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on Microeconomic European Issues |
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Issue of 2011‒07‒13
sixteen papers chosen by Giuseppe Marotta University of Modena and Reggio Emilia |
| By: | Copenhagen Economics |
| Abstract: | The objective of this external study is to provide more information about the extent of cross-border inheritance tax problems |
| Keywords: | European Union, taxation, inheritance tax |
| JEL: | H24 H25 |
| Date: | 2010–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tax:taxstu:0034&r=eur |
| By: | Anghel, Brindusa; de la Rica, Sara; Dolado, Juan J. |
| Abstract: | This paper addresses the role played by Public Sector (PS) employment across different OECD labour markets in explaining: (i) gender differences regarding occupational choices in either PS or private sector, and (ii) subsequent changes in female labour market outcomes. To do so, we provide some empirical evidence about cross-country gender differences in choice of employment in the PS vs. the private sector using the European Community Household Panel (ECHP), in the light of several theories about patterns of gender behaviour in the labour market. We also analyze the main determinants of the hourly wage gaps across these two sectors for males and females separately. Finally, we document the main stylized facts about gender differences in labour market transitions of workers among inactivity, unemployment, working in the PS and working in the private sector. |
| Keywords: | Gender gaps; Labour market transitions; Public sector employment |
| JEL: | J16 J31 J45 |
| Date: | 2011–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:8468&r=eur |
| By: | Euwals, Rob (CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis); van Vuren, Annemiek (CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis); van Vuuren, Daniel (CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis) |
| Abstract: | Early retirement schemes and disability insurance in the Netherlands have both been reformed during the past decades. The reforms have increased incentives to continue working and have decreased the substitution between early retirement and disability. This study investigates the impact of the reforms on labour market exit probabilities. We use administrative data for workers in the Dutch health care sector between 1999 and 2006. We estimate a multinomial Logit model for transitions out of the labour force. The empirical results suggest that the reforms have been effective, as the labour market participation rate of the elderly has increased. The concept of substitute pathways into retirement seems less relevant today as the results confirm that disability insurance is closed off as an early retirement exit route. |
| Keywords: | early retirement, disability insurance, labour supply |
| JEL: | C35 J26 |
| Date: | 2011–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5810&r=eur |
| By: | Wan-Jung Chou; Andrea Bigano; Alistair Hunt; Stephane La Branche; Anil Markandya; Roberta Pierfederici |
| Abstract: | The security of natural gas supply is an important issue for all EU countries due to the region’s heavy dependence on imported supply sources and in light of energy demand for gas that is continuously increasing. Discussions have emphasised strategies for securing the supply at the macro level, e.g. diversification in supply sources, increase in storage capacity, etc. By contrast, consumers’ demand for the reliability of gas supply is rarely investigated. Hence this study was conducted to examine the economic implications associated with the security of gas supply directly to domestic consumers. Based on the choice experiment approach, household surveys were conducted in France, Italy and the UK. The results confirmed that the degree of the economic impact of a disruption of gas supply to domestic consumers was a function of the duration of a supply disruption and the season in which a supply cut would take place, as well as other preferences of consumers. The willingness to pay to secure per unit of gas consumption, or alternatively the costs of gas unsupplied, was estimated at between €2.65/cubic metre and €41.48/cubic metre across three different European countries. |
| Keywords: | Energy security; gas supply; households; willingness to pay; choice experiment; EU |
| Date: | 2011–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bcc:wpaper:2011-05&r=eur |
| By: | European Commission |
| Abstract: | This report contains a detailed statistical and economic analysis of the tax systems of the Member States of the European Union, plus Iceland and Norway, which are Members of the European Economic Area. The data are presented within a unified statistical framework (the ESA95 harmonised system of national and regional accounts), which makes it possible to assess the heterogeneous national tax systems on a fully comparable basis. The standard classifications of tax revenues (by major type of tax or by level of government) presented in most international tax revenue statistics are hard to interpret in economic terms. This publication stands out for offering a breakdown of tax revenues by economic function (i.e. according to whether they are raised on consumption, labour or capital). This