Livestock in the Household Economy: Cross‐Country Evidence from Microeconomic Data

The development of the livestock sector can contribute to economic growth and poverty reduction, but there is inadequate understanding of livestock‐livelihoods linkages. This article draws on household‐level data from 12 developing countries to investigate the livestock‐asset position of rural households and its contribution to their income. The majority keep livestock; the less well‐off are more likely to keep livestock than the better‐off, but the very poor often lack the resources to invest in small animals. The key policy conclusion is that, contrary to common belief, there are no universal messages about livestock: policy needs to be tailored to farming systems, species, uses of livestock and different wealth groups.     

A Simple Intertemporal Model of Retirement Estimated On Italian Cross‐Section Data

Abstract. We develop and estimate a simple structural intertemporal model of retirement, using cross‐section Italian data. Under certain assumptions, the condition for being in retirement or alternatively in employment status at a certain date reduces to a static comparison between the instantaneous utility as employed and the instantaneous utility as retired (minus the future opportunity cost of retiring) at that date. Forward‐looking versus myopic versions of the model are obtained by including or dropping the term measuring the future loss of retiring. The model can easily be formulated under two opposite hypotheses — no savings and no borrowing versus perfect credit market (perfect consumption smoothing). The implications of the estimates are illustrated by simulating the effects of changes in the parameters of the pension system or in the demographic variables. In particular, the elasticity of the number of individuals in retirement status with respect to the pension turns out to be small but not irrelevant from the perspective of the long‐term design and evaluation of the pension system.     

Unemployment and Search for Work: Exploratory Analyses of Labour Market Attachment and its Dynamics

This paper deals with measuring unemployment and labour market attachment in Italy, on the basis of Labour Force Survey data. Based on the answers to a set of questions on search for work, a cluster analysis is performed, which yields four groups, clearly characterized as regards their labour market conditions and attachment. Analyses are then carried out on the gross flows between these groups, estimated over a quarterly interval. Results of the dynamic analysis confirm the relevance of the classification established through exploratory techniques. The various groups exhibit a different dynamic behaviour, thus documenting that the exploratory classification has predictive power.     

The Cost of Children When Children are a Choice

The standard methods of measuring the cost of children are flawed because of the endogeneity of fertility decisions and because — even if they were exogenous — children bring (or may bring) utility to the household. This paper presents a simple structural model of household allocation of time and income to ‘children’s (quantity and quality) production’. From the estimates one can compute the cost of children as the market value of resources devoted to children. Some policy simulations illustrate the relevance of accounting for the endogeneity of children.     

Is the Preference for Children so Low,or is the Price of Time so High? A simultaneous model of fertility and participation in Italy with cohort effects

ABSTRACT: This paper presents a simultaneous model of fertility and female participation in Italy, estimated with a sequence of cross-sections of micro data. Cohort dummies are used to capture permanent effects, including cohort changes in preferences. The cohort effects turn out to be not very significant, the point estimates suggesting a decreasing trend in participation and an increasing trend in fertility. The wage effects are instead rather strong and significant. The model produces simulations which are close to actual trends, which would seem largely explained by wage incentives. The explanation for a particularly high elasticity of fertility with respect to female wage should ultimately be searched for in the specific differences which characterize the Italian social and institutional environment.