|
on Microeconomic European Issues |
|
Issue of 2017‒02‒19
thirty-two papers chosen by Giuseppe Marotta Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia |
| By: | Pellegrino, Gabriele (EPFL, Lausanne); Piva, Mariacristina (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore); Vivarelli, Marco (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore) |
| Abstract: | In this work, we test the employment impact of distinct types of innovative investments using a representative sample of Spanish manufacturing firms over the period 2002-2013. Our GMM-SYS estimates generate various results, which are partially in contrast with the extant literature. Indeed, estimations carried out on the entire sample do not provide statistically significant evidence of the expected labor-friendly nature of innovation. More in detail, neither R&D nor investment in innovative machineries and equipment (the so-called embodied technological change, ETC) turn out to have any significant employment effect. However, the job-creation impact of R&D expenditures becomes highly significant when the focus is limited to the high-tech firms. On the other hand – and interestingly – ETC exhibits its labor-saving nature when SMEs are singled out. |
| Keywords: | innovation, R&D, embodied technological change, employment, GMM-SYS |
| JEL: | O33 |
| Date: | 2017–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10540&r=eur |
| By: | Robert C.M. Beyer |
| Abstract: | This paper uses a large survey (SOEP) to update and deepen our knowledge about the labor market performance of immigrants in Germany. It documents that immigrant workers initially earn on average 20 percent less than native workers with otherwise identical characteristics. The gap is smaller for immigrants from advanced countries, with good German language skills, and with a German degree, and larger for others. The gap declines gradually over time but at a decreasing rate and much stronger for more recent cohorts. Less success in obtaining jobs with higher occupational autonomy explains half of the wage gap. Immigrants are initially less likely to participate in the labor market and more likely to be unemployed. While participation fully converges after 20 years, immigrants always remain more likely to be unemployed than the native labor force. |
| Keywords: | migration, Germany, labor market, wages, unemployment, participation |
| JEL: | E24 F22 J15 J22 J31 J61 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp892&r=eur |
| By: | Dauth, Wolfgang; Findeisen, Sebastian; Südekum, Jens |
| Abstract: | This paper addresses the impact of rising international trade exposure on individual earnings profiles in heterogeneous worker-establishment matches. We exploit rich panel data on job biographies of manufacturing workers in Germany, and apply a high-dimensional fixed effects approach to analyze endogenous mobility between plants, industries, and regions in response to trade shocks. Rising import penetration reduces earnings within job spells, and it induces workers to leave the exposed industries. Intra-industry mobility to other firms or regions are far less common adjustments. This induced industry mobility mitigates the adverse impacts of import shocks in the workers' subsequent careers, but their cumulated earnings over a longer time horizon are still negatively affected. By contrast, we find much less evidence for sorting into export-oriented industries, but the earnings gains mostly arise within job spells. These results point at an asymmetry in the individual labour market response to trade shocks: Import shocks trigger substantial "push effects", whereas the "pull effects" of export shocks are weaker. |
| JEL: | F16 J31 R11 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc16:145522&r=eur |
| By: | Bruckmeier, Kerstin; Wiemers, Jürgen |
| Abstract: | Research on welfare participation often shows significant differences between immigrants and natives that are often attributed to immigrants’ higher risk of welfare dependence. We study whether immigrants in Germany also differ from their German counterparts in their take-up behavior conditional on being eligible for welfare benefits. The empirical approach intends (i) to determine eligibility for welfare benefits for a representative sample of the whole population of Germany using a microsimulation model (IAB-STSM) based on data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP) and then (ii) to estimate probit models of observed welfare benefit take-up for the sample of eligible households. Our simulation results show that non take-up rates do not differ significantly between several groups of immigrants and natives. Additionally, the probit estimations do not reveal a significant effect of being a migrant on the probability to take up entitlements. Hence, our findings suggest that after controlling for observed and unobserved household characteristics immigrants are not more prone to take up welfare benefits. |
| JEL: | I38 H31 C15 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc16:145828&r=eur |
| By: | Damiaan Persyn (European Commission – JRC) |
| Abstract: | There exist marked differences in the educational attainment of immigrants, depending on both the level and distribution of income in the country of origin and destination. This paper estimates an education-specific gravity equation for migration between European countries. Given the lack of data on migration flows by level of education, these are proxied by the difference in resident migrants by nationality and level of education, between the years 2000 and 1990. I find that highly educated individuals are more likely to migrate. They are less sensitive to geographical and cultural distance as barriers to migration, but are not unambiguously more responsive to wage differentials. Controlling for education-specific wage differences between origin and destination removes only part of the observed differences in migration behaviour between education groups. |
| Keywords: | International migration, Random utility model, Education |
| JEL: | F22 J61 O15 C25 |
| Date: | 2017–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc104494&r=eur |
| By: | Weber, Andrea; Manoli, Dayanand |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the effects of a series of reforms of the public pension system in Austria in 2000 and 2004. An important element of the reforms was the increase in the early retirement age (ERA), which was phased in linearly over several cohorts. The empirical analysis, based on detailed administrative data, distinguishes between pension entries, which are mechanically affected by the ERA, and job exits, which reflect individual labor supply decisions. The paper presents four main findings. (1) The cohort-wise increase in the early retirement age led to pronounced shifts in the spike of pension entries at the cohort specific early retirement ages. (2) Job exits shifted in an almost parallel fashion, which leaves little room for additional substitution with other social insurance programs. (3) An important mechanism leading to increased employment is that individuals keep their pre-retirement jobs longer. (4) To quantify the effects of the reform on average retirement ages, we use a regression kink design that exploits the increasing slope in the ERA by birth cohorts and relates it to a corresponding linear increase in the labor force exit and pension claiming ages. We estimate that a one year increase in the ERA leads to a 0.4 year increase in the exit age and a 0.5 year increase in the claiming age. |
| JEL: | H55 J21 J26 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc16:145549&r=eur |
| By: | Müller, Kai-Uwe; Wrohlich, Katharina; Sengül, Denise |
| Abstract: | This paper assesses whether there is a causal link between the provision of publicly subsidized childcare and the labor supply of mothers. We contribute to the related quasi-experimental literature by focusing on mothers with children aged 1 to 3. The effects of full-time and part-time care are disentangled. We exploit spatial and temporal variation in the expansion of publicly subsidized childcare triggered by comprehensive policy reforms. The utilization of various data sets and a systematic comparison of estimation frameworks sheds light on this relationship under different identifying assumptions. The crucial point is whether identification is restricted to quasi-experimental variation within regions. We confirm previous findings by showing the sensitivity of results to the choice of the research design, in particular the source of variation. Relying on credible exogenous variation we do not find a significant impact of childcare expansion on mothers' extensive labor supply margin. We find, however, a significant effect at the intensive margin. Our results cast doubt on previous empirical findings in terms of identification and effect size. |
| JEL: | J22 J13 H43 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc16:145654&r=eur |
| By: | Paule-Paludkiewicz, Hannah; Fuchs-Schündeln, Nicola; Masella, Paolo |
| Abstract: | We analyze