Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research - Theses
Permanent URI for this collection
Search Results
1 - 2 of 2
-
ItemEarnings and Income Inequality in Germany and Australia: Evidence from Tax and Survey Data( 2021)Using tax data and combined tax-survey data, this thesis examines earnings inequality in Germany and income inequality in Australia. A particular focus is on combining tax record data and household survey data to obtain more accurate income data with the purpose of better understanding inequality in these two countries. Chapter 2, using tax data alone, creates historical series of top earnings shares. Using German wage tax statistics for 1926–2010, this chapter creates the first consistently measured long-term series of German top earnings shares. I find a U-shape pattern with top earnings shares falling from 1926 through the mid-1970s and almost continuously rising thereafter. I then compare my results to those from other studies examining top earnings shares in the US, UK, and France. Over the entire period it is reasonable to describe trends in the US, UK and Germany as U-shaped. All three decline from pre-WWII highs. The US shares begin to grow from the mid-1960s. The UK and German shares grow from the mid-1970s. In the mid-1990s, they begin to converge at a level substantially below the US. The French shares follow a different pattern that can be reasonably described as W-shaped. Over the entire period (1957–2010) that it is possible to disaggregate the data by gender, women are underrepresented among top earners. Despite an increase in their labour force participation from 1957 to 1986, their share in the top 10% and top 1% of all workers remained unchanged. Only after German reunification in 1990 did women’s presence among top earners begin to increase. Chapter 3, using a similar adjustment procedure as Burkhauser, Herault, et al. (2018) but applying it to earnings, combines data from tax records and from the German Socio-economic Panel (SOEP) to explore measures of annual earnings inequality that are broader than the top earnings shares of the previous chapter. I show that the unadjusted survey data, unlike the adjusted data, fail to replicate those shares. Using these enhanced data, I provide new evidence on German earnings inequality for the period 1992–2011. My results indicate higher levels of earnings inequality over this period than unadjusted survey data suggest. Inequality rose less quickly for measures that include all employees; it rose faster for measures of full-time, prime-aged employees. Chapter 4 turns to Australia, demonstrating the importance of capturing high incomes well and consistently when calculating and examining inequality measures of equivalised household income. Using a similar adjustment approach as in Chapter 3, we examine the two major sources of household income data in Australia—the Survey of Income and Housing (SIH) and the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey. We show that under-capture of top incomes by these surveys leads to underestimation of the extent of income inequality in Australia. The rise in income inequality in the 2000s exhibited by the unadjusted SIH data is considerably reduced when top incomes are adjusted to match tax record data; under-capture of top incomes by the SIH is greater in the early-2000s.
-
ItemChallenges in early adulthood and the timing of nest-leaving( 2018)Recent young adult cohorts have delayed moving out from the parental home, reflecting social trends and macroeconomic conditions that undermine the affordability of independent living. This dissertation focuses on the timing of these nest-leaving transitions in relation to other significant decisions and events in early adulthood. Each of the three chapters investigates whether potentially adverse outcomes lead to earlier nest-leaving, which has been shown to be financially harrowing and disadvantaging. To address these research questions, I utilize longitudinal data from the Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey. Methodologically, I extensively apply event history models and focus on effects on the timing of nest-leaving events. I address potential endogeneity between the nest-leaving decision and other choices in early adulthood by estimating these simultaneously, accounting for selection effects through random effects models. The first essay considers how heavy drinking and cigarette smoking affect the timing of leaving home. As risky health behaviors, I find evidence that young adults who drink heavily leave home sooner than moderate or non-drinking counterparts. Among women, early initiation of alcohol or tobacco use by age 15 further compounds nest-leaving risks, showing that substance usage is far more consequential for their co-residence with parents. The second essay investigates human capital investment in tertiary education, to determine if graduation or dropout rates disfavor students who move out and maintain their own independent household. This chapter also considers whether parents condition their offer of co-residence on the young adult's enrollment. The results indicate that men clearly benefit while co-residing, as they graduate sooner than counterparts who live independently. However, women do not significantly benefit from co-residence in this way, and instead tend to move out around the time of graduation. The third essay examines the pathways out from the parental home -- either with or without a partner -- and how these may be affected by negative life events. Sudden illness or injury of the young adult or a family member, the death of a close friend or a relative, and victimization to violent or property crimes are unforeseeable events that can compromise the young adult's ability to navigate key transitions in adulthood. Results suggest that men are more likely to remain at home longer after a family member is in ill health, whereas women are more likely to leave home soon after the death of a close friend or experiences of property crime. The findings across these essays consistently emphasize women's short-lived co-residence with parents, surfacing from disaggregated analyses by gender. Several factors which contribute to earlier nest-leaving are themselves disadvantaging in nature, and thus raise a concern that negative experiences early in adulthood could beget further hardships later on. This dissertation contributes to the nest-leaving literature by highlighting potential precursors of disadvantage, even while the young adult co-resides and receives in-kind parental transfers.