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on Microeconomic European Issues |
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Issue of 2016‒10‒02
23 papers chosen by Giuseppe Marotta Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia |
| By: | Pirmin Fessler (Economic Analysis Division, Oesterreichische Nationalbank); Alyssa Schneebaum (Department of Economics, Vienna University of Economics and Business) |
| Abstract: | Preschool attendance is widely recognized as a key ingredient for later socioeconomic success, mothers' labor market participation, and leveling the playing field for children from disadvantaged backgrounds. However, the empirical evidence for these claims is still relatively scarce, particularly in Europe. Using data from the 2011 Austrian European Union Statistics of Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC), we contribute to this literature in all mentioned dimensions. In particular, we investigate the effect of preschool attendance on an individual's later educational attainment, the probability that they work full time and their hourly wages, the likelihood of the mother working when the child is 14 years old, and on the overall distribution of wages. We find strong and positive effects of preschool attendance on educational attainment, the probability of working full time, hourly wages, and the probability that the mother is in the labor market. Full time workers at the bottom and the top of the distribution tend to benefit less than those in the middle. Women in particular benefit more in terms of years of schooling and the probability of working full time. Other disadvantaged groups (second migration migrants; people with less educated parents) also often benefit more in terms of education and work. |
| Keywords: | returns to preschool/kindergarten, early childhood education, education, inequality |
| JEL: | I26 J62 I24 H52 I38 |
| Date: | 2016–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwwuw:wuwp233&r=eur |
| By: | Konrad C. Schäfer |
| Abstract: | This study analyzes the role of social capital in buffering the negative relationship between informal-care provision and mental health. Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) and fixed-effect regression models, we show that those individuals who socialize more frequently enjoy better mental health. We also find that stronger social ties moderate the negative association between caregiving and mental well-being. The protective role of social capital appears to be particularly strong for caregivers with high time commitments or those who regularly perform voluntary work. The moderating role of social activities can neither be explained by the caregiver's observed characteristics correlated with social capital, nor by features of the caregiving process. However, the results might be driven by insuficient overlap in covariates between carers and non-carers, and the simultaneity between caring decisions and social activities. We relate our results to recent policy initiatives that aim to improve the carer's well-being. Utilization of caregiver-support services is still rather low. Our findings suggest that caregivers may prefer informal support provided by family, friends, or neighbors to public caregiver benefits. To corroborate this hypothesis, further research regarding the (causal) buffering effects of social capital in the context of informal care is needed. |
| Keywords: | Non-cognitive skills, Big-Five, Locus of Control, retirement |
| JEL: | C34 C35 J26 J32 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp867&r=eur |
| By: | Boll, Christina; Rossen, Anja; Wolf, André |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates size and impact factors of the gender pay gap in Europe. It adds to the literature in three aspects. First, we update existing figures on the gender pay gaps in the EU based on the Structure of Earnings Survey 2010 (SES). Second, we enrich the literature by undertaking comprehensive country comparisons of the gap components based on an Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition. Overall, we analyze 21 EU countries plus Norway, which clearly exceeds the scope of existing microdata studies. Third, we examine the sources of the unexplained gap. We find that about one third of the gap can be traced back to the role of the explanatory factors included in our analysis. The sectoral segregation of genders is identified as the most important barrier to gender pay equality in European countries. In addition, the fact that part-time positions are more frequent among women notably contributes to the gap. We conclude that policies aiming at closing the gender pay gap should focus more on the sector level than on the aggregate economy. |
| Keywords: | Gender wage gap,Oaxaca/Blinder decomposition,Europe,Structure of Earnings Survey |
| JEL: | J31 J16 J24 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:hwwirp:176&r=eur |
