Norberg-Schönfeldt, Magdalena () (Department of Economics, Umeå University)
Abstract
This thesis consists of three papers on the economics and structure of Swedish families. Paper [I] examines the determinants of children’s educational achievement in Sweden. Special attention is given to the labour market work by mothers and fathers in terms of its influence on the educational outcome of their children, measured as grade point average (GPA) in compulsory as well as upper sec-ondary school. The results show that there is a positive relationship between parental income and GPA. Regarding the number of hours worked in the la-bour market, the results differ between mothers and fathers. Having a mother that works less than full time has positive effects on the child’s grades throughout the schooling of the child, whereas significant effects of the hours of work that the father puts in are found during upper secondary school only. Paper [II] explores the role of financial surprises and match quality in the dis-solution of relationships. The analysis is carried out both for surprises in the short term earnings and surprises in the long-run earnings capacity. It is found that positive surprises in short term earnings have a destabilizing effect for a relationship. Generally, a negative surprise in long-run earnings capacity for males has a destabilizing effect. However, if it is combined with a female positive surprise, the effect is stabilizing. Commitments become more stable the older the spouses are at the start, and if young children are present. Paper [III] studies the role of unemployment in the dissolu¬tion of relationships by applying a two-step estimation method to an extensive data set, which con-tains information about young Swedish males and females. Unemployment is recognized as endogenous in the separation decision, and the results show that the effect of unemploy¬ment on separation is biased when unemployment is assumed to be exo¬genous in the separation equation. The probability of sepa-ration is found to be increasing with male unemployment, while female un-employment decreases the probability of dissolution.
Download Info
To download:
If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the
proper application to
view it first. Information about this may be contained
in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read
the IDEAS help
file. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS
site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
Publisher Info
Paper provided by Umeå University, Department of Economics in its series Umeå Economic Studies with number
708.
Length: 126 pages Date of creation: 16 May 2007 Date of revision: Handle: RePEc:hhs:umnees:0708
Contact details of provider: Postal: Department of Economics, Umeå University, S-901 87 Umeå, Sweden Phone: 090 - 786 61 42 Fax: 090 - 77 23 02 Email: Web page: http://www.econ.umu.se/ More information through EDIRC
For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its listing, contact: (Kjell-Göran Holmberg).
References listed on IDEAS Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.: