How much his or her job loss influences fertility: A couple approach

Objective We analyze the effect of job loss on couple's fertility within 5 years, in the United Kingdom and Germany. We contribute to the literature by assessing to what extent a man's and a woman's job loss is consequential. Further, we study the effects based on couples' income, earnings division between partners, parental status, and women's age. Background A job loss may decrease the couple's fertility as a drop in resources reduces parents' investments to devote to a newborn—or it may increase the risk of a new birth because a job loss reduces the opportunity cost of a birth, especially if the woman loses her job. Method We analyze couples from large population-representative panel surveys in Germany (N = 15,029) and the United Kingdom (N = 15,932) containing yearly information about employment, relationship status, and fertility histories. We carry out estimates with linear probability models and inverse probability weighting methods. Results Our results show that men's and, to a large extent, women's job loss negatively affects the chances of birth, especially in the United Kingdom. The subgroups mostly hit are income-egalitarian/female breadwinner and childless couples, with women in their mid-20 s up to late 30 s in the United Kingdom; income-egalitarian/male-breadwinner families, with 35-year to 40-year-old women and one child in Germany; middle-income couples are relatively more affected in both countries. Conclusion A job loss makes couples less likely to have a child, particularly if the affected partner is a woman. The income effect jointly with other “unemployment scars” likely prevails on the reduction of opportunity costs of job loss

No Stratified Effect of Unemployment on Incomes: How the Market, State, and Household Compensate for Income Loss in the United Kingdom and Switzerland

Unemployment is a critical life event that may affect the income trajectories of displaced workers very unequally. It may lead to cumulative disadvantage and hit vulnerable groups hardest. Alternatively, it may level the playing field because higher classes have more to lose. We analyse heterogeneous effects of unemployment on income for the United Kingdom and Switzerland, using two household panels—Understanding Society 2009–2017 and the Swiss Household Panel 1999–2017—and distinguishing two sources of income: from the labour market and welfare state, at the level of individuals and households. We use a difference-in-differences design by matching unemployed to employed workers and estimating fixed-effects regressions. Results show that individual labour income drops in the 2 years after an unemployment spell by 20 and 25 per cent in Switzerland and by 25 and 55 per cent in the United Kingdom. Welfare state transfers reduce these losses by half in Switzerland, but have only a marginal impact in the United Kingdom. In both countries, income losses do not differ much across social classes. If anything, they are smaller in the working class. We thus find no evidence for cumulative disadvantage. The middle classes face a lower risk of becoming unemployed, but are not less vulnerable to its consequences

Repartnering of women in the United States: the interplay between motherhood and socio-economic status

We examine the socio-economic differentials in mothers’ and non-mothers’ repartnering behaviours following the dissolution of a co-residential (marital or cohabiting) union. Based on five waves of the National Survey of Family Growth (N=11,479), we use discrete-time event history models, jointly modelling exit from a partnership and entry into a new union. Few differences are found for entry into direct marriage, which is a rarely observed event. However, when we examine women’s entry into cohabitation (a possible stepping stone to marriage), we observe: (1) a motherhood gap, where mothers are less likely to repartner than non-mothers; (2) a negative association between educational attainment and repartnering probability; and (3) the motherhood gap existing only for low-educated women. Supplementary analyses on the impact of the Great Recession demonstrate that whereas the economic cycle mattered for the repartnering of low-educated women, it made no difference for more highly educated wome

Job loss during pregnancy and the risk of miscarriage and stillbirth.

