per week. No statistically significant changes in paid work participation or hours are apparent for fathers of the same children. We find, moreover, evidence that the degree of specialization within families increases when there is a child with a disability. These responses are consistent with traditional gender roles within families, and may make sense as a ‘household’ coping strategy. However, such a division of labor may generate economic vulnerability for mothers compared to fathers.

Objective – To describe steps undertaken by the University of Connecticut Libraries to respond to the results of an organizational climate assessment. More than 80% of the Libraries’ staff members completed the ClimateQUAL® survey instrument in the spring of 2007. An organizational development consultant designed a format for focus groups to provide anonymous, but more detailed, experience-based information to help the Libraries discover, understand, and respond to the root causes of “problem” areas indicated by the survey results. Methods – In November 2007, the consultant conducted five 90-minute, on-site focus group sessions, each with 7-15 participants. Two of the sessions were open to all staff members, while the others focused on underrepresented minority group members, team leaders, and the staff of one specific team. Results – A summary report based on compiled data and including recommendations was submitted and discussed with the Libraries’ Leadership Group. In line with organizational development practice, recommendations were made to engage those closest to the “problems” (i.e., the staff) to design and recommend improvements to internal systems. The consultant advised the formation of six teams to address internal systems, and an initial three teams comprised of staff members from across the library were formed. These teams were charged with formulating a set of recommended actions that will contribute to a healthier organizational climate in three areas: leadership and team decision making; performance management; and hiring, merit, and promotion. The findings, recommendations, and progress-to-date of each team are summarized. Conclusion – The ClimateQUAL® results and the follow-up with the organizational development consultant helped in identifying potential problem areas within the Libraries’ internal systems. The consultant made recommendations that led to the development of concrete roadmaps, benchmarks, and associated strategies. The Libraries’ progress on its strategic plan will serve as the barometer for gauging the effect of these changes.

In this paper, we ask whether there are Canada/U.S. differences in the extent to which children who were rich versus poor during their early years have developed differences in outcomes by the time they reach adolescence or early adulthood. Using comparable longitudinal data for each country, separate analyses are first conducted for rich compared to poor children living in Canada and rich compared to poor children living in the United States. We then pool data sets to test whether any rich/poor child outcome gaps that have emerged are greater (or smaller) in Canada compared to the U.S. Our data source for Canada is the Statistics Canada National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth and for the U.S. we use the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 79, Child-Young Adult supplement. Key findings include: 1) rich child/poor child outcome gaps are evident for all outcomes in both countries; 2) larger gaps between rich and poor children are evident in the U.S. for math scores and high school completion.

This paper uses the child sample of Statistics Canada's 2001 Participation and Activity Limitations Survey to study the economic costs of caring for children with disabilities in Canada. Both explicit out-of-pocket expenditures and implicit costs in the form of foregone labour market opportunities are considered. Results indicate that, despite universal health insurance in Canada, a majority of families of children with disabilities incur significant economic costs. Additional financial support might be offered, particularly when the child's condition is severe, and costly therapy and specialized aids could be covered. Our results also support the need for respite as well as help in balancing work and caregiving for Canadian parents of children with disabilities.

In this paper, we address two issues: the small sample variability in estimation of the parameters of female labor force participation models with dichotomous dependent variables due to random variation across small samples; and whether large-sample estimates of discrete-choice models yield the same results. In the first case, both logit and profit models exhibit similar patterns of parameter instability in 'small' samples and that a sample size of over 10,000 observations is required to reduce the issue of sampling variability to acceptable levels. In the second case, both models generate similar qualitative results in large samples; however, even in the largest samples, the quantitative results generated by these models diverge significantly. Coauthors are Zhengxi Lin, Lars Osberg, and Shelley Phipps. Copyright 1994 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd

Dans cet article, à partir des données de l’Enquête longitudinale nationale sur les enfants et les jeunes, nous tentons de répondre à trois questions. a) Élever un enfant ayant un handicap ou une maladie chronique a-t-il un effet négatif sur la santé maternelle ? b) Si oui, cet effet croît-il à long terme ? c) Cet effet est-il plus marqué chez les mères célibataires que chez celles qui sont mariées ? Nos observations nous permettent de tirer les conclusions suivantes. Les mères – mariées ou célibataires – qui élèvent un enfant ayant un handicap ou une maladie chronique affirment être en moins bonne santé. Ce phénomène s’amplifie avec le temps. Quand on tient compte des variables que sont les déterminants de la santé, on n’observe pas de différence significative entre l’état de santé des mères célibataires et celui des mères mariées, et le lien entre l’état de santé et le fait d’avoir un enfant handicapé n’est pas plus important chez les mères célibataires que chez celles qui sont mariées.

