Browsing by Author "Mitrut, Andreea"

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Austerity Measures and Infant Health. Lessons from an Unexpected Wage Cut Policy
(2013-10) Bejenariu, Simona; Mitrut, Andreea; Dept of Economics, University of Gothenburg
We investigate the effects on health at birth of a shock generated by a major (25%) and unexpected wage cut austerity measure that affected all public sector employees in Romania in 2010. Our findings suggest an overall improvement in health at birth for boys exposed to the shock in early gestation and a decreased sex ratio at birth among early exposed children. These findings are consistent with the selection in utero theory hypothesizing that maternal exposure to a significant shock early in gestation preponderantly selects against frail male fetuses, with healthier survivors being carried to term.
Bridging the Gap for Roma Women: The Effects of a Health Mediation Program on Roma Prenatal Care and Child Health
(2014-04) Bejanariu, Simona; Mitrut, Andreea; Dept. of Economics, University of Gothenburg
Discontinuities in the Age-Victimization Profile and the Determinants of Victimization
(2021-12) Bindler, Anna; Hjalmarsson, Randi; Ketel, Nadine; Mitrut, Andreea; Department of Economics, University of Gothenburg
: Many rights are conferred on Dutch youth at ages 16 and 18. Using national register data for all reported victimizations, we find sharp and discontinuous increases in victimization rates at these ages: about 13% for both genders at 16 and 9% (15%) for males (females) at 18. These results are comparable across subsamples (based on socio-economic and neighborhood characteristics) with different baseline victimization risks. We assess potential mechanisms using data on offense location, cross-cohort variation in the minimum legal drinking age driven by a 2014 reform, and survey data of alcohol/drug consumption and mobility behaviors. We conclude that the bundle of access to weak alcohol, bars/clubs and smoking increases victimization at 16 and that age 18 rights (hard alcohol, marijuana coffee shops) exacerbate this risk; vehicle access does not play an important role. Finally, we do not find systematic spillover effects onto individuals who have not yet received these rights.
Fighting Corruption in Education: What Works and Who Benefits?
(2015-02) Borcan, Oana; Lindahl, Mikael; Mitrut, Andreea; Dept. of Economics, University of Gothenburg
We investigate the efficiency and distributional consequences of a corruptionfighting initiative in Romania targeting the endemic fraud in a high-stakes high school exit exam, which introduced CCTV monitoring of the exam and credible punishment threats. We find that punishment coupled with monitoring was effective in reducing corruption. Estimating the heterogeneous impact for students of different ability, poverty status, and gender, we show that fighting corruption led to efficiency gains (ability predicts exam outcomes better) but also to a worrisome score gap increase between poor and non-poor students. Consequently, the poor students have reduced chances to enter an elite university.
Four Essays on Interhousehold Transfers and Institutions in Post-Communist Romania
(2008) Mitrut, Andreea
Four Essays on Interhousehold Transfers and Institutionsin Post-Communist RomaniaavAndreea MitrutAKADEMISK AVHANDLINGsom med vederbörligt tillstånd för vinnande avfilosofie doktorsexamen vidHandelshögskolans fakultet, Göteborgs universitet,framlägges till offentlig granskningonsdagen den 11 juni 2008, kl 10, i sal E-44,Institutionen för nationalekonomi med statistik, Vasagatan 1Göteborg 2008Four Essays on Interhousehold Transfers and Institutions in Post-Communist RomaniaAbstractThis thesis consists of four essays related to different social and economic aspects in postcommunistRomania:Paper 1: In many developing and transitional countries, inter-household transfers in generaland gifts in particular are sizable and very important. We use unique Romanian data thatenables us to isolate pure gifts from other kinds of private transfers. We find that socialnorms are important for explaining the occurrence of gifts. However, we find differentmotives for gifts to the rich and the poor. Middle- and high-income households are part ofreciprocal networks and receive more the higher their incomes and the more they give toothers. The poor may be excluded from reciprocal networks, but they still receive, since thereis a social duty to give.Paper 2: This paper investigates the determinants of formal group membership and informalnetwork participation. We are particularly interested in the effect of heterogeneity, be it interms of inequality or ethnicity. We find that inequality has a negative effect on formal groupmembership. Also, we find that inequality acts differently on poor and rich people: wheninequality increases, it is the relatively poor persons who do not participate in groups andinformal networks. Finally, we explore separately the determinants in different types offormal groups, and we find that in ethnically fragmented communities there is a lowerparticipation in groups that involve close social interactions.Paper 3: Using Romanian survey data we investigate the determinants of individual lifesatisfaction, with an emphasis on the role of public and private transfers received. A possibleconcern is that these transfers are unlikely to be exogenous to life satisfaction. We use arecursive simultaneous equations model to account both for this potential problem and for thefact that public transfers are themselves endogenous in the private transfer equation. We findthat public and private transfers received do not matter for overall life satisfaction, whereaswe find a crowding out effect of private transfers by the public ones. However, we find thatpeople are happier when giving private transfers.Paper 4: Tragic images of Romanian institutionalized children shocked Western audienceswhen broadcasted for the first time in the early 1990s, immediately after the fall ofCeausescu. We use a unique census that covers all institutionalized children in 1997, and findthat institutionalized children are significantly less likely to be enrolled in school comparedto their non-institutionalized same-age peers. We identify a special group of institutionalizedchildren: the social orphans, i.e., children who have living parents but have no contact withthem. We find that among healthy children, those in permanent institutional care, i.e. socialorphans and orphans, are significantly less likely to be enrolled in school than noninstitutionalizedchildren, while if we only look at children who suffer from a severe medicalproblem, we do not find significant differences between the two groups. That is probablybecause both groups are at high risk of poor education.Keywords: Romania, gifts, reciprocity, social norms, groups, informal networks, inequality,heterogeneity, happiness, private transfers, public transfers, crowding-out, institutionalizedchildren, child welfare, education, health.JEL codes: D10, D12, D31, D64, D71, G19, I20, I30, I31, I38, J13, R20, Z13.ISBN: 978-91-85169-35-1Contact information: Andreea Mitrut, Department of Economics, School of Business,Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg, Box 640, SE- 40530, Sweden, Phone:+46(0)317861256, Fax: +46(0)317861326, Email: Andreea.Mitrut@economics.gu.se
Four Essays on Interhousehold Transfers and Institutions in Post-Communist Romania
(2008-05-27T12:47:34Z) Mitrut, Andreea
This thesis consists of four essays related to different social and economic aspects in post-communist Romania: Paper 1: Motives for Private Gift Transfers: Theory and Evidence from Romania In many developing and transitional countries, inter-household transfers in general and gifts in particular are sizable and very important. We use unique Romanian data that enables us to isolate pure gifts from other kinds of private transfers. We find that social norms are important for explaining the occurrence of gifts. However, we find different motives for gifts to the rich and the poor. Middle- and high-income households are part of reciprocal networks and receive more the higher their incomes and the more they give to others. The poor may be excluded from reciprocal networks, but they still receive, since there is a social duty to give. Paper 2: Group and Network Participation. Romania after the fall of Communism This paper investigates the determinants of formal group membership and informal network participation. We are particularly interested in the effect of heterogeneity, be it in terms of inequality or ethnicity. We find that inequality has a negative effect on formal group membership. Also, we find that inequality acts differently on poor and rich people: when inequality increases, it is the relatively poor persons who do not participate in groups and informal networks. Finally, we explore separately the determinants in different types of formal groups, and we find that in ethnically fragmented communities there is a lower participation in groups that involve close social interactions. Paper 3: Do private and public transfers affect life satisfaction? Evidence from Romania Using Romanian survey data we investigate the determinants of individual life satisfaction, with an emphasis on the role of public and private transfers received. A possible concern is that these transfers are unlikely to be exogenous to life satisfaction. We use a recursive simultaneous equations model to account both for this potential problem and for the fact that public transfers are themselves endogenous in the private transfer equation. We find that public and private transfers received do not matter for overall life satisfaction, whereas we find a crowding out effect of private transfers by the public ones. However, we do find that people are happier when giving private transfers. Paper 4: Behind closed doors. School enrollment of Romanian institutionalized children Tragic images of Romanian institutionalized children shocked Western audiences when broadcasted for the first time in the early 1990s, immediately after the fall of Ceausescu. We use a unique census that covers all institutionalized children in 1997, and find that institutionalized children are significantly less likely to be enrolled in school compared to their non-institutionalized same-age peers. We identify a special group of institutionalized children: the social orphans, i.e., children who have living parents but have no contact with them. We find that among healthy children, those in permanent institutional care, i.e. social orphans and orphans, are significantly less likely to be enrolled in school than non-institutionalized children, while if we only look at children who suffer from a severe medical problem, we do not find significant differences between the two groups. That is probably because both groups are at high risk of poor education.
Investing in children's education: Are Muslim immigrants different?
(2013-10) Mitrut, Andreea; Wolff, Francois-Charles; Dept of Economics, University of Gothenburg
Using a unique data set on immigrants living in France in 2003, we investigate whether Muslims invest differently in their children’s education compared to non-Muslims. In particular, we want to assess whether educational inequalities between the children of Muslim and non-Muslim immigrants stem from differences between or within families. After controlling for a broad set of individual and household characteristics, we find no difference in education between children of different religions. However, we do find more within-family inequality in children’s educational achievements among Muslims relative to non-Muslims. The within-family variance is 15% higher among Muslims relative to Catholics and 45% higher relative to immigrants with other religion, but the intra-family inequality remains difficult to explain. Overall, our results suggest that Muslim parents tend to redistribute their resources more unequally among their children.