| By: | Alyssa Schneebaum (Department of Economics, Vienna University of Economics and Business); Miriam Rehm (Department of Economics and Statistics, Federal Chamber of Labour Vienna (AK Wien)); Katharina Mader (Department of Economics, Vienna University of Economics and Business); Katarina Hollan (European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the gap in wealth between male and female single households using 2010 Household Finance and Consumption Survey data for eight European countries. In the raw data, a large gap emerges at the upper end of the unconditional distribution. While OLS estimates show no difference in average net wealth levels, quantile regressions at the 95th percentile yield mixed evidence for the gender wealth gap in different specifications. Labour market characteristics and participation in asset and debt categories largely explain the differences between male and female single households. We show that the gender gap in net wealth is driven by gender gaps in gross wealth and its components, but is attenuated in four countries by gender gaps in (collateralized) debt. In the full specification, the unexplained gap in gross wealth amounts to 27% in Slovakia, 33% in France, 44% in Austria, 45% in Germany, and 48% in Greece. A robustness check using person-level pension wealth confirms the presence of a gender gap for the full population. |
| Keywords: | Gender, Wealth, Wealth Gap, Distribution |
| JEL: | D31 J16 E21 |
| Date: | 2016–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwwuw:wuwp232&r=eur |
| By: | Davide Castellani (Henley Business School, University of Reading); Mariacristina Piva; Torben Schubert; Marco Vivarelli |
| Abstract: | Using data on the US and EU top R&D spenders from 2004 until 2012, this paper investigates the sources of the US/EU productivity gap. We find robust evidence that US firms have a higher capacity to translate R&D into productivity gains (especially in the high-tech industries), and this contributes to explaining the higher productivity of US firms. Conversely, EU firms are more likely to achieve productivity gains through capital-embodied technological change at least in medium and low-tech sectors. Our results also show that the US/EU productivity gap has worsened during the crisis period, as the EU companies have been more affected by the economic crisis in their capacity to translate R&D investments into productivity. Based on these findings, we make a case for a learning-based and selective R&D funding, which – instead of purely aiming at stimulating higher R&D expenditures – works on improving the firms’ capabilities to transform R&D into productivity gains. |
| Keywords: | R&D, productivity, economic crisis, US, EU |
| JEL: | O33 O51 O52 |
| Date: | 2016–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rdg:jhdxdp:jhd-dp2016-03&r=eur |
| By: | Hausmann, Ricardo (Harvard University and Santa Fe Institute); Neffke, Frank (Harvard University) |
| Abstract: | Is labor mobility important in technological diffusion? We address this question by asking how plants assemble their workforce if they are industry pioneers in a location. By definition, these plants cannot hire local workers with industry experience. Using German social-security data, we find that such plants recruit workers from related industries from more distant regions and local workers from less-related industries. We also show that pioneers leverage a low-cost advantage in unskilled labor to compete with plants that are located in areas where the industry is more prevalent. Finally, whereas research on German reunification has often focused on the effects of east-west migration, we show that the opposite migration facilitated the industrial diversification of eastern Germany by giving access to experienced workers from western Germany. |
| JEL: | J23 J24 M13 M50 O15 O33 R11 R12 |
| Date: | 2016–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecl:harjfk:16-006&r=eur |
| By: | Bora Kim |
| Abstract: | This study quantifies the inequality of opportunity (IOp) for healthy aging in Europe. Unlike earlier studies, an objective health indicator, grip strength, is used as an outcome. Using the longitudinal data from the Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe (Wave 1-5), I introduce a general model where explanatory variables portray individual lifetime trajectory. All predictors are disentangled into illegitimate and legitimate components. The Hausman-Taylor (1981) estimator is employed to deal with the presence of unobserved heterogeneity and endogeneity of time-variant lifestyle. Both upper and lower bounds of IOp are considered by incorporating different sets of illegitimate factors under six scenarios. Parallel results based on self-reported health are provided. We find that IOp in a subjective measure is less sensitive to age, but more to unobserved factors. Finally, the magnitude of IOp is compared between men and women as well as across ten states Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain and Italy. Overall, the results are sensitive to the choice in health indicator. |
| Date: | 2016–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ete:ceswps:549636&r=eur |
