Here’s a summary of the latest Economics research to have reached the inbox of the Intute: Economics editors, this week:
The latest issue of the Economic Journal includes a free article on Why who marries whom matters for intergenerational mobility when comparing British and German households:
‘Assortative mating’ – where ‘like marry like’ – is a major factor in the intergenerational transmission of economic status, according to new research by Professor John Ermisch and colleagues. Their study finds that in both Britain and Germany, just under half of the link between parents’ and children’s incomes can be explained by ‘sorting’ in the marriage market.
The Centre for Economic Perfromance has issued the latest issue of CentrePiece, which includes an article asking What future is there for European jobs? which urges labour market reform and greater flexibility.
European countries have been successful at creating jobs in the ‘knowledge sectors’, such as financial services, but have been unsuccessful at creating them in the more labour-intensive service sectors. According to Chris Pissarides, the job creation required to achieve the targets in the EU’s ‘Lisbon agenda’ will be mainly in sectors with low productivity growth: retail trade and various business and community services.
The Institute for Social and Economic Research has examined The Economic Position of Large Families and found that families with four or more dependent children make up less than 5% of all families but more than 20% of poor children.
The study, undertaken by ISER for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), identifies two main reasons for the higher risk of poverty among large families:
- Mothers and fathers of large families are much less likely to be in work – and report lower earnings – than parents with only one or two children.
- Benefits and tax credits tend to leave large families worse off than other families with children in otherwise similar circumstances.
If your research centre produces freely available research reports that you think would be worth mentioning on this blog, then please do get in touch.
