Biomedical subjects

Alexia Prskawetz

Publications and source records attributed to Alexia Prskawetz.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2004

Age-structured optimal control in population economics.

This paper brings both intertemporal and age-dependent features to a theory of population policy at the macro-level. A Lotka-type renewal model of population dynamics is combined with a Solow/Ramsey economy. We consider a social planner who maximizes an aggregate intertemporal utility function which depends on per capita consumption. As control policies we consider migration and saving rate (both age-dependent). By using a new maximum principle for age-structured control systems we derive meaningful results for the optimal migration and saving rate in an aging population. The model used in the numerical calculations is calibrated for Austria.

Adult↗

PubMed2004

Fertility and women's employment reconsidered: a macro-level time-series analysis for developed countries, 1960-2000.

This paper examines causality and parameter instability in the long-run relationship between fertility and women's employment. This is done by a cross-national comparison of macro-level time-series data from 1960 to 2000 for France, West Germany, Italy, Sweden, the UK, and the USA. By applying vector error correction models (a combination of Granger-causality tests with recent econometric time-series techniques) we find causality in both directions. This finding is consistent with simultaneous movements of both variables brought about by common exogenous factors such as social norms, social institutions, financial incentives, and the availability and acceptability of contraception. We find a negative and significant correlation until about the mid-1970s and an insignificant or weaker negative correlation afterwards. This result is consistent with a recent hypothesis in the demographic literature according to which changes in the institutional context, such as changes in childcare availability and attitudes towards working mothers, might have reduced the incompatibility between child-rearing and the employment of women.

Birth Rate↗

PubMed2004

Birth month, school graduation, and the timing of births and marriages.

We investigated the timing of fertility and marriage in Sweden using exogenous variation in the age at school graduation that results from differences in birth month. Our analysis found that the difference of 11 months in the age at leaving school between women who were born in two consecutive months, December and January, implies a delay in the age at first birth of 4.9 months. This effect of delayed graduation also persists for the timing of second births and first marriages, but it does not affect completed fertility or the overall probability of marriage before age 45. These results suggest the existence of a relatively rigid sequencing of demographic events in early adulthood, and the age at graduation from school emerges as an important factor in determining the timing--but not the quantum--of familyformation. In addition, these effects point to a potentially important influence of social age, defined by an individual's school cohort, instead of biological age. The relevance of social age is likely due to social interactions and peer-group influences exerted by individuals who are in the same school cohort but are not necessarily of the same age.

Adult↗