| By: | Declan French |
| Abstract: | UK households have been exposed to economic recession followed by a government programme of austerity. As a result, many households have been under severe financial strain. Using a large UK household survey, we find that the feeling of not being able to cope financially matters for individual mental and physical health even when controlling for individual heterogeneity and potential reverse causation. We develop a theoretical model which brings some of the rigour of lifetime economic decision-making models to bear on our understanding of the causes of financial strain. Our estimation results for this model highlight that shocks to how we view our financial situation are more important for subjective financial well-being than not having enough income or being liquidity constrained. Recent welfare and pension reforms intended to reduce budget deficits may have exacerbated financial strain and increased public health care costs. In the case of disability benefits reform, we find that the uncertainty generated by an opaque process of reassessment caused financial strain to increase even when households were not materially worse off. |
| Keywords: | Financial strain; Health; Permanent income |
| JEL: | I10 |
| Date: | 2016–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qub:charms:1602&r=eur |
| By: | Dunsch, Sophie |
| Abstract: | Unemployment rates, especially among youth, have increased in various countries of Europe over the last years. As labor force participation rate is one key influence on unemployment, I estimate country specific coefficients for the responsiveness of the labor force participation rates to the business cycle for different age cohorts. The results show that an influence of the business cycle on movements of the participation rates are only statistically significant for the youngest age cohort of the 15-to-24-years old in Germany, suggesting a discouraged worker effect. |
| Keywords: | Youth Unemployment,Youth Labor Force Participation,Poland,Germany,Business Fluctuations |
| JEL: | J13 J21 C23 E32 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:euvwdp:386&r=eur |
| By: | David-Jan Jansen; Nicole Jonker |
| Abstract: | Using detailed data on consumer payments, we find only limited evidence that fluctuations in cross-border fuel price differentials are relevant for Dutch consumers. Consumers living close to the German border did react to a salient increase in Dutch excise fuel duties in January 2014. However, the increase of fuel tourism was only temporary. Secondly, there are no robust indications that fuel tourism is relevant for Dutch consumers living further than 10 kilometres from either the border with Belgium or Germany. The apparent absence of fuel tourism may either be explained by the widespread use of loyalty cards or by the low level of international commuting by Dutch workers. |
| Keywords: | fuel tourism; consumer data; payment diaries; excise duties |
| JEL: | D12 H23 Q41 |
| Date: | 2016–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dnb:dnbwpp:519&r=eur |
| By: | Klaus Gugler (Department of Economics and Research Institute for Regulatory Economics, Vienna University of Economics and Business); Mario Liebensteiner (Department of Economics, Vienna University of Economics and Business); Adhurim Haxhimusa (Research Institute for Regulatory Economics, Vienna University of Economics and Business); Nora Schindler (Department of Economics, Vienna University of Economics and Business) |
| Abstract: | The recent transformation of European electricity markets with increasing generation from intermittent renewables brings about many challenges. Among them, decaying wholesale prices, partly due to support schemes for renewables, may send insufficient investment signals for other technologies. We investigate the investment decision in a structural equation based on the Tobin’s q-model, which we extend by both industry- and firm-technology-specific uncertainty. We utilize rich and novel data at the disaggregated firm generation technology level of European electricity generating firms for the period 2006–2014. Our results show that investment in any generation technology follows market incentives despite sunk and irreversible capital, confirming the implications of the q-model. Moreover, while firm-technology-specific uncertainty decreases firms’ investment activity, especially in coal and gas, aggregate uncertainty triggers firms’ investment. Our results raise concerns about system reliability in the long run since conventional technologies still serve as a flexible system back-up. |
| Keywords: | Tobin's q, Uncertainty, Investment, Electricity |
| JEL: | L22 L25 L51 Q48 |
| Date: | 2016–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwwuw:wuwp234&r=eur |