This paper uses panel data from the Statistics Canada National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (1994–2000) to study the implications of parenting a child with a disability or chronic condition for subjective assessments of parental health. We find mother's health to be negatively affected, particularly if the disability is longer-term. Within families, the wife's health deteriorates relative to her husband's when they are parenting a child with a disability. These results are consistent with Akerlof and Kranton's [Akerlof, G., Kranton, R., 2000. Economics and identity. The Quarterly Journal of Economics 105(3), 715–753] arguments that ‘identity’ is an important determinant of both behaviour and well-being. For parents of children with disabilities, the behaviour associated with a traditional ‘good mother’ identity (e.g., care-giving) appears to have more adverse health consequences than the behaviour associated with a ‘good father’ identity (e.g., breadwinning).

This paper uses a large, nationally representative microdata survey to conduct a multivariate analysis of the correlates of self-assessed happiness for Canadian 12 to 15 year olds living in two-parent families. We ask whether the same factors matter for the happiness of young teens as for adults. And, we ask whether the correlates of being at the bottom of the young teen happiness distribution are the same as the correlates of being at the top. Results suggest that the level of family income correlates with the probability of being at the bottom of the young teen happiness distribution but not with the probability of being at the top. Relative socioeconomic position and peer social relationships, on the other hand, correlate with being at the top but not at the bottom of the young teen happiness distribution. Relationships involving significant adults (parents, teachers) are the most important correlates of young teen happiness.

Using microdata from the Luxembourg Income Study, we assess “time crunch” for families with children in Canada, Germany, Sweden, the U.K. and the U.S. Both theory and empirical evidence suggest that both time and money are important inputs to the well-being of parents and children. We present cross-country comparisons of “total available adult hours” under different assumptions about the varying time needs of families of different size. We also present estimates of “time shortages.” In all cases, we provide separate estimates for families located at different points in the country income distributions, since being short of both time and money is likely to be particularly problematic. Although paid work hours are highest for high-income families, we nonetheless find significant numbers of lower-income families in which parents work very long hours in the paid labor market; this is particularly the case in the U.S.

*An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Conference on Cross-National Comparisons of Expenditures on Children, Princeton University, Center for Research on Child Well-being, January 7–9, 2004 and I thank participants at that conference for very helpful feed-back, in particular, Janet Currie and Cecilia Rouse. I would like to thank the Canadian Population Health Initiative for funding and Lynn Lethbridge and Catherine MacLean for excellent research assistance.

This paper explores the connection between the labour market and child overweight status in Canada. The labour market is a social institution which plays a critical role in determining how families live their day-to-day lives, for example, how much time and which parts of the day are available for cooking, eating and exercise. Using longitudinal data from the Statistics Canada National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth, we find that a history of higher hours of paid work by mothers (but not fathers) is associated with a higher probability of being 'at risk of overweight'/overweight for children aged 6-11. The policy implication we draw from this work is that additional support to better enable parents to engage in paid work without penalty to their own health or that of their children is clearly warranted.

The goal of this paper is to compare the extent of child obesity in Canada, Norway and the United States. As child poverty is an important correlate of child obesity, we wish to examine the potential role of international differences in child poverty in explaining international differences in the extent of child obesity. We use three representative microdata surveys containing parental reports of child height and weight collected in the mid-1990s in Canada, Norway and the US. We calculate both the prevalence and proportional severity of child obesity for 6-11-year-old children in each country, and represent the 'extent' of obesity diagrammatically. Differences in patterns of child poverty are similarly depicted. Obesity extent is also compared for poor and non-poor children in Canada and the US. Finally, child obesity in the three countries is compared using only non-poor children where we find that the extent of child obesity is much lower in Norway than in Canada or the US. The pattern apparent for obesity is remarkably similar to that found for child poverty. In Canada and especially in the US, we find a much greater extent of obesity for poor than non-poor children. However, when we compare only non-poor children in the three countries, although the magnitude of difference is smaller, it remains clear that Norwegian children are much less likely to be obese. Policy and research directed towards reducing the extent of child obesity in both Canada and the US should pay particular attention to issues of child poverty.

In economics, the number of observations available for empirical work is often predetermined. Researchers assume some large sample distribution and carry through with measurement and testing applied to data sets of varying sizes. The consequences of sampling variability are generally ignored. It is shown in a re-sampling experiment, using data sets of different sizes and estimating log-linear male labour supply equations, that a wide range of what appears to be statistically supported estimates of the wage elasticity of labour supply are generated. Testing based on bootstrapped estimates shows that 4000 observations are required to reduce sampling variability to statistically acceptable levels.

External factors are forcing libraries to seriously evaluate and redefine their purpose within higher education. Libraries have identified themselves as gateways to information. Google, and other Internet search tools, have changed the need and importance of the gatekeeper role in libraries. The authors argue that libraries have a role that is broader than that of gatekeeper. It is necessary to move beyond our existing mental models and truly redefine our unique role based on the needs within the external environment. To develop this broader role, libraries must develop collaborative relationships and leverage existing tools and services.

This paper examines gender differences in the impact of paid and unpaid productive activities on well-being. Using recent Canadian data, we examine the time spent by prime-age women and men (25 – 54) on paid work, childcare, eldercare, household work, volunteering, and education, and then assess its impact on stress and work-life balance. Using multivariate analyses, we show that women's greater hours of unpaid work contribute to women experiencing more stress than men, and of that work, hours spent on eldercare and housework are more stressful than those spent on childcare. We also examine the influence of job characteristics and spouses' paid and unpaid work time on stress. Neither spouse's unpaid work nor most job characteristics alleviate stress, once work hours are controlled. However, the evidence suggests that women, more so than men, use strategies such as self-employment to improve work-life balance.

Objectif : Examiner les liens possibles entre les taux eleves de pauvrete durable dans les Maritimes et les taux d'asthme eleves chez les enfants de deux a sept ans. Methode : A l'aide des donnees de l'Enquete longitudinale nationale sur les enfants et les jeunes, et apres avoir apporte des ajustements pour tenir compte des effets d'autres determinants connus, nous avons analyse par regression logistique le lien entre la duree de la pauvrete et la probabilite qu'un enfant ait recu un diagnostic d'asthme, fasse actuellement des crises d'asthme ou ait eprouve des symptomes de respiration sifflante au cours des 12 mois precedents. Resultats: Selon les donnees de l'Enquete, 15,9 % des enfants des Maritimes avaient recu un diagnostic d'asthme, 8,7 % avaient eu une crise d'asthme recemment, et 24,1 % avaient eu des symptomes de respiration sifflante. Ces niveaux etaient proportionnellement plus eleves que dans le reste du Canada. Les enfants vivant sous le seuil de pauvrete de facon chronique affichaient des taux de plus de 30 % superieurs a la moyenne canadienne. Bien que 19,9 % des enfants des Maritimes aient vecu une pauvrete chronique (contre 11,7 % ailleurs au Canada), et bien que la pauvrete soit associee a une probabilite accrue d'asthme ou de respiration sifflante, l'ecart regional dans les taux d'asthme ne disparait pas, meme apres avoir apporte des ajustements pour tenir compte des effets de la pauvrete. L'ajout d'autres determinants que la pauvrete n'explique pas non plus entierement l'ecart constate. Conclusion: Nos resultats n'expliquent pas entierement la raison des taux superieurs de prevalence de l'asthme chez les enfants des Maritimes, mais ils jettent un eclairage interessant sur la progression de la pauvrete a l'asthme chez les enfants. Par exemple, les enfants qui vivent dans un etat de pauvrete chronique sont plus susceptibles d'avoir eu un poids insuffisant a la naissance et moins susceptibles d'avoir ete allaites, deux facteurs correles avec l'asthme. Ces renseignements peuvent etre utiles aux decideurs. Les polluants et d'autres facteurs environnementaux associes a l'asthme dont la presente etude n'a pas tenu compte pourraient aussi expliquer une partie de l'ecart regional.

The goal of this paper is to compare the well–being of young children in Canada, Norway and the United States using Sen’s (1992) “functionings” perspective. We compare children cross–nationally in terms of ten “functionings” (low birth–weight; asthma; accidents; activity limitation; trouble concentrating; disobedience at school; bullying; anxiety; lying; hyperactivity). If we compare young children in Canada and the U.S. in terms of their functionings, there is not a clear ranking overall. Canadian children are better off for four of nine comparable outcomes; U.S. children are better off for two outcomes; Canadian and U.S. children are statistically indistinguishable for three outcomes. If we compare child functionings in Canada or the U.S. with those experienced in Norway, it is clear that Norwegian children fare better. There is not a single case in which children in either Canada or the U.S. have better outcomes than Norwegian children.

