This paper examines to what extent family policies have affected earnings inequality within and between coupled households. Previous studies had found cross-country variation in the degree to which women's earnings attenuate earnings inequality between households. In this paper we explain this...

This paper compares levels and trends in income inequality in industrialized nations. In the mid-1990s, the United States had the highest overall level of inequality of any rich OECD nation, while Northern and Central European countries had the lowest levels. Using a variety of national sources,...

The present study examines the hypotheses that progressive welfare-state policies are likely to increase women's labor force participation, but at the same time to increase both occupational segregation and earning gaps between economically active men and women. Using data from 20 industrialized...

Women's rising labor force participation since the 1960's was long seen as heralding decreasing gender inequalities. According to influential social science writings this view has now to be revised; 'women friendly' policies bringing women into the workforce are held to create major inequality...

The link between income inequality and governmental redistribution is still subject to intense research and debate. Starting with the median-voter-hypothesis, a plethora of theoretical models have been developed during the last three decades to identify and explain possible causal relationships....

What institutional configurations influence fertility patterns across countries? While family policies feature prominently in previous explanations, this article highlights the importance of housing in shaping family formation decisions. Housing costs, determined by state and market factors,...

The new comparative economics has focused on individual institutions, rather than the economic system as a whole. This essay argues that economic systems should be defined in terms of clusters of complementary or covarying institutions. A cluster analysis of OECD countries using data on forty...

What are the principal sources of posttax-posttransfer inequality in affluent countries? To what extent do inequality of individual earnings, inequality of market household incomes, redistribution, and other factors influence the posttaxposttransfer income distribution? And what do the answers...

This paper has three objectives. The first is to discuss the major issues involved in defining and measuring child poverty. The choices that must be made are clarified, and a set of six principles to serve as a guide for public policy are stated. The second objective is to take stock of child...

The gender division of paid labor is embedded within systems of class stratification. The gap between the average earnings of men and women derives from the tendency for women to occupy inferior class positions and thereby to disproportionately pay the price of class inequality. From a class...