Empirical essays on the economics of inequality

This dissertation reflects the focus of my research agenda on the determinants of inequality along different dimensions, including, but not limited to, socio-economic status and gender. It consists of two chapters on the determinants of inequality in human capital and three chapters on the unequal impact of Covid-19.
In Chapter 1, co-authored with Teodora Boneva and Christopher Rauh, we examine whether differences in individual perceived returns to a postgraduate degree can explain the socio-economic enrollment gap in postgraduate education. We document that first-generation students have worse life experiences at university and perceive the returns to postgraduate education to be significantly lower than their continuing-generation counterparts do. We also find that differences in beliefs about the returns to postgraduate education can explain around 70% of the socio-economic gap in intentions to enroll in a postgraduate degree. These results shed light on the role that perceived returns to education play in determining socio-economic differences in educational attainment.
In Chapter 2, I explore the role of broadband Internet as a determinant of the gender gap in mental health. I combine restricted-access survey data from the German Socio-Economic Panel with publicly available information on the characteristics of the German telecommunication infrastructure to quantify the causal impact of having access to broadband Internet on mental health. Using an instrumental variable strategy I find that having access to high-speed Internet significantly reduces mental health among women, thus widening the existing gender gap. The results are driven by a worsening of women’s socializing behavior and ability to cope with emotional stress, and concentrated among the younger cohorts. These findings contribute to our understanding of gender gaps in mental-health disorders and the ongoing societal debate on how to encourage a healthier use of new technologies.
Finally, the last three Chapters of this dissertation examine inequalities in the impacts of the Covid-19 crisis. In Chapters 3 and 4, co-authored with Abi Adams-Prassl, Teodora Boneva and Christopher Rauh, we use novel survey data to document the unequal impact of Covid-19 on workers in the UK, US and Germany. We show that job losses in the first months of the crisis have been higher in the UK and the US compared to Germany. We additionally highlight large inequalities in the impact of the economic shock within countries. More specifically, workers on alternative work arrangements and those who can do less of their tasks from home have been more likely to lose their job in the first months of the pandemic. Crucially, women have also been more severely affected by the crisis than men. Turning to the role of policies in mitigating the negative economic shock, in Chapter 4 we investigate which workers were furloughed under the UK Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and examine inequalities in the terms under which they were put on furlough. Among other results, this chapter shows that women have been significantly more likely to be put on furlough, and to have initiated the furloughing decision. This is especially true for mothers, which suggests a large role played by inequalities in care responsibilities. Consistent with this hypothesis, in Chapter 5 I exploit novel survey data from parents of school-aged children in England to study parental time use during the pandemic. I find that mothers have increased the time they spend on childcare activities significantly more than fathers have, thus leading to a widening gender gap in time dedicated to childcare, and to educational activities with children in particular. The rest of the chapter examines the role of different sets of variables in explaining these trends. In particular, I focus on the role of perceived gender roles and perceived returns to maternal (vs paternal) time investment in home-schooling in explaining changes in the way couples allocate time to educational activities with children during the pandemic. I find that changes in the employment status of parents are strong predictors of changes in the home-schooling gender gap. Additionally, parental beliefs about returns to maternal time investment and their attitudes towards gender roles are significantly correlated with changes in the way in which parents shoulder childcare responsibilities, even when controlling for labor market status of parents. The findings from these three chapters contribute to our understanding of the impact of Covid-19 on workers and parents, and point to an alarming widening of existing gender inequalities.

Advisor: Low, H
Boneva, T
Quintana Domeque, C