Anna V. Yurko
Working Papers:
“Maternal
Employment, Fertility and Children's Cognitive Achievement: a Structural
Approach”, joint with Fabián Slonimczyk
Abstract:
In this paper we develop a dynamic model of female
labor supply and fertility decisions and estimate it jointly with children's
cognitive ability production function using data from the National Longitudinal
Survey of Youth (NLSY). Our primary goal is to evaluate the effect of maternal
employment during the first years of child's life on cognitive development of
children of different birth orders. Some very preliminary results indicate
negative effects of employment on children's outcomes that are substantially
larger for first born children relative to only and second born children.
Abstract:
This
paper studies the relationship between consumer incomes and ages of the durable
goods consumed. At the household level, it presents evidence from the Consumer
Expenditure Survey of a negative correlation between incomes and ages of the
vehicles owned, controlling for the size of the vehicle stock. At the aggregate
level, it constructs a dynamic, heterogeneous agents, discrete choice model
with multiple vehicle ownership, to study the relationship between the distribution
of consumer incomes and the distribution of vehicle vintages. >>>>
“Costly Divorce and Marriage Rates”
Abstract:
This
paper develops a model of choice between marriage and cohabitation to study the
effect of divorce costs on marriage decision. The paired agents are
heterogeneous, the utility is non-transferable, and break up and divorce
decisions are modeled explicitly as unilateral, that is, it takes the decision
of only one partner to terminate a relationship. This framework is empirically
relevant, since unilateral divorce is legal in many countries, and multiple
empirical studies of the effect of changes in divorce laws on divorce rates
demonstrate that Coase theorem does not hold (partners cannot bargain
efficiently). The model seeks to reconcile the conflicting empirical evidence
on the relationship between marriage rates and divorce costs.
Published:
“Democratizing access
to higher education in Russia: The consequences of the unified state exam
reform.” Joint with Marco Francesconi and Fabián Slonimczyk. European
Economic Review, 2019 (117): 56-82.
Abstract:
This is the first paper that evaluates the effects
of a reform requiring Russian universities to make admission decisions based on
the results of a national high-school exam. We show the reform led to a
threefold increase in geographic mobility rates among high-school graduates
from small cities and towns to start college. This is robust to different
techniques, samples, and specifications. The reform was also accompanied by
increases in students' expectations to attend university, parental transfers,
and educational expenditures. There is no evidence the reform affected parental
labor supply, divorce, and employment outcomes of graduates who did not move.
"Assessing the
impact of the maternity capital policy in Russia." Joint with Fabián Slonimczyk. Labour Economics
30 (2014): 265-281.
Abstract:
With
declining population and fertility rates below replacement levels, Russia is
currently facing a demographic crisis. Starting in 2007, the federal government
has pursued an ambitious pro-natalist policy. Women who give birth to at least
two children are entitled to “maternity capital” assistance ($11,000). In this
paper we estimate a structural dynamic programming model of fertility and labor
force participation in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the policy. We
find that the program increased long-run fertility by about 0.15 children per
woman.
“How Does Income
Inequality Affect Market Outcomes in Vertically Differentiated Markets?” International Journal of Industrial Organization,
2011 (29), 493—503.
Abstract:
The
distribution of consumer incomes is a key factor in determining the structure
of a vertically differentiated industry when consumer's willingness to pay
depends on her income. This paper computes the Shaked and Sutton (1982) model
for a lognormal distribution of consumer incomes to investigate the effect of
inequality on firms' entry, product quality, and pricing decisions. The main
findings are that greater inequality in consumer incomes leads to the entry of
more firms and results in more intense quality competition among the entrants.
More intense quality competition raises the average quality of products in the
market as firms compete for the shrinking share of higher income consumers.
With zero costs of quality improvements and an upper bound on the top quality
or when costs of quality are fixed and rise sufficiently fast, greater
heterogeneity of consumer incomes also reduces firms' incentives to
differentiate their products. Competition between more similar products tends
to reduce their prices. However, when income inequality is very high, the top
quality producer chooses to serve only the rich segment of the market and
charges a higher price. The conclusion is that income inequality has important
implications for the degree of product differentiation, price level, industry
concentration, and consumer welfare. The distribution of consumer incomes is a
key factor in determining the structure of a vertically differentiated industry
when consumer's willingness to pay depends on her income.
Additional
technical materials:
Appendix with
Matlab code