Search results

This dissertation consists of three chapters in which I address central research questions about the role of parental investments and family structure on human capital development, the impact of education on labour-market outcomes and learning outcomes, and the origins and mechanisms of inter-generational mobility in developing countries. The first chapter examines how parental monetary investment affects the joint evolution of child health, cognitive skills and socio-emotional skills. I estimate a dynamic factor model, characterizing the skill formation process over the childhood, from birth to 12 years of age, using the sample of Vietnamese children from the Young Lives study. In the second chapter, I estimate marginal returns to upper secondary school on the labour market and on learning outcomes in Indonesia. Using the longitudinal data from the Indonesian Family Life Survey 1997-2015, I document a substantial degree of heterogeneity in the returns to upper secondary school on the labour market. The third chapter investigates the origins and mechanisms of birth order effects on cognitive skills, socio-emotional skills and health in Vietnam. Using a sample of children from the Young Lives study we find strong evidence of negative birth order effects on parental investments and child capabilities, emerging very early in life.

Economic inequality is at historically high levels in the United States and is among the most pressing issues facing society. And yet, predicting the behavior of politicians with respect to their support of economic inequality remains a significant challenge. Given that high status individuals tend to conceive of the current structure of society as fair and just, we expected that high status members of the U.S. House of Representatives would be more likely to support economic inequality in their legislative behavior than would their low status counterparts. Results supported this prediction particularly among Democratic members of Congress: Whereas Republicans tended to support legislation increasing economic inequality regardless of their social status, the social status of Democrats - measured in terms of average wealth, race, or gender - was a significant predictor of support for economic inequality. Policy implications of the observed relationship between social status and support for economic inequality are considered.

Much comparative politics scholarship has examined whether economic inequality affects democratic values or political support in democracies. Nevertheless, they lack a close examination of the political effects of economic inequality and, more importantly, how economic inequality shapes political support in non-democracies. We provide an empirical test of the effect of economic inequality on regime support using the China data from the Asian Barometer Survey between 2002 and 2015. We argue and demonstrate that perceived economic inequality significantly reduces regime support in China. Moreover, using a causal mediation analysis, we find that the detrimental effect of perceived economic inequality on regime support is not driven by demands for redistribution, but rather by the political value orientation. These findings advance our understanding of the connection between economic inequality and political values and the economic base of political legitimacy in non-democracies.

Since the economic liberalization wave that began in the late 1970s, inequality around the world has skyrocketed. In this book, Thomas F. Remington examines the rise of extreme economic inequality in the United States since the late 1970s by drawing comparisons to the effects of market reforms in transition countries such as Russia, China, and Germany.

A strong majority of Californians say that racial and ethnic discrimination contributes to economic inequality, and those holding this view are more likely to support policies that help lower-income families.