| By: | Mario Bossler (Institute for Employment Research; LASER); Alexander Mosthaf (Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz); Thorsten Schank (Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates if there is state dependence in the gender composition of managers in German establishments. We analyze whether the number of hired female managers (respectively the share of females within hired managers) depends on the past hiring decisions of an establishment. Using administrative data, we apply dynamic linear models and dynamic tobit models accounting for unobserved heterogeneity and the endogeneity of lagged dependent variables. We ?nd that an increase of female manager hires in present leads to more female hired managers in the future. Similarly, the number of male manager hires also exhibits state dependence. |
| Keywords: | female managers; gender discrimination; state dependence; dynamic panel data models |
| JEL: | C23 J16 J71 M12 |
| Date: | 2016–09–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jgu:wpaper:11618&r=eur |
| By: | João Pedro Pereira; Vasco Pesquita; Paulo M.M. Rodrigues; António Rua |
| Abstract: | There is an ongoing trend of deregulation and integration of electricity markets in Europe and North America. This change in market structure has naturally affected the interaction between agents and has contributed to an increasing commoditization of electric power. This paper focuses on one specific market, the Iberian Electricity Market (MIBEL). In particular, we assess the persistence of electricity prices in the Iberian market and test whether it has changed over time. We consider each hour of the day separately, that is, we analyze 24 time-series of day-ahead hourly prices for Portugal and another 24 series for Spain. We find results consistent with the hypothesis that market integration leads to a decrease in the persistence of the price process. More precisely, the tests detect a break in the memory parameter of most price series around the year 2009, which coincides with a significant increase in the integration of Portuguese and Spanish markets. The results reinforce the view that market integration has an impact on the dynamics of electricity prices. |
| JEL: | C50 E31 F36 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ptu:wpaper:w201609&r=eur |
| By: | Dolls, Mathias; Doerrenberg, Philipp; Peichl, Andreas; Stichnoth, Holger |
| Abstract: | How can retirement savings be increased? We explore a unique policy change in the context of the German pension system to study this question. As of 2004, the German pension authority started to send out annual letters providing detailed and comprehensible information about the pension system and individual expected pension payments. This reform did not change the level of pensions, but only manipulated the knowledge about and salience of expected pension payments. Using German tax return data, we exploit two discontinuities in the age cutoffs of receiving such a letter to study their effects on private retirement savings. Our results show that the letters increase private retirement savings. The effects are fairly sizable and persistent over several years. We further show that the letter increases labor earnings, and that the increase in savings partly crowds out charitable donations. Moreover, we present evidence suggesting that both information and salience drive the savings effect. Our paper adds to a recent literature showing that policies that go beyond the traditional neoclassical reasoning can be powerful to increase savings rates. |
| Keywords: | pensions,savings,salience,information |
| JEL: | H55 H24 J26 D14 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:16059&r=eur |
| By: | Robert Stelter (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, UNIVERSITE CATHOLIQUE DE LOUVAIN, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES) and University of Rostock) |
| Abstract: | In this paper I study how different health insurance types in Germany alter the incentives to give birth. A stylized model illustrates that both the private and statutory health insurance can imply a higher number of births. While the family insurance in the latter clearly reduces the costs per child, income effects due to varying parental premia might operate in the opposite direction. If they are higher in the statutory health insurance, for instance, due to a selection of healthy individuals in the private health insurance, the latter might induce a higher number of births. Relying on data of the German Socio Economic Panel, I apply endogenous treatment effects models for count data to control for selection effects. Estimation results indicate that the private health insurance positively affects the number of births. The positive impact is robust across several alternative specifications. |
| Keywords: | Dual health insurance system; Fertility; Health insurance choice |
| JEL: | I13 J13 |
| Date: | 2016–09–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ctl:louvir:2016021&r=eur |
| By: | Declan French; Frank Kee; Mark O'Doherty |
| Abstract: | Using the work disability vignettes from the third wave of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) in 2006/07, we explore the geographical variation in how participants rate the level of work limitation of people described in hypothetical scenarios and its association with wealth and income inequality. The results show that areas with higher levels of wealth inequality, but not income inequality, have more favourable attitudes to work disability and are more likely to rate the vignettes as work-limited. These differences persist when controlling for other local authority area- level characteristics such as social capital and diversity characteristics as well as a large number of individual-level characteristics. Our robust findings provide support for the hypothesis that individuals have interdependent preferences displaying an aversion to inequality. |
| Keywords: | Wealth; Disability; Inequality; Work; Social capital |
| JEL: | D63 I14 P16 |
| Date: | 2016–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qub:charms:1604&r=eur |
| By: | Odolinski , Kristofer (VTI) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we study the effect of contract design on the performance of railway maintenance in Sweden, using a panel data set over the period 2003-2013. The marginal effect of incentive intensity is estimated, showing that the power of incentive schemes improve performance as measured by the number of infrastructure failures. In addition, the performance incentive schemes result in a reallocation of effort from failures not causing train delays to failures causing train delays |
| Keywords: | Contract design; Incentive intensity; Maintenance; Railways |
| JEL: | D82 L92 |
| Date: | 2016–09–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ctswps:2016_020&r=eur |
| By: | Ginsburgh, Victor; Juan, Moreno-Ternero; Weber, Shlomo |
| Abstract: | This article presents a framework for evaluation of the impact of languages in multilingual societies. We consider several ranking methods grounded on various principles, including minimal disenfranchisement, communicative benefits, utilitarianism, and the game-theoretical concept of the Shapley Value. We use data from the Special Barometer survey to apply these methods to languages within the European Union. Although the methods we consider are driven by distinct normative grounds, they generate quite similar results. Finally, we analyse the impact of Brexit on the rankings, especially if English forfeits its status as an ocial language in the Union. |
| Keywords: | Communicative benefits; European Union; linguistic disenfranchisement; official languages; Ranking methods |
| JEL: | C71 D71 Z18 |
| Date: | 2016–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:11529&r=eur |
| By: | Schlepphorst, Susanne; Schlömer-Laufen, Nadine; Holz, Michael |
| Abstract: | Our explorative study analyses the factors that affect the likelihood of German companies to be a hidden champion. Based on an econometric estimation model with quantitative data from 60 hidden champions and 346 non-hidden champions, we could confirm prior research findings that specific enterprise characteristics such as research and development, international business activities and the great ambition to maximise market shares have significant positive effects on the likelihood to belong to the group of hidden champions. Companies of the service and distribution industries have lower chances to be a hidden champion compared to manufacturing enterprises. Drawing on the empirical finding that hidden champions do not place great value on the use of public promotional funds, governments are advised to apply other support measures in order to foster the development of hidden champions. The startingpoint should be the improvement of framework conditions. |
| Abstract: | Die vorliegende explorative Studie analysiert die Determinanten, die die Wahrscheinlichkeit deutscher Unternehmen beeinflussen, ein Hidden Champion zu sein. Anhand eines Datensatzes bestehend aus 60 Hidden Champions und 346 Nicht-Hidden Champions können wir mittels ökonometrischer Schätzungen bestehende Untersuchungergebnisse bestätigen: Unternehmen, die FuE betreiben, die international ausgerichtet sind und die bestrebt sind, ihre Marktanteile zu maximieren, gehören mit einer signifikant höheren Wahrscheinlichkeit zur Gruppe der Hidden Champions. Im Vergleich zu Unternehmen des Produzierenden Gewerbes zählen Unternehmen des Dienstleistungsbereichs und der Distribution mit einer geringeren Wahrscheinlichkeit zu den Hidden Champions. Die empirischen Ergebnisse zeigen darüber hinaus, dass Hidden Champions der finanziellen Unterstützung aus öffentlichen Förderprogrammen keine hohe Bedeutung beimessen. Ein Ansatzpunkt vonseiten der Wirtschaftspolitik, die Entwicklung von Hidden Champions zu fördern, ist die Verbesserung der bestehenden Rahmenbedingungen. |
| Keywords: | hidden champions,internationalisation,Germany |
| JEL: | L21 L25 L26 L52 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ifmwps:0316&r=eur |
| By: | Bird, Miriam (Center for Family Business, University of St. Gallen); Wennberg, Karl (Stockholm School of Economics, Institute of Analytical Sociology (IAS) and the Ratio Institute) |
| Abstract: | We integrate insights from the social embeddedness perspective with research on immigrant entrepreneurship to theorize on how family resources influence exit from entrepreneurship among previously unemployed immigrant entrepreneurs. Results from a cohort study of immigrant entrepreneurs in Sweden reveal that family resources are important for immigrants to integrate economically into a country. We find that having family members in geographical proximity increases immigrant entrepreneurs’ likelihood of remaining in entrepreneurship. Further, family financial capital enhances immigrant entrepreneurs’ likelihood of remaining in entrepreneurship as well as their likelihood of exiting to paid employment. Although often neglected in immigrant entrepreneurship studies, resources accruing from spousal relationships with natives influence entrepreneurs’ exit behavior. We discuss contributions for research on entrepreneurial exit, entrepreneurs’ social embeddedness, and immigrant entrepreneurship. |
| Keywords: | Immigrant entrepreneurship; entrepreneurial exit; family resources; social embeddedness; relational embeddedness |
| JEL: | J60 L26 |
| Date: | 2016–09–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ratioi:0274&r=eur |
| By: | Tullio Jappelli (Università di Napoli Federico II and CSEF); Annalisa Scognamiglio (Università di Napoli and CSEF) |
| Abstract: | Using the 2008-2014 Italian Survey of Household Income and Wealth (SHIW), we study whether the drop in interest rates following the Great Recession was associated with a reduction in mortgage payments for households with Adjustable Rate Mortgages (ARM) relative to those with Fixed Rate Mortgages (FRM). Preliminary results indicate that after the shock, consumption of ARM holders increases relative to FRM but the implied marginal propensity to consume (MPC) is not statistically different from zero. We suggest two explanations for the weak consumption response to the income shock. First, most mortgagors believed that the income shock was transitory, and that interest rates would likely increase in the future, implying a small effect on consumption. Second, the shock is offset partly by a reduction in income from financial assets owned by mortgagors. The paper has implications for the conduct of monetary policy interventions and the credibility of the future path of interest rates, pass-through of monetary policy through household balance sheets, and design of the mortgage market. |
| Date: | 2016–09–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sef:csefwp:454&r=eur |
| By: | Gamberoni, Elisa; Gartner, Christine; Giordano, Claire; Lopez-Garcia, Paloma |
| Abstract: | We investigate the role of corruption in the business environment in explaining the efficiency of within-sector production factor allocation across firms in nine Central and Eastern European countries in the period 2003-2012. Using a conditional convergence model, we find evidence of a positive relationship between corruption growth and both labour and capital misallocation dynamics, once country framework conditions are controlled for: the link between corruption and input misallocation dynamics is larger the smaller the country, the lower the degree of political stability and of civil liberties, and the weaker the quality of its regulations. As input misallocation is one of the determinants of productivity growth, we further show that the relationship between changes in corruption and TFP growth is indeed negative. Our results hold when we tackle a possible omitted variable bias by instrumenting corruption with two instrumental variables (the percentage of women in Parliament and freedom of the press). JEL Classification: D24, D73, O47 |
| Keywords: | bribes, capital misallocation, labour misallocation, total factor productivity |
| Date: | 2016–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecb:ecbwps:20161950&r=eur |
| By: | Josselin Thuilliez (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | This study uses aggregate panel data on 96 French départements from 1982 to 2012 to investigate the relationship between macroeconomic conditions, gender and mortality. I use previously employed panel data methods, based on mortality variation across French départements and years. The novelty is to analyze the effect of gender-specific unemployment on gender-specific mortality. Within this “area-gender approach”, I give a particular attention to gender-cause-specific mortality such as prostate cancer, maternal mortality, female breast cancer, cervical cancer and ovarian cancer in addition to other cause-specific mortality. The analysis is undertaken for several age-groups, several time windows and different geographical aggregates of unemployment. The results reveal that the relationship between unemployment and mortality in France is weak and confirm recent conclusions from U.S. state-level analysis by Rhum [Ruhm, C.J., 2015. Recessions, Healthy no more?. Journal of Health Economics 42, 17-28]. |
| Keywords: | Health,Mortality,Recessions,Gender,Macroeconomic conditions |
| Date: | 2016–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-01278019&r=eur |