classification is based on disaggregated tax data and on a breakdown of the revenue from the personal income tax. Besides revenue data, the report also contains indicators of the average effective tax rate falling on consumption, labour and capital, as well as data on environmental taxation and on the top rates for the personal and corporate income tax. Country chapters give an overview of the tax system in each of the 29 countries covered, the revenue trends and the main recent policy changes. Detailed tables allow comparison between the individual countries and European averages. Data cover the 1995-2009 period and are presented both as a percentage of GDP and as a percentage of total taxation. This year's edition of the report for the first time includes data on average effective tax ratios (EATRs) for non-financial corporations. In addition, the report also contains a detailed new analysis of the impact of the economic and financial crisis on the tax systems of all EU Member States. |
| Keywords: | European Union, taxation |
| JEL: | H23 H24 H25 H27 H71 |
| Date: | 2011–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tax:taxtre:2011&r=eur |
| By: | Silvester Van Koten; Andreas Ortmann |
| Abstract: | We try to better understand the comparative advantages of structural and behavioral remedies of deregulation in electricity markets, an eminent policy issue for which the experimental evidence is scant and problematic. Specifically, we investigate theoretically and experimentally the effects on competition of introducing a forward market — considered a behavioral remedy by the European Commission. We compare this scenario with the best alternative, the structural remedy of reducing concentration by adding one more competitor by divestiture. Our study contributes to the literature by introducing more realistic cost configurations, by teasing apart competition effect and asset effect, and by investigating competitor numbers that reflect the market concentration in the European electricity industries. Our experimental data suggest that introducing a forward market has a positive effect on the aggregate supply in markets with two or three major competitors, configurations typical for the newly accessed and the old European Union member states, respectively. Introducing a forward market also increases efficiency. In contrast to previous findings, our data furthermore suggest that the effect of introducing a forward market is stronger than adding one more competitor both in markets with two, and particularly three, producers. Our data thus provides evidence that behavioral remedies may be more effective than structural remedies. Our data suggest that competition authorities are well advised, in line with EU law (European Commission, 2006a, p.11), to focus on introducing, and facilitating the proper functioning of, forward markets rather than on lowering market concentration by divestiture. |
| Keywords: | economics experiments; market power; competition; forward markets; EU electricity market; |
| JEL: | C91 D61 L13 L43 L94 Q48 |
| Date: | 2011–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cer:papers:wp437&r=eur |
| By: | Bargain, Olivier (University College Dublin); Orsini, Kristian (K.U.Leuven); Peichl, Andreas (IZA) |
| Abstract: | Despite numerous studies on labor supply, the size of elasticities is rarely comparable across countries. In this paper, we suggest the first large-scale international comparison of elasticities, while netting out possible differences due to methods, data selection and the period of investigation. We rely on comparable data for 17 European countries and the US, a common empirical approach and a complete simulation of tax-benefit policies affecting household budgets. We find that wage-elasticities are small and vary less across countries than previously thought, e.g., between .2 and .6 for married women. Results are robust to several modeling assumptions. We show that differences in tax-benefit systems or demographic compositions explain little of the cross-country variation, leaving room for other interpretations, notably in terms of heterogeneous work preferences. We derive important implications for research on optimal taxation. |
| Keywords: | household labor supply, elasticity, taxation, Europe, US |
| JEL: | C25 C52 H31 J22 |
| Date: | 2011–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5820&r=eur |
| By: | Jiménez-Martín, Sergi; Labeaga, José M.; Martínez-Granado, Maite |
| Abstract: | In this paper we use data the European Community Household Panel (ECHP) to describe and analyse the dynamics of joint labour force behaviour of older couples for the EUI2 countries. We focus on three main issues: the relanvance of joint retirement across EUI2 countries, the existence of complementarities in leisure and/or assortative matting and the effects of health variables. Concerning the evidence, we first find that a working spouse is more likely to retire the more recently the other spouse has retired; this effect is stronger if the wife is the working spouse. Second, there is evidence of assortative mating and/or complementarities in leisure; the effects of all relevant factors on the retirement decision of one spouse depend strongly on whether the other one is working, unemployed, or retired. Third, besides the standard evidence that poor health increases the retirement probabiliby, we find that the husband's health affects the couple's retirement decisions much more strongly than the wife's health does. Additional asymmetric effects are detected with respect to income related variables. |