The upbringing of children is modeled as a modified principal agent problem in which children attempt to maximize their own well-being when faced with a parenting strategy chosen by the parent, to maximize parent's perception of family well-being. Thus, children as well as parents are players, but children have higher discount rates than parents. The simultaneity of parenting and child behaviour is confirmed using the 1994 Canadian National Longitudinal Survey of Children.

Why do Canadian mothers have lower incomes than women who have never had children? Microdata from the 1995 GSS allow examination of two hypotheses: (1) mothers have spent more time out of the labour force, thus acquiring less human capital; (2) higher levels of unpaid work lead to fatigue and/or scheduling difficulties. Measuring work history does little to account for the ‘family gap.’ The estimated child penalty is reduced by allowing for ‘human capital depreciation’ and controlling for unpaid work hours, but the two hypotheses together cannot entirely explain the gap. JEL Classification: J0, J3 Entrees et sorties: marche du travail et consequences a long terme des interruptions dans l'experience sur le marche du travail a cause des enfants. Ce memoire se demande pourquoi les femmes canadiennes qui ont eu des enfants ont des revenus plus bas que ceux des femmes qui n'en ont pas eus. Les microdonnees de l'Enquete sociale generale de 1995 de Statistiques Canada permettent d'examiner deux hypotheses: (1) les meres ont passe plus de temps en dehors de la main d'oeuvre active et donc ont accumule moins de capital humain, ou (2) des niveaux plus eleves de travail non-remunere peuvent entrainer fatigue ou difficultes d'organisation du temps. Des efforts pour construire une meilleure image de l'experience de travail des femmes ne permettent pas d'expliquer cet ‘ecart familial,’ meme si la possibilite qu'il y ait ‘depreciation du capital humain’ reduit la penalisation attachee au fait d'avoir un enfant en particulier si l'interruption dans l'experience sur le marche du travail est suivie d'un changement d'emploi. Le nombre hebdomadaire d'heures de travail non paye est relie negativement aux revenus, et si l'on normalise pour tenir compte des heures de travail non paye cela reduit la penalisation attachee au fait d'avoir un enfant. Cependant les deux hypotheses combinees ne suffisent pas pour expliquer l'ecart.

This paper uses microdata from the 1992 Statistics Canada Family Expenditure Survey to provide evidence that male and female incomes do not always exert identical influences on household expenditures. The novelty of the paper lies in its demonstration that, while incomes may be pooled for some categories of consumption (e.g. housing), the income pooling hypothesis must be rejected for others. We also go beyond simply rejecting the pooling hypothesis to ask how male versus female income is used. Our results stress the on-going importance of traditional gender roles. For example, we find that expenditures on child care increase only with women’s incomes_higher male income is not associated with higher expenditure on child care even when both spouses are full-time, full-year paid workers.

Young workers in the 1990s can expect greater economic insecurity, as well as lower average earnings, compared to older workers, or compared to the youth of previous decades. The cost of greater insecurity depends upon an individual's probability of unemployment, marginal utility of income gains/losses and the extent to which individuals can smooth consumption over time by borrowing and drawing down assets. Since unemployment insurance cutbacks and higher unemployment have increased the risk exposure of youth, changes in the expected value of their income may understate utility losses as measured by the change in certainty equivalent income. This paper uses a behavioural microsimulation model to compare the impacts of 1971 and 1994 unemployment insurance legislation and unemployment rates in Canada. It calculates both the expected value of income changes and, using a Stone-Geary utility function, the change in inequality of well-being (as measured by certainty equivalent income) for youth and for prime age workers. Both calculations reveal that youth were disproportionately affected by Canada's changing labour market environment. Very few youth have enough assets to finance consumption during spells of unemployment.

This note asks: "How much income does it take to preserve the prechild standard of living for all members of the postchild household?" Equivalence scales for Canadian two-parent families are estimated using a complete demand system approach and imposing the condition of equivalence scale exactness/independent of a base (Blackorby and Donaldson (1993), Lewbel (1989)). This approach has several advantages: (1) It is formally grounded in economic theory. (2) The income required for children can be estimated without ignoring the well-being of the children themselves. (3) The estimates obtained appear reasonable relative to others currently available in the literature. © 1998 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Using data from the “Monitoring the Future” surveys, this paper shows that from the 1980s to the 2000s, the mode of girls’ high school GPA distribution has shifted from “B” to “A,” essentially “leaving boys behind” as the mode of boys’ GPA distribution stayed at “B.” In a reweighted Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition of achievement at each GPA level, we find that changes to gender differences in post-secondary expectations, in particular expectations for attending graduate or professional school, are the most important factors accounting for this trend after controlling for school ability and they occur as early as the eighth grade.

Using three decades of data from the "Monitoring the Future" cross-sectional surveys, this paper shows that, from the 1980s to the 2000s, the mode of girls' high school GPA distribution has shifted from "B" to "A", essentially "leaving boys behind" as the mode of boys' GPA distribution stayed at "B". In a reweighted Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition of achievement at each GPA level, we find that gender differences in post-secondary expectations, controlling for school ability, and as early as 8th grade are the most important factor accounting for this trend. Increases in the growing proportion of girls who aim for a post-graduate degree are sufficient to account for the increase over time in the proportion of girls earning "A's". The larger relative share of boys obtaining "C" and C+" can be accounted for by a higher frequency of school misbehavior and a higher proportion of boys aiming for a two-year college degree.

High on the research agenda of feminist economists is the development of better models of what goes on within families. This paper contributes by conducting empirical tests of the impact of social/institutional factors on behavior within marriage. As one example, “divorce-threat” bargaining models predict that greater certainty of receiving child support should increase a woman's bargaining power within a marriage and hence observable behavioral outcomes. Within a single country, there is limited variation in the social/institutional factors which might affect bargaining power, but across countries identifying variation can be found. Thus, we use a micro-data set constructed using seven countries from the Luxembourg Income Study database in order to estimate a probit model of the labor-force participation of married women. Our conclusions suggest that, contrary to the predictions of Becker-style unitary models, some social/institutional factors do influence individual behavior within the household.

We study changes in time and money available to families with children from 1971 to 2006. Increases in incomes at the top of the Canadian income distribution since the mid-1990s have taken place without any significant increases in total family hours of paid work. On the other hand, for families in the middle of the income distribution, family income has stagnated, despite the fact that parents jointly supply significantly higher hours of paid work. If both time and money are valuable resources for the production of well-being for family members, these findings suggest that inequality in well-being has increased even more than inequality of income.

This paper uses a new and very large data set (66,934 observations) to estimate labor-supply equations for Canadian men and women in 1986, taking account of quantity constraints on weeks of work. The authors present evidence that quantity constraints on available labor hours are a significant determinant of observed labor supply behavior. They conclude that desired labor supply is inelastic with respect to wages, lightly backward bending, and very similar for men and for women. Moreover, the authors find that quantity constraints in labor markets are a significant determinant of earnings inequality. Copyright 1993 by Royal Economic Society.

This comparative study of the relationship between family economic background and adult outcomes in the United States and Canada addresses three questions. First, is there something to explain? We suggest that the existing literature finds that there are significant differences in the degree of intergenerational economic mobility between these two countries, relative mobility being lower in the United States. This is the result of lower mobility at the very top and the very bottom of the earnings distribution. Second, does this reflect different underlying values of the citizens in these countries? Findings from comparable public opinion polls suggest that this is not the case. The citizens of both countries have a similar understanding of a successful life, one that is rooted in individual aspirations and freedom. They also have similar views on how these goals should be attained, but with one important exception: Americans differ in that they are more likely to see the State hindering rather than helping the attainment of these goals. Finally, how do the investments these countries make in the future of their children through the family, the labour market, and public policy actually differ? Using a number of representative household surveys we find that the configuration of all three sources of investment and support for children differs significantly, disadvantaged American children living in much more challenging circumstances, and the role of public policy not as strong in determining outcomes.

In this chapter, Canadian policies for families with children under the age of three are compared with those available in eight other affluent countries (i.e., Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Sweden, the UK, and the US), three from each of Esping-Andersen’s “three worlds” of welfare capitalism (Esping-Andersen, 1990). The focus on policies for families with very young children seems an appropriate choice for a book in honor of Alfred Kahn, who, with co-author Sheila Kamerman, has contributed enormously to international comparative research on the “under-three’s.”