Lucia Mangiavacchi

GDP and the Value of Family Caretaking: How Much Does Europe Care?

This study estimates the size and value of unpaid family caretaking activities at a European level. While at a country level several studies are available, a comprehensive evaluation for Europe as a whole was missing so far, mainly due to data limitations. This article fills this gap using a method that merges the information of the European Survey of Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) with the Harmonised European Time Use Surveys (HETUS). Monetary values of unpaid family domestic work and unpaid family childcare work are obtained applying both the opportunity cost and the market replacement approaches. For Europe as a whole, the total value of these activities ranges between 17% and 31.6% of the EU Gross Domestic Product (GDP), depending on the applied methodology. The national values of these activities are discussed and an interpretation of the country and gender differentials in family caretaking costs is given in terms of differences in culture, economic development and welfare state.

Evaluating Pro-Poor Transfers When Targeting is Weak: The Albanian Ndihma Ekonomike Program Revisited

The Albanian Ndihma Ekonomike is one of the first poverty reduction programs launched in transitional economies. Its record has been judged positively during the recession period of the 1990s and negatively during the more recent growth phase. This paper reconsiders the program using a regression-adjusted matching estimator rst suggested by Heckman et al. (1997, 1998) and exploiting discontinuities in program design and targeting failures. We nd the program to have a weak targeting capacity and a negative and signi cant impact on welfare. We also nd that recent changes introduced to the program have not improved its performance. An analysis of the distributional impact of treatment based on stochastic dominance theory suggests that our results are robust.

Do parents drink their children's welfare? Intra-household allocation of time between market labour, domestic work and child care in Russia

The aim of this paper is to investigate whether parental alcohol consumption leads to a reduction of child welfare. To this end, we analyse whether alcohol consumption decreases parents’ time spent looking after children and working. Using the Russia Longitudinal Monitoring Survey, we estimate a model of intra-household allocation of time for mono-nuclear families with children under fifteen years of age. We find that fathers’ alcohol consumption has a negative impact on their weekly hours spent doing child care, while no significant effect is observed for mothers’ alcohol consumption.JEL codesD1; I1; J13; J22

Minimum income in a transition economy

The Albanian Ndihma Ekonomike is one of the first poverty reduction programmes launched in transitional economies. Its record has been judged positively during the recession period of the 1990s and negatively during the more recent growth phase. This article reconsiders the programme using a regression‐adjusted local linear matching estimator first suggested by Heckman et al. (1997, 1998). We find the programme to have a weak targeting capacity and a non‐significant impact on different household outcomes.

Parental alcohol consumption and adult children's educational attainment

HighlightsWe study the long run impact of parental alcohol consumption on education.A problem drinking mother hampers years of education, education grade and university degree.Transmission mechanisms suggested by the literature are tested.Major role for in utero exposure to alcohol and drinking during adolescence. Abstract This study analyses whether an excessive parental alcohol consumption during childhood can affect long run childrens educational attainments. Using 19 waves of the Russia Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (RLMS), where individuals and their families are followed from childhood to adulthood, this study analyses parental alcohol consumption during childhood (between 1994 and 2001) and its relation with childrens educational attainment about twelve years later (from 2005 to 2014). Panel estimations show that mothers excessive alcohol consumption during childhood is consistently negatively associated with children educational outcomes, as years of education, the highest education grade achieved and the probability of having a tertiary education degree, a finding that is robust to possible endogeneity issues. In particular, while moderate drinking is not an issue, an additional standard glass of vodka (15.57 g of pure alcohol) consumed by the mother per day, reduces years of education by almost one year (0.88), and by 5.8 percentage points (or about 27%) the probability of having a university degree. The study also explores the transmission mechanisms suggested by the literature, identifying a significant role for prenatal exposure to alcohol and, to a lesser extent, for intergenerational transmission of drinking habits.

Family structure and children’s educational attainment in transition economies

Compared to developing economies, European transition economies had high levels of human capital when their transitions began, but a lack of resources and policies to protect poor families hampered children’s access to education, especially for non-compulsory school grades. Different phenomena associated with transition also negatively affected children’s education: e.g. parental absence due to migration, health problems, and alcohol abuse. These findings call for a greater policy focus on education and for monitoring of the schooling progress of children in special family circumstances.