| Keywords: | Joint retirement decisions; Labour force transitions; Health variables; Asymmetric effects; |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ner:carlos:info:hdl:10016/6170&r=eur |
| By: | European Commission |
| Abstract: | The report outlines the double taxation problems that arise when venture capital is invested cross-border, as well as possible solutions. It sets out the findings and recommendations of an independent group of EU tax experts, which was set up by the Commission to look at how to remove the main tax barriers to cross-border investment in venture capital. |
| Keywords: | European Union, taxation, venture capital |
| JEL: | G32 H20 |
| Date: | 2010–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tax:taxstu:0032&r=eur |
| By: | Mariya Aleksynska; Ahmed Tritah |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses occupational matching of immigrants from over seventy countries of origin to 22 European countries. Using European Social Survey for the years 2002-2009 and the multinomial logit framework, we show that, relative to the native born, immigrants are more likely to be both under- and overeducated for the jobs that they perform. This mismatch is due to individual-specific factors, such as labor market experience and its transferability. Immigrants’ outcomes converge to those of the native born with the years of labor market experience. The mismatch is also due to immigrants’ selection and sorting across countries. Notably, we show that origin countries’ degree of income inequality and the quality of human capital, by affecting selection, mostly matter for undereducation of immigrants. Overeducation is determined to a greater extent by destination-country economic conditions and labor market institutions. Immigrant-specific policies in destination countries, such as those improving eligibility and fighting discrimination, also positively affect overall matching, while policies promoting integration decrease undereducation. |
| Keywords: | Immigration; occupational mismatch; overeducation; ORU realized matches; migration policies |
| JEL: | I21 J24 J61 F22 |
| Date: | 2011–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cii:cepidt:2011-16&r=eur |
| By: | Peeters, Marga; Den Reijer, Ard |
| Abstract: | This paper discusses the endeavours of policy makers to come to some degree of wage coordination among EU countries, aiming at aligning wage growth with labour productivity growth at the national levels. In this context, we analyse the wage and productivity developments in Germany, the European Union’s periphery countries Greece, Ireland, Portugal, and Spain along with the US for the period 1980-2010. Apart from the contribution of productivity to wages, we take into account the contributions of prices, unemployment, replacement rates and taxes by means of an econometrically estimated non-linear wage equation resulting from a wage bargaining model. We further study the downward rigidities of wages in depth. The findings show that in past times of low productivity, price inflation and reductions in unemployment put significant upward pressure on wage growth, also in the low inflationary period of the 2000s. Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Spain are far from aligning wage growth with productivity growth. German productivity is a major German wage determinant, but surely not the only one. To steer wages, policy makers can effectively use the replacement rate. |
| Keywords: | wages; compensation per employee; unit labour costs; productivity; wage formation; wage coordination; labour market; wage flexibility; unemployment; prices; replacement rate; monetary union; |
| JEL: | E24 J3 E5 C22 E6 |
| Date: | 2011–06–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:31102&r=eur |
| By: | Elitok, Secil Pacaci |
| Abstract: | The likelihood of a potential migration flow from Turkey into the European Union (EU) has increasingly been the focus of debates among academics and policy makers. As having one of the fastest growing populations of Europe, Turkey and its migration potential are the nexus of fears and concerns. Against this background, this paper is a survey of the growing literature on the estimations of the volume of potential migration from Turkey to the EU within the context of possible Turkish membership. Taking into account the methodological problems, drawbacks of the data and definitional issues, this article aims at critically evaluating the existing literature. In the light of potential migration discussions, this paper emphasizes the necessity of a shift in the focus of debate from quantitative aspects, that are overemphasizing the economic aspects, to qualitative dimensions of migration potential from Turkey to the EU. -- |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:hwwipp:3-11&r=eur |
| By: | Giulia BETTIN (Universit… di Napoli Parthenope, Dipartimento di Studi Economici); Alessia LO TURCO (Universita' Politecnica delle Marche, Dipartimento di Economia); Daniela MAGGIONI (Universita' Politecnica delle Marche, Dipartimento di Economia) |
