Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research - Research Publications

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    Welfare Receipt and the Intergenerational Transmission of Work-Welfare Norms
    Barón, JD ; Cobb-Clark, DA ; Erkal, N (Wiley, 2015)
    This article investigates the role of welfare receipt in shaping norms regarding work and welfare using unique Australian data from the Youth in Focus Project. We begin by incorporating welfare into a theoretical model of the transmission of work-welfare norms across generations. Consistent with the predictions of this model, we find evidence that youths' attitudes toward work and welfare may be influenced by socialization within their families. Young people are more likely to oppose generous social benefits and to believe that social inequality stems from individual characteristics if (i) their mothers support these views; (ii) their mothers were employed while they were growing up; and (iii) their families never received welfare. Finally, youths' work-welfare norms appear to be unrelated to their neighbors' welfare receipt suggesting that socialization occurs primarily within families rather than within neighborhoods.
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    Fathers and youths' delinquent behavior
    Cobb-Clark, DA ; Tekin, E (SPRINGER, 2014-06)
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    Parents' economic support of young-adult children: Do socioeconomic circumstances matter?
    Cobb-Clark, DA ; Gorgens, T (Springer, 2014)
    We assess how the support parents provide to young adults as they leave school and begin working is related to their family’s socioeconomic circumstances. We do this using an innovative Australian data set which merges survey and administrative data. The survey data inform us about intergenerational co-residence and financial gifts and the administrative data about the family’s welfare-receipt history. We find that disadvantaged young people are more likely to be economically independent of their parents than are their more advantaged peers. This disparity is larger for financial gifts than for co-residence and increases with age. Moreover, there is a complex relationship between parental support and participation in study and work. We find no evidence, however, that a lack of parental support is the source of the socioeconomic gradient in either studying or employment. These results are important in eliminating one potential pathway through which socioeconomic disadvantage limits young people’s outcomes.
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    Sickness absence and mental health: evidence from a nationally representative longitudinal survey
    Wooden, M ; Bubonya, M ; Cobb-Clark, D (SCANDINAVIAN JOURNAL WORK ENVIRONMENT & HEALTH, 2016-05)
    OBJECTIVES: Previous studies have consistently reported evidence of large significant associations between measures of psychological health and sickness absence. Some of this association, however, may be confounded by relevant covariates that have not been controlled. By using data with repeated observations from the same individuals, this study aimed to quantify the bias due to unobserved characteristics that are time invariant. METHODS: Longitudinal data from the Household, Income, and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey were used to estimate negative binomial regression models of the number of annual paid sickness absence days. Observations spanning the period 2005-2012, and covering all employed persons aged 15-64 years, were used (56 348 observations from 13 622 individuals). RESULTS: Significant associations between the number of paid sickness absence days taken each year and scores on the mental health subscale of the SF-36 (MHI-5) were found. Inclusion of correlated random effects (which effectively control for unobserved person-specific factors that do not vary over time), however, resulted in a marked decline in the magnitude of this association. For persons with severe depressive symptoms (MHI-5 ≤52), the estimated incidence rate ratios were in the range 1.13-1.14 for men and 1.10-1.12 for women. CONCLUSIONS: Poor mental health is a risk factor affecting work attendance, but the magnitude of this effect, at least in a country where the rate of sickness absence is relatively low, is modest.
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    Disadvantage across the Generations: What Do We Know about Social and Economic Mobility in Australia?*
    Cobb-Clark, D (WILEY-BLACKWELL PUBLISHING, INC, 2010-09)
    This paper begins by considering the Australian evidence on intergenerational social and economic mobility in the context of the international literature. Recent evidence from the Youth in Focus project is used to highlight the effects of growing up in socio‐economic disadvantage on a range of outcomes for young Australians.
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    Occupational Segregation and the Gender Wage Gap in Private- and Public-Sector Employment: A Distributional Analysis*
    Baron, JD ; Cobb-Clark, DA (WILEY-BLACKWELL, 2010-06)
    We use the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia data from 2001 to 2006 to analyse the source of the gender wage gap across public‐ and private‐sector wage distributions in Australia. We are particularly interested in the role of gender segregation within sector‐specific occupations in explaining relative wages. We find that, irrespective of labour market sector, the gender wage gap among low‐paid, Australian workers is more than explained by differences in wage‐related characteristics. The gender wage gap among high‐wage workers, however, is largely unexplained in both sectors suggesting that glass ceilings (rather than sticky floors) may be prevalent. Gender differences in employment across occupations advantage (rather than disadvantage) all women except those in high‐paid jobs, whereas disparity in labour market experience plays a much more important role in explaining relative private‐sector wages. Finally, disparity in educational qualifications and demographic characteristics are generally unimportant in explaining the gender wage gap.
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    The Retirement Expectations of Middle‐aged Australians*
    COBB‐CLARK, DA ; STILLMAN, S (Wiley, 2009-06)
    We use HILDA data to examine the retirement plans of middle‐aged Australians. We find that approximately two‐thirds of men and more than half of women report a numeric expected retirement age which we refer to as having a standard retirement plan. Still, one in five individuals seem to have delayed their retirement planning and approximately 1 in 11 either does not know when he or she expects to retire or expects to never retire. Retirement plans are closely related to current labour market position, with workers in jobs with well‐defined superannuation benefits more likely to report numeric expected retirement ages.
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    The Asset Portfolios of Native-born and Foreign-born Australian Households
    Cobb-Clark, DA ; Hildebrand, VA (WILEY-BLACKWELL, 2009-03)
    This paper analyses the net worth and asset portfolios of native‐ and foreign‐born Australian families. Specifically, we estimate a system of asset equations with an adding‐up constraint imposed to control for diversity in household wealth. We find that the wealth of mixed and native‐born couples is not significantly different; however, immigrant‐only couples have approximately $162 000 less wealth than native‐born couples. Relative to equally wealthy native‐born couples, immigrant‐only couples hold substantially more wealth in their homes and less in the form of vehicles. Mixed couples and single individuals allocate their wealth across assets in the same way their native‐born counterparts.
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    Improving the Modelling of Couples' Labour Supply
    Breunig, R ; Cobb-Clark, D ; Gong, X ( 2008)
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    Improving the Modeling of Couples’ Labour Supply
    BREUNIG, R. ; COBB-CLARK, D. ; GONG, X. ( 2008)