Interview Amongst Marianne Bertrand: Inequality, Sex Norms, Skills

Douglas Clement has an "Interview with Marianne Bertrand," subtitled "University of Chicago economist on the drinking glass ceiling, implications of growing inequality as well as the problem with boys" (The Region, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, online June 19, 2018).  Here are a few of the comments that especially stuck with me, but there's to a greater extent than at the interview.

The Gender Norm that Men Should Out-earn Women inwards Married Couples

"The thought of the newspaper was to focus on the item sex identity norm, which is the thought that men should earn to a greater extent than than their wives. It’s an interesting ane to focus on because it’s a norm that may exclusively bring buy the farm binding today. It may non bring been that relevant inwards the past times because women were much less probable to bring the potential to out-earn their husbands, as well as straight off they do. So the thought of the newspaper was to investigate the empirical relevance of this norm with households equally good equally its implications. ... 

"This was item number ane inwards the paper. Let’s produce something real simple: Look at the distribution of relative income of married adult woman as well as married adult man inside couples. If this norm is important, nosotros should see, quote-unquote, “too few” couples where the married adult woman earns to a greater extent than than her husband. And this is just what nosotros establish inwards administrative data; that’s the painting that we’re looking at right there.

"And then, inwards a sense, starting from this picture, nosotros tried to figure out where this could endure coming from. One possibility is that those “missing” couples where the married adult woman earns to a greater extent than than her married adult man may never acquire formed, pregnant that it’s something almost the union market. ... Another argue why this painting may be is that those, quote-unquote, “missing” couples were less stable. So they existed, but they were to a greater extent than probable to interruption down. And nosotros also establish show of that inwards the data. Looking at couples where the wives earn to a greater extent than than the husbands, nosotros establish signs of to a greater extent than marital instability, to a greater extent than marital unhappiness as well as some signs that these couples were to a greater extent than probable to terminate upwardly inwards divorce."

Thoughts almost Divergence inwards Types of Consumption as well as inwards Political Views

"We were talking almost income inequality, as well as ane of our colleagues said, basically, “Well, at the terminate of the day, who cares? Yes, perchance we’re growing apart economically, but on Lord's Day all nosotros all produce is sentry TV. We are growing apart economically, but our lives may non endure that different; they may, inwards fact, bring converged.”

"So, this is sort of an interesting point. How much tin nosotros say almost how the lives of the rich as well as the miserable changed? Let’s endeavor to set together all of the information sets that nosotros tin cry upwardly of over the longest fourth dimension catamenia that nosotros tin as well as say something almost what it’s similar to endure rich, which nosotros define equally the plough over quartile of the income distribution, versus poor, which nosotros define equally the bottom quartile. What was it similar several decades ago? What is it similar today? ...

"I similar to role the event yous mentioned, social mobility. Suppose nosotros operate at the same company. You are my boss. I’m your employee. You’re from the plough over of the income distribution, as well as I’m from the bottom. My powerfulness to movement upwardly inwards the fellowship mightiness endure a business office of how much yous connect with me, as well as connecting with ane some other mightiness endure a business office of the character of the conversation that nosotros tin bring roughly the H2O cooler. Did nosotros produce the same matter over the weekend? Do nosotros sentry the same shows? Do nosotros bring the same hobbies as well as consume the same food?

"So nosotros tried to get together all the information sets nosotros could; for example, time-use data, which buy the farm dorsum to the 1960s. Another information laid upwardly that a lot of social scientists role is the General Social Survey, which tells us something almost views as well as opinions—views on abortion, gays, racial issues, regime spending as well as the like. ... [W]e had access to a marketing information set, which is really remarkable. In that information set, nosotros tin meet media consumption—what TV shows people watch, what movies they watch, what magazines they read. The information laid upwardly also shows thousands of products that people may or may non buy, as well as thousands of brands that people may or may non purchase or own.

"Then nosotros built a metric of cultural distance betwixt groups past times income. There are many ways yous could mensurate distance. We role a machine-learning algorithm as well as aggregate a number of methods that permit us to detect the best model to predict someone’s income based on the brands or products they study consuming or the attitudes the somebody has. ...

"The principal headline effect of the newspaper is that most of the tendency lines are flat. Our powerfulness to predict someone’s income based on the consumption of item goods as well as brands is essentially the same today equally it was 25 years ago. There’s no tendency inwards our powerfulness to predict people’s income based on how they pass their fourth dimension today, compared to unopen to l years ago. The exclusively expanse where nosotros meet some slight show of difference on income is with observe to social attitudes, where our powerfulness to predict people’s income based on what they think, their views, is slightly ameliorate today than it was inwards the early on 1970s. ...

"[N]ow we’ve done this exercise, equally I said, for race, sex as well as urbanicity. When nosotros get-go got these results on income, people said, especially inwards the context of the recent election, “Well, income is non the of import one; it’s urban/rural. That’s the of import dissever inwards America.” We’ve also done it based on political attitudes, as well as the principal result, which I only gave yous for income—there’s no large trend—essentially applies to, at a first-level of approximation, everything that nosotros bring looked at.

"The ane actually large exception quantitatively is our powerfulness to predict whether someone is liberal or conservative/Democrat or Republican based on their social attitudes. That has been increasing over time. So liberals as well as conservatives haven’t been diverging over fourth dimension on TV consumption, brands or goods, but on social views they bring been diverging a lot over time.

"The results were surprising to us. We went into this with inwards the dorsum of our heed the give-and-take that’s happening right straight off [that Americans are increasingly divided along economical as well as other lines], as well as nosotros actually thought that nosotros were going to meet signs of that inwards the data.

"How produce I rationalize the results? It’s non clear, but here’s ane thought when it comes to products as well as brands. I cry upwardly today nosotros cry upwardly yous tin easily meet who is rich or miserable because rich people ain an iPhone as well as miserable people don’t; but, then, 25 years ago, it was whether yous owned a DVD thespian that separated rich as well as poor. There are waves of technological changes—the rich, the to a greater extent than educated are ever going to endure the early on adopters of those—but at that topographic point are constant waves of technological change."

 The Gender Gap inwards Cognitive Skills is Bigger inwards Broken Families

"[T]he sex gap inwards noncognitive skills is especially large inwards broken families. And that term tin hateful many dissimilar things. It’s depression income, it’s absent fathers, it’s less education, it’s fewer parental inputs. ... If yous bring boys doing to a greater extent than poorly inwards broken families, that agency that a lot of these boys buy the farm less marriageable. That agency to a greater extent than unmarried moms as well as to a greater extent than broken families inwards the hereafter as well as hence, again, to a greater extent than boys growing upwardly inwards weather where they may non acquire the sort of parenting that could address whatever deficiencies they bring inwards noncognitive skills. ... One declaration nosotros build inwards the newspaper is that boys may endure born at greater ask chances of having noncognitive problems than girls. ... And if that’s true, as well as then it’s especially of import to bring stronger parenting for boys than girls inwards society to right this deficit. But, again, that’s highly speculative."

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