Study question Does the exposure to job loss during pregnancy increase the risk of miscarriage or stillbirth? Summary answer The experience of own or partner's job loss during the pregnancy is associated with an increased risk of miscarriageand stillbirth. What is known already Prior research on the psycho-social aspect of pregnancy loss has investigated the contextual and the individual-level stressors. At the contextual level, natural disasters, air pollution, and economic downturns are associated with higher risk of pregnancy loss. At the individual level, intense working schedules and financial strain are linked with increased risk of pregnancy loss both at early and later stages of the gestation. Study design, size, duration This work draws on high-quality individual data of 'Understanding Society', a longitudinal survey that has interviewed a representative sample of households living in the UK annually since 2009. Approximately 40 000 households were recruited. The analyses use all the available survey waves (1-12, 2009-2022). Participants/materials, setting, methods The final sample consisted of 8142 pregnancy episodes that contain complete informationon pregnancy outcome and date of conception. Ongoing pregnancies at the time of the interview were excluded from the final sample. The outcome variable indicated whether a pregnancy resulted in a live birth or a pregnancy loss whereas the exposure variable identified the women's or their partner's job loss because of redundancy or a dismissal. Logistic regression models were employed to estimate the relation between job loss during pregnancy and pregnancy loss. The models were adjusted for an array of socio-demographic and economic characteristics following a stepwise approach. Several sensitivity analyses complemented the main findings. Main results and the role of chance Baseline models controlling for women's demographic background and prior experience of miscarriage estimated an increased risk of pregnancy loss when women were exposed to their own or their partner's job loss during their pregnancy (odds ratio (OR) = 1.99, 95% CI: 1.32, 2.99). When the models were adjusted for all socio-economic and partnership-related covariates the association remained robust (OR = 1.81, 95% CI: 1.20, 2.73). Limitations, reasons for caution First, the pregnancy outcome and the date of conception were self-reported and may besubjected to recall and social desirability bias. Second, although we adjusted for an array socio-demographic characteristics and self-reported health, other contextual factors might be correlated with both job loss and pregnancy loss. Third, owing to the limited sample size, we could not assess if the main finding holds across different socio-economic strata. Wider implications of the findings By showing that exposure to a job loss during pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage and stillbirth, we underline the relevance of pregnancy loss as a preventable public health matter. This result also calls for policy designthat enhances labour market protection and social security buffers for pregnant women and their partners. Study funding/competing interests The authors received the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: H2020 Excellent Science, H2020 European Research Council, Grant/Award Number: 694262 (project DisCont-Discontinuities in Household and Family Formation) and the Economic and Social Research Centre on Micro-Social Change (MiSoC). There are no conflicts of interest to declare

In the Perspective of Total Beta - Accounting Beta: Which Measure Is The Best? Findings from Italian Market

The importance of the estimation of a congruous discount rate for unlisted companies is due to its use in evaluation process. The cost of equity is usually defined from CAPM that does not suit for unlisted companies. In the previous paper we analyzed the accounting beta model, using CAPM beta as comparison point, identifying the stability of the model. However CAPM beta is based on the hypothesis that all the investors diversify their portfolio, while in some context most of investor do not. So the aim of this research is to pay attention on the accounting beta, that is a model suitable for unlisted companies, starting from total beta that consider the phenomenon of non-diversification. In order to reach the goal, after a literature review, we have conduct an empirical analysis to find the differences from the approach of total beta and the approach of CAPM beta. Keywords: total beta, diversification, cost of equity, SME, CAPM beta, accounting beta, unlisted companies, Italian marke

Economic and Financial Benchmarking as a Strategic Planning Tool

This paper aims to propose a new model for estimating companies benchmarking. The model has been applied to the media sector (identified by Industry Classification Benchmark – ICB with the code 5500 and composed by three subsector with codes: 5553 – Broadcasting & Entertainment, 5555 – Media Agencies and 5557 – Publishing). The model is based on the analysis of the financial and economic area of enterprises that together contribute to the elaboration of a total benchmark.  We collected data for 217 listed companies for a time horizon of ten years (2006-2015). The results show that most of the analyzed companies belong to the best or worst class. Deepening the analysis, the subsector 5555 – Media agencies has contributed most to the positive performance of the media sector while the subsector 5553 - Broadcasting & Entertainment is the worst. The model, applied to the media industry, can be extended to other sectors and unlisted companies.   Keywords: benchmark, strategy planning, finance. JEL Classification: