Fabian Tschirky, Saving Behavior and Inequality in post-Reform China, University of Zurich, Faculty of Economics, Business Administration and Information Technology, 2012. (Bachelor's Thesis)
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Jan-Philipp Dueber, Inequality and Saving Behavior in Rural and Urban China, University of Zurich, Faculty of Economics, Business Administration and Information Technology, 2012. (Bachelor's Thesis)
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Jan Ruffner, Skill-Composition of the Swiss Labour Force and Technical Change, University of Zurich, Faculty of Economics, Business Administration and Information Technology, 2012. (Master's Thesis)
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Matthias Doepke, Fabrizio Zilibotti, Parenting with style: altruism and paternalism in intergenerational preference transmission, In: Department of Economics Working Paper Series, No. 104, 2012. (Working Paper)
We construct a theory of intergenerational preference transmission that rationalizes the choice between alternative parenting styles (related to Baumrind 1967). Parents maximize an objective function that combines Beckerian and paternalistic altruism towards children. They can affect their children’s choices via two channels: either by influencing their preferences or by imposing direct restrictions on their choice sets. Different parenting styles (authoritarian, authoritative, and permissive) emerge as equilibrium outcomes, and are affected both by parental preferences and by the socioeconomic environment. We consider two applications: patience and risk aversion. We argue that parenting styles may be important for explaining why different groups or societies develop different attitudes towards human capital formation, entrepreneurship, and innovation. |
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Zheng Song, Kjetil Storesletten, Yikai Wang, Fabrizio Zilibotti, Sharing high growth across generations: Pensions and demographic transition in China, In: UBS Center Working Paper Series, No. 1, 2012. (Working Paper)
Intergenerational inequality and old-age poverty are salient issues in contemporary China. China’s aging population threatens the fiscal sustainability of its pension system, a key vehicle for intergenerational redistribution. We analyze the positive and normative effects of alternative pension reforms, using a dynamic general equi- librium model that incorporates population dynamics and productivity growth. Although a reform is necessary, delaying its implementation implies large welfare gains for the (poorer) current generations, imposing only small costs on (richer) future generations. In contrast, a fully funded reform harms current generations, with small gains to future generations. High wage growth is key for these results. |
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Kjetil Storesletten, Zheng Song, Fabrizio Zilibotti, Rotten parents and disciplined children: A politico-economic theory of public expenditure and debt, Econometrica, Vol. 80 (6), 2012. (Journal Article)
This paper proposes a dynamic politico-economic theory of fiscal policy in a world comprising a set of small open economies, whose driving force is the intergenerational conflict over debt, taxes, and public goods. Subsequent generations of voters choose fiscal policy through repeated elections. The presence of young voters induces fiscal discipline, i.e., low taxes and low debt accumulation. The paper characterizes the Markov-perfect equilibrium of the voting game in each economy, as well as the stationary equilibrium debt distribution and interest rate of the world economy. The equilibrium can reproduce some salient features of fiscal policy in modern economies. |
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Marie-Theres Stohldreier, The Determinants of House Prices in Chinese Cities, University of Zurich, Faculty of Economics, Business Administration and Information Technology, 2012. (Master's Thesis)
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Daniel Schneider, Spillovers of Chinese Special Economic Zones on Neighboring Cities, University of Zurich, Faculty of Economics, Business Administration and Information Technology, 2012. (Bachelor's Thesis)
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Felix Jablonka, Social Spending and the Risk of Civil War, University of Zurich, Faculty of Economics, Business Administration and Information Technology, 2012. (Bachelor's Thesis)
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Manuel Büsser, Path Dependency and Directed Technical Change in Clean and Dirty Technologies, University of Zurich, Faculty of Economics, Business Administration and Information Technology, 2012. (Bachelor's Thesis)
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Tobias Bücheli, Education and Political Stability in China, University of Zurich, Faculty of Economics, Business Administration and Information Technology, 2012. (Bachelor's Thesis)
