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This paper studies how college majors are chosen, focusing on the underlying gender gap. I collect a data set of Northwestern University sophomores that contains their subjective expectations about choice-specific outcomes, and estimate a model where majors are chosen under uncertainty. Enjoying coursework, and gaining parents' approval are the most important determinants in the choice for both genders. However, males and females differ in their preferences in the workplace, with males caring about the pecuniary outcomes in the workplace much more than females. The gender gap is mainly due to gender differences in preferences and tastes, and not because females are underconfident about their academic ability or fear monetary discrimination. The findings in this paper make a case for policies that change attitudes toward gender roles.

\"Despite manifold studies in the field of migration, the process of migration decision-making and behaviour is still not fully understood. In this article a more elaborated theoretical framework for the explanation of migration decision-making and behaviour is proposed by including a life-course perspective on goal formation into a psychological model of action phases. Hypotheses derived from this framework in regard to the influence of all relevant groups of predictors on certain stages of the migration process are empirically tested. The results support an explanation of the migration process within a three-stage model, in that perceived opportunity differentials between the place of living and alternative places, the influences of 'significant others', life-course events, and resources are prominent. Varieties in the importance of those factors in different phases of the life course are analysed and interpreted referring to the changing importance of instrumental goals within the theoretical framework. The data come from a tailor-made panel study with initially 2,400 respondents in Germany. For the analyses generalized ordinal logistic regression and probit models with sample selection are used.\" (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku). Forschungsmethode: Theoriebildung; Grundlagenforschung; empirisch; Befragung. Die Untersuchung bezieht sich auf den Zeitraum 2006 bis 2007.

\"Data from an online dating platform are used to study the importance of education for initiating and replying to online contacts. We analyse how these patterns are influenced by educational homophily and opportunity structures. Social exchange theory and mate search theory are used to explain online mate selection behaviour. Our results show that educational homophily is the dominant mechanism in online mate choice. Similarity in education significantly increases the rate of both sending and replying to initial contacts. After controlling for the opportunity structure on the platform, the preference for similar educated others is the most important factor, particularly among women. Our results also support the exchange theoretical idea that homophily increases with educational level. If dissimilarity contacting patterns are found, women are highly reluctant to contact partners with lower educational qualifications. Men, in contrast, do not have any problems to contact lower-qualified women. Studies of educational homogamy generally show that couples where women have a higher level of education are rare. Our study demonstrates that this is mainly the result of women's reluctance to contact lower qualified men.\" (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku). Die Untersuchung enthält quantitative Daten. Forschungsmethode: empirisch-quantitativ; empirisch. Die Untersuchung bezieht sich auf den Zeitraum 2007 bis 2007.

This article tests whether the Breen-Goldthorpe model offers an empirically valid prediction of educational decisions and a complete explanation of how they are affected by social class. This is done using data from a panel study of families who had decided on secondary school tracks for their children in Germany. First, we analysed whether class differences in the costs, success probabilities, and returns from status maintenance, which parents associate with educational options, are created by differences in the families' objective opportunities and constraints. Consistent with theoretical expectations, we found class effects on the parents' subjective beliefs and evaluations, which were due to differences in available economic resources and the children's proven academic ability. Secondly, we tested the prediction that secondary school choice and the effect of class differences on it are the result of cost-benefit considerations. Whereas the subjective beliefs about how likely the children are to complete educational degrees and the motive to maintain the families' social status proved to be strong predictors for educational decisions, the anticipated costs of educational investments were found to be irrelevant. Inconsistent with predictions, the direct effects of social class on educational decisions were not explained by the theoretically predicted factors.

What drives an individual to choose self-employment over a more traditional wage-earning job, or vice-versa? Expected earnings, income variability and other non-monetary aspects such as independence and job satisfaction are possible answers. This type of decision-making may be inherently dynamic as choices affect the accumulation of specific experience and, thus, the evolution of a worker's skills and compensation. This paper models an individual's decision over employment type by estimating a dynamic, stochastic, discrete choice, optimization problem using panel data from Chile. We simulate choices of employment type in the hypothetical scenario of a proposed mandatory universal unemployment insurance structure under different categories of education and experience. We find a slight increase in the number of workers selecting self-employment due to the reform. Consistent with theories of accumulation of specific experience and specialization, we observe stronger movements the lower (higher) the amount of experience workers have in the departing (destination) sectors.