Motives for Private Gift Transfers: Theory and Evidence from Romania
(2007-09-04T08:25:25Z) Mitrut, Andreea; Nordblom, Katarina
In many developing and transitional countries with limited public income redistribution, inter-household transfers in general, and gifts in particular, are sizable and very important. We use unique Romanian survey data that enables us to isolate pure gifts from other private transfers. We explicitly focus on the importance of community-wide social norms, and find that they indeed play a major role for both the occurrence and the values of gifts received. More exactly, our results suggest that the overall predominant gift motive among Romanian households is a norm of reciprocity. Moreover, this norm seems to be dominating for gifts to middle- and high-income households. Even though poor households receive to the same extent, norms of both impure altruism and reciprocity tend to be important. Hence, although the poor may not reciprocate gifts to the same extent as the rich, they still receive, since there is a social norm to give, especially to the poor.
Remittances after natural disasters: Evidence from the 2004 Indian tsunami
(2014-08) Mitrut, Andreea; Wolff, François-Charles; Dept. of Economics, University of Gothenburg
We examine the impact of the 2004 Indian tsunami on international remittance transfers using aggregate country data and synthetic control methodology. This procedure implies identifying the causal impact of the disaster by comparing the share of remittances to GDP in Indonesia, the country most affected by the shock, with a counterfactual group constructed using synthetic controls of countries that were not affected by the tsunami but that had a very similar pre-shock trend in international remittance flows. Our results indicate a large impact on remittances in Indonesia just after the tsunami, with 1.35 additional points in share of remittances to GDP in 2005 (compared to the synthetic control group). However, the gap in remittances observed between Indonesia and the synthetic control decreased steadily over the succeeding years and amounted to 0.5 percentage points in 2011.
The Impact of Abortion on Crime and Crime-Related Behavior
(2019-06) Hjalmarsson, Randi; Mitrut, Andreea; Pop-Eleches, Cristian; Department of Economics, University of Gothenburg
The 1966 abolition and 1989 legalization of abortion in Romania immediately doubled and decreased by about a third the number of births per month, respectively. To isolate the link between abortion access and crime while abstracting from cohort and general equilibrium effects, we compare birth month cohorts on either side of the abortion regime. For both the abolition and legalization of abortion, we find large and significant effects on the level of crime and risky-behavior related hospitalization, but an insignificant effect on crime and hospitalization rates (i.e. when normalizing by the size of the birth month cohort). In other words, the Romanian abortion reforms did affect crime, but all of the effect appears to be driven by cohort size effects rather than selection or unwantedness effects.
The Impact of Legalized Abortion on Child Health Outcomes and Abandonment. Evidence from Romania
(2011-08) Mitrut, Andreea; Wolff, Francois-Charles; University of Gothenburg, Dept of Economics
We use household survey data and a unique census of institutionalized children to analyze the impact of abortion legalization in Romania. We exploit the lift of the abortion ban in December 1989, when communist dictator Ceausescu and his regime were removed from power, to understand its impact on children‟s health at birth and during early childhood and whether the lift of the ban had an immediate impact on child abandonment. We find insignificant estimates for health at birth outcomes and anthropometric z-scores at age 4 and 5, except for the probability of low birth weight which is slightly higher for children born after abortion became legal. Additionally, our findings suggest that the lift of the ban had decreased the number of abandoned children.
The income of the Swedish baby boomers
(2006) Mitrut, Andreea; Klevmarken, Anders; Flood, Lennart; Department of Economics
This paper study the income of Swedish households belonging to the baby boom generation, i.e those born in the 1940-50. An international comparison as well as an historical presentation of income patterns is given. However, the main purpose is to generate the future income of the baby boom generation as they get older. A major result is that the income standard of the young-old will become much higher than that of the very old. If our simulations bear the stamp of realism they suggest that we will see new and large poverty in Sweden among the very old in the future. The pension system contributes to this result. The “front loaded” design gives with its reduced wage indexation a higher income immediately after retirement but a much lower income at older age. From this perspective it is unfortunate that so much attention is given to the discussion of replacement rates. The replacement rate, although interesting in itself, completely miss the long run effect and just provides a comparison of incomes shortly after with incomes before retirement. If we instead focus on the relative income of older pensioners the results become quite different. Our results challenge the conception of a sustainable pension system. If the relative income of older pensioner’s drops and at the same time expenditures for health and care increase, one might wonder how the old in our society will make both ends meet. If pensions become too small to meet “minimum standards” the requirement of financial sustainability of the pension system results in an increasing financial burden on other parts of the general social protection system.