To explain motives underlying intergenerational transfers within a family, economists put two theoretical hypotheses forward: altruism and exchange. Empirical tests performed until now do not favor any of these models. One reason to explain this inadequacy could lie in the spurious assumption of homogeneity of behaviors. Little consideration has been given, in the study of motives, to the possibility that one or the other model could be more appropriate to characterize the behavior of a particular group. And the assumption that a single transfer motivation would be universally true seems to be questionable.This paper seeks to thoroughly analyze the diversity of inter vivos transfers' motivations through the study of a theme that economists have so far ignored: pocket money. This is done by using a particularly rich data set about parental money pocket given to children. The Education survey, carried out in 1992 in France, offers two main advantages for this study. First, it provides information both on the level of financial gifts and on parents and children's characteristics, including both generations' level of income. Second, some specific questions straightforwardly give information about these transfers' motivations. Two kinds of payment are distinguished: those given regularly, and those given punctually to meet the child's needs, to pay for some household chores, or to reward good results at school.Three models explaining these transfers from parents to children are presented theoretically. The flows of money may be motivated by altruism, exchange, or an endogenous altruism linked to preferences shaping. These three hypotheses generate differentiated predictions, which allow to identify family motivations in France. The econometric analysis puts forward the heterogeneity of family choices. It underlines the shortcomings of an aggregate approach in which payments are studied for households taken together. In this case, the test of unitary difference in income-transfer derivatives rejects the altruistic model. At a disaggregated level, regular payments must be distinguished form irregular ones. The former fit in an intertemporal framework, the latter are nearer altruistic motivations. But among them, buying of children's services and school rewards also exist.
The presence of children may oblige parents to desynchronize their schedules in order both to minimize childcare expenses and to become more efficient in their domestic tasks. This disconnection between the father's and the mother's schedules may be undesired as such, and may represent an additional component in the overall cost of children as traditionally considered. This article analyzes the impact of children on their parents' schedules, using the French time use survey data (INSEE 1998(INSEE -1999. The comparison of female and male schedules makes it possible to measure the leisure synchronization of dual-earner couples. We show that the presence of children within a household significantly reduces joint leisure time, and the more so if they are young. Parental schedule adjustments are severely limited by work constraints. The parents' difficulties in coordinating their schedules in order to spend time together is expressed as a deprivation of leisure which is larger for joint than for individual time. Finally, for couples with children, greater housework synchronization does not free up enough time to maintain joint leisure time.
Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to assess the relevance of the glass ceiling effect, according to which the gender log wage gap accelerates in the upper tail of the wage distribution, at the firm level. Design/methodology/approach -The empirical analysis is based on a sample of 4,654 employees, working in a French private company from the Defence and Aerospace sector. Quantile wage regressions were used to study whether a glass ceiling effect exits at the firm level. The difference between the male and female wage distributions is also decomposed into two components, one due to differences in labour market characteristics between men and women and one due to differences in rewards to these individual characteristics. Findings -It was found that the gender wage gap measured through OLS is quite low, less than 8 per cent when controlling for age, experience, qualification and location. It remains rather flat along the wage distribution, a result which casts doubt on the glass ceiling theory. The gender gap is mainly due to differences in labour market characteristics rather than to differences in the rewards of these characteristics, especially among executives. Finally, women face a lower probability of reaching higher hierarchical positions within the firm. Research limitations/implications -Taking into account firm effects matters when measuring the magnitude of the gender wage throughout the wage gap distribution. Originality/value -This paper presents original estimates of the gender wage gap with an unusual, firm-based sample of workers.
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