Families at a Loss: The Asymmetric Relationship Between Income Changes and Child Human Capital

in Journal of Human Capital (in press)

I here assess the link between distributional changes in family income and child human capital. Using a value-added model and data from a UK child cohort, I show evidence of an asymmetric effect of income ... [more ▼]

I here assess the link between distributional changes in family income and child human capital. Using a value-added model and data from a UK child cohort, I show evidence of an asymmetric effect of income gains and losses on child non-cognitive development. Only income losses are associated with a reduction in children’s socio-emotional health – with one-third of the effect operating through measures of maternal well-being – while no effect is found for income gains. This is consistent with a model of human-capital formation where the quality and quantity of parental inputs react to changes in family income asymmetrically. [less ▲]

Income and Wealth Volatility: Evidence from Italy and the U.S. in the Past Two Decades

in Journal of Economic Inequality (2021), 19(2), 293-313

Income volatility and wealth volatility are central objects of investigation for the literature on income and wealth inequality and dynamics. Here we analyse the two concepts in a comparative perspective ... [more ▼]

Income volatility and wealth volatility are central objects of investigation for the literature on income and wealth inequality and dynamics. Here we analyse the two concepts in a comparative perspective for the same individuals in Italy and the U.S. over the last two decades. We find that in both countries wealth volatility reaches significantly higher values than income volatility, the effect being mostly driven by changes in the market value of real estate assets. We also show that there is more volatility in both dimensions in the U.S. and that the overall trend in both countries is increasing over time. We conclude by exploring volatility in consumption. [less ▲]

Poverty in the COVID-19 Era: Real Time Data Analysis on Five European Countries

in Research on Economic Inequality (2021), 29

Using real-time data from the University of Luxembourg’s COME-HERE nationally representative panel survey, covering more than 8,000 individuals across France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Sweden, I ... [more ▼]

Using real-time data from the University of Luxembourg’s COME-HERE nationally representative panel survey, covering more than 8,000 individuals across France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Sweden, I investigate how income distributions and poverty rates have changed from January to September 2020. I find that poverty rates increased on average in all countries from January to May and partially recovered in September. The increase in poverty is heterogeneous across countries, with Italy being the most affected and France the least; within countries, COVID-19 contributed to exacerbating poverty differences across regions in Italy and Spain. With a set of poverty measures from the Foster-Greer-Thorbecke family, I then explore the role of individual characteristics in shaping different poverty profiles across countries. Results suggest that poverty increased disproportionately more for young individuals, women, and respondents who had a job in January 2020 – with different intensity across countries. [less ▲]