This paper demonstrates that internationally-accepted measures used to assess equality of opportunity tend to underestimate the level of inequality in emerging economies. The authors studied countries where longitudinal panel studies were available; comparing their results with others obtained through standard measures using official data. This allowed a comparison of income and consumption data for 12 … Read more
Lower and upper bound estimates of inequality of opportunity for emerging economies
Gender division of housework during the COVID-19 pandemic: Temporary shocks or durable change?
This paper looks at the gender gap in housework during Covid-19. It finds that there was some increased input from men during the early stages of lockdown, but families with young children were the first to return to previous patterns. The researchers used data gathered by the Understanding Society COVID-19 study in April, May, June … Read more
The stratification of education systems and social background inequality of educational opportunity
This study asks two questions about the relationship between academic selection and social inequality: does increasing selection lead to a deeper social divide in education? And does postponing the age at which academic selection takes place help mitigate that inequality? The research uses data from the European Social Survey. It focuses on individuals born between … Read more
How does exposure to a different school track influence learning progress? Explaining scissor effects by track in Germany
The researchers in this study use the German National Educational Panel Study to compare data on the reading and mathematics scores of almost 1600 pupils in the upper and intermediate school tracks between 2010 and 2015. Even after controlling for differences in students’ backgrounds and prior attainment, they find that those on the upper track … Read more
Socioeconomic Background and Gene–Environment Interplay in Social Stratification across the Early Life Course
This study finds that genetic inheritance has more influence than the shared social environment alone in perpetuating social inequalities. However, the importance of genes varies according family environment: genetic influences are stronger among those growing up in the most advantaged families. The researchers studied 6,500 pairs of twins born in Finland between 1975 and 1986. They used … Read more
The effect of unemployment on couples separating in Germany and the UK
This research looks at how unemployment affects the risk of separation for heterosexual couples living together in Germany and the UK. The findings show that the annual separation rate almost doubles after an unemployment spell, increasing from 0.9% to 1.6% per year. The picture was the same whether it was the man or the woman … Read more
Workplace Contact and Support for Anti-Immigration Parties
This paper asks whether support for anti-immigration political parties increases or decreases when native-born voters work alongside migrants. It finds that working together significantly reduces opposition to immigration and this leads to lower support for those parties. The researchers used detailed data from three million people in almost 6,000 electoral precincts across Sweden. All of … Read more
Economic Distress and Support for Radical Right Parties—Evidence From Sweden
This paper investigates whether there are any links between being made unemployed and increasing support for radical right-wing political parties. The research uses Swedish election data to show that for every layoff notice among low-skilled native-born workers, support for the country’s radical right party the Sweden Democrats increases by, on average, 0.17 to 0.45 votes. … Read more
Educational differentiation in secondary education and labour-market outcomes
Countries differ in the way in which they organise their education systems. With this special issue, we want to pay particular attention to the period of secondary education, the different institutional approaches that countries pursue during that phase and the long-term consequences for individual labour-market outcomes that follow from it. Secondary education is probably the … Read more
Association of Very Preterm Birth or Very Low Birth Weight With Intelligence in Adulthood: An Individual Participant Data Meta-analysis
Question Is very preterm birth or very low birth weight vs term birth associated with intelligence in adulthood? Findings In this meta-analys is of individual participant data from 8 cohorts comprising 2135 adults with and without very preterm birth or very low birth weight in 7 countries, IQ was significantly lower among adults who were … Read more