Links of the Week (10/1/14)

From me, Bernardo and Liam.

1. Lavado, Velarde, Yamada (2013), Cognitive and Non-cognitive Skills and Wages: The role of latent abilities on the gender wage gap in Peru, Working Paper 

Abstract: "The main objective of this paper is to identify latent abilities and explore their role in the gender wage gap in a developing country: Peru... Results show that even when accounting for measured abilities differences in non cognitive abilities seem irrelevant, when accounting for differences in actual latent ability non cognitive abilities account for important inter gender differences in the endowment and returns of abilities."

2. The Geel Question, Aeon Magazine

"Half an hour on the slow train from Antwerp, surrounded by flat, sparsely populated farmlands, Geel strikes the visitor as a quiet, tidy but otherwise unremarkable Belgian market town. Yet its story is unique. For more than 700 years its inhabitants have taken the mentally ill and disabled into their homes as guests or ‘boarders’. At times, these guests have numbered in the thousands, and arrived from all over Europe. There are several hundred in residence today, sharing their lives with their host families for years, decades or even a lifetime."

3. Fletcher (2012), Adolescent Depression and Adult Labor Market Outcomes, NBER Working Paper
Abstract: This paper uses recently released data from a national longitudinal sample to present new evidence of the longer term effects of adolescent depression on labor market outcomes. Results suggest reductions in labor force attachment of approximately 5 percentage points and earnings reductions of approximately 20% for individuals with depressive symptoms as an adolescent. ...  Overall, the results suggest that the links between adolescent depression and labor market outcomes are quite robust and important in magnitude, suggesting that there may be substantial labor market returns to further investments in treatment opportunities during adolescence

4. Heckman, Pinto & Savelyev (2013) Understanding the Mechanisms Through Which an Influential Early Childhood Program Boosted Adult Outcomes, AER (the link is an ungated version from 2012)
Abstract: A growing literature establishes that high quality early childhood interventions targeted toward disadvantaged children have substantial impacts on later life outcomes. Little is known about the mechanisms producing these impacts. This paper uses longitudinal data on cognitive and personality skills from an experimental evaluation of the influential Perry Preschool program to analyze the channels through which the program boosted both male and female participant outcomes. Experimentally induced changes in personality skills explain a sizable portion of adult treatment effects.

5. Behavioural Game Theory in Yes, Minster