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Sebastian Findeisen, Dominik Sachs, Education and optimal dynamic taxation: The role of income-contingent student loans, In: Working paper series / Department of Economics, No. 40, 2012. (Working Paper)
We study Pareto optimal tax and education policies when human capital upon labor market entry is endogenous and individuals face wage uncertainty. Though optimal labor distortions are history-dependent, i.e. depend on income and education, simple policy instruments can yield the desired distortions: a single nonlinear labor income tax schedule combined with income-contingent loans. To take themodel to the (US) data, we simplify the model to a binary education decision (graduating from college or not). We find that for lowand intermediate incomes the labor supply decision of college graduates should be distorted more heavily than for individuals without a college degree. As a consequence, the optimal student loan repayment schedule increases in income for this range. This result holds along the Pareto frontier. We compare the second best to a situation where loan repayment is restricted to be independent from income and find significant welfare gains. |
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Yves Keller, Inequality and economic growth in Brazil, University of Zurich, Faculty of Economics, Business Administration and Information Technology, 2012. (Bachelor's Thesis)
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Dennis Schibli, Japan’s debt burden and the role of demography, University of Zurich, Faculty of Economics, Business Administration and Information Technology, 2012. (Master's Thesis)
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Dominic Rohner, Mathias Thoenig, Fabrizio Zilibotti, Seeds of Distrust: Conflict in Uganda, In: 3rd Development Economics Workshop, 2012-06-21. (Conference or Workshop Paper published in Proceedings)
We study the effect of civil conflict on social capital, focusing on the experience of Ugandaduring the last decade. Using individual and county-level data, we document large causal effects on trust and ethnic identity of an exogenous outburst of ethnic conflicts in 2002-05. We exploit two waves of survey data from Afrobarometer 2000 and 2008, including information on socioeconomic characteristics at the individual level, and geo-referenced measures of fi ghting events from ACLED.Our identifi cation strategy exploits variations in the intensity of fighting both in the spatial and cross-ethnic dimensions. We fi nd that more intense fighting decreases generalized trust and increases ethnic identity. The effects are quantitatively large and robust to a number of control variables, alternative measures of violence, and different statistical techniques involving ethnic and spatial fi xed effects and instrumental variables. Controlling for the intensity of violence during the conflict, we also document that post-conflict economic recovery is slower in ethnically fractionalized counties.Our findings are consistent with the existence of a self-reinforcing process between conflicts and ethnic cleavages. |
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Laura Hofer, Development accounting from outer space, University of Zurich, Faculty of Economics, Business Administration and Information Technology, 2012. (Bachelor's Thesis)
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Ulrich Eberle, Terrorist Networks, University of Zurich, Faculty of Economics, Business Administration and Information Technology, 2012. (Bachelor's Thesis)
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Michelle Rendall, Structural change in developing countries: has it decreased gender inequality?, In: Working paper series / Department of Economics, No. 77, 2012. (Working Paper)
This paper examines the evolution of female labor market outcomes from 1987 to 2008 by assessing the role of changing labor demand requirements in four developing countries: Brazil, Mexico, India and Thailand. The results highlight the importance of structural change in reducing gender disparities by decreasing the labor demand for physical attributes. The results show that India, the country with the greatest physical labor requirements, exhibits the largest labor market gender inequality. In contrast, Brazil's labor requirements have followed a similar trend seen in the United States, reducing gender inequality in both wages and labor force participation. |
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Florian Hälg, Assessing Economic Growth in China Using Satellite Data on Lights at Night, University of Zurich, Faculty of Economics, Business Administration and Information Technology, 2012. (Master's Thesis)
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Pascal Flory, The 2007 financial crisis and its implications on homeowner portfolios, University of Zurich, Faculty of Economics, Business Administration and Information Technology, 2012. (Bachelor's Thesis)
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