A discrete choice model for labor supply and childcare for mothers of preschoolers is presented. The mothers are assumed to make choices from a finite set of job possibilities and from a finite set of childcare options. Options in the markets for childcare are characterized by opening hours, fees and quality attributes. Similarly, jobs are characterized by a fixed wage rate, working hours and a number of variables related to job satisfaction. In the estimation of the model, we take into account that the number of options available might vary across work/care combinations and that some mothers are rationed in the market for care at day care centers. The model is employed to simulate the female labor supply effects of the Norwegian home care allowance reform.

During the early 1990s, Italy became one of the first countries to reach lowest-low fertility. This was also a period in which women’s education and labour force participation increased. We analyze the role of women’s (potential) wages on their fertility decisions by making use of two different surveys. This enables us to apply discrete-time duration models. For first births, we find evidence of non-proportional hazards and of some “recuperation” effects; for second and third births, instead, wage exhibits small intensity although there is a clear division between Northern and Southern Italian regions.

\"Standard models of labor migration suggest that migration is induced by real income differentials across locations and will, ceteris paribus, serve to reduce those differentials. And yet there is evidence that growing spatial inequality may co-exist with increased migration from poorer to richer areas, at least over certain ranges. At a theoretical level, this raises the question of modeling opposing forces, for convergence and divergence, in a common framework, and identifying the precise conditions under which the tendency for convergence dominates, or is dominated by, the forces for divergence. A conventional route to introducing forces for divergence is to bring agglomeration effects into the standard setup. This paper explores an alternative route, based on a theoretical and empirical proposition of the migration literature, namely, that migration is a selective process. Focusing on skilled migration, the paper demonstrates the different forces in play that make selective migration a force for both divergence and convergence, and characterizes where each set of forces dominates. Finally, it explores the consequences for convergence of combining migration selectivity and agglomeration effects arising from migrant networks.\" Die Untersuchung enthält quantitative Daten. Forschungsmethode: Theoriebildung; Grundlagenforschung. (author's abstract, IAB-Doku).

Recent studies indicate that pension reforms in Germany might have caused social inequality in the transition from work to retirement. This paper investigates a potential emergence of social inequality in retirement transitions by focusing on future pensioners. An analysis of the data set BIBB/BAuA Employment Survey of the Working Population on Qualification and Working Conditions in Germany 2012 shows that both low- and high-educated older workers plan to retire later than their medium-educated peers, whereas their reasons differ markedly. While the higher educated tend to favour a later exit from the workforce due to a strong identification with their job, the primary reason for the low-educated to postpone retirement is financial pressure. Die vorliegende Studie untersucht soziale Ungleichheiten beim Rentenübergang mit einem Fokus auf das geplante Renteneintrittsalter. Basierend auf Daten der BIBB/BAuA Erwerbstätigenbefragung 2012 zeigen die Analysen, dass sowohl hoch als auch niedrig gebildete ältere Arbeitnehmer und Arbeitnehmerinnen planen, später in Rente zu gehen als Vergleichsgruppen mit einem mittleren Bildungsniveau. Allerdings unterscheiden sich die Gründe für dieses Verhalten. Während die Hochgebildeten eher nicht-materiale Gründe angeben, z. B. hohe Identifikation mit ihrem Beruf, stehen für die Niedriggebildeten finanzielle Zwänge im Mittelpunkt ihrer Rentenentscheidung.

\"This article is focused on financial-economic and socio-cultural factors in explaining differences in labour participation and working hours of Dutch mothers with diverging educational levels. The data used are taken from a survey held among approximately 1700 women in the Netherlands from two-parent households with children up to 12 years old. The models for participation and working hours are simultaneously estimated for different levels of education. It is found that socio-cultural factors have slightly more impact on the employment decisions of lower educated mothers compared to their higher educated counterparts, although the differences are only minor. Despite the level of education, socio-cultural factors appear to be more important in mothers' employment decisions than financial-economic factors. In addition, both factors are better predictors for mothers' decisions to participate than for their number of working hours; demographic variables are found to be the most important predictor for mothers' working hours.\" (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku). Die Untersuchung enthält quantitative Daten. Forschungsmethode: empirisch-quantitativ; empirisch. Die Untersuchung bezieht sich auf den Zeitraum 2004 bis 2004.