| Abstract: | We address the role of migrant workers from extra-EU countries in Italian manufacturing production at the firm-level. Cross price and demand elasticities confirm the complementarity found in previous studies between migrants and natives, which holds when native workers are split into white and blue collars. However, when measuring how the ratio of domestic to migrant (migrant to domestic) workers changes in response to a change in the migrant (domestic) wage - Morishima Elasticity of Substitution - we find that the two labour inputs are substitutes. We further analyse the effect of the use of foreign labour in manufacturing firms on the industry composition. We find that, ceteris paribus, had migrant labour not grown in our sample period, the weight of Low Skill intensive sectors would have been approximately 2% lower and the white to blue collars ratio would have been slightly higher than observed, even accounting for the complementarity between natives and migrants. |
| Keywords: | Migrant workers, elasticity of substitution, manufacturing production technology |
| JEL: | F22 J61 L60 |
| Date: | 2011–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:anc:wpaper:360&r=eur |
| By: | Michaela Kreyenfeld (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany); Valerie Martin |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the economic conditions of stepfamilies in Germany, the Russian Federation and France using data from the first wave of the Generations and Gender Survey (GGS). The analysis shows that stepfamilies more often report economic hardship than nuclear families in France and western Germany. Socio-demographic differences between family types — particularly the fact that stepfamilies tend to be larger families — explain the differences in economic well-being between families in France. For western Germany, differences between nuclear and stepfamilies remain after controlling for socio-economic composition of different family types. For the Russian Federation and eastern Germany, we do not find any statistically significant differences in economic well-being between stepfamilies and nuclear families. The major dividing line for these regions runs between single parents and other types of families. |
| Keywords: | Germany, family |
| JEL: | J1 Z0 |
| Date: | 2011–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dem:wpaper:wp-2011-010&r=eur |
| By: | Garrouste, Christelle |
| Abstract: | This report presents the macro data on educational reforms collected for the Survey on Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). The first and chore part provides an analytical overview of the educational reforms that may have affected the skill level of Europe’s elderly population. More specifically, it targets the national institutional plans or movements that have brought (or attempted to bring) systemic change in educational practices during the last century (e.g., pedagogical theories, curriculum reforms and operational structures). Furthermore, through a simple application correlating compulsory education laws and the evolution of the number of years of education, this report demonstrates the scope and potentialities of the database. Finally, the appendix lists all the data collected by country and level of education. |
| Keywords: | SHARELIFE; contextual data; education reforms |
| JEL: | I2 Y1 J1 J24 H52 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:31853&r=eur |
| By: | Belderbos, Rene (UNU-MERIT, School of Business and Economics, Maastricht University, and Department of Managerial Economics, Strategy and Innovation, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven); Gilsing, Victor (Department for Organization Studies and Centre for Innovation Research (CIR), Tilburg University); Jacob, Jojo (UNU-MERIT) |
| Abstract: | We analyze patterns and determinants of technology alliance formation with partner firms from emerging economies, with a focus on European firms' alliance strategies. We examine to what extent European firms' alliance formation with partners based in emerging economies is persistent, that is: to what extent prior collaborative experience determines new alliance formation, and we compare this pattern with alliance formation with developed country partners. Second, we examine to what extent prior engagement in international alliances with partners from developed countries increases the propensity to form technology alliances with partners based in emerging economies and vice versa (interrelation). We find that both persistence and interrelation effects are present, and that they are generally not weaker for emerging economy alliances. Alliance formation with Indian and Chinese firms is significantly more likely if firms have prior alliance experience with Japanese firms. The findings suggest that firms extend their alliance portfolio from developed to emerging economies, increasing the geographic diversity of their alliance portfolio and building on their prior international alliances experience. |
| Keywords: | Alliances, Persistence, Interrelation, Emerging economies |
| JEL: | M21 O32 O33 O52 O53 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:unumer:2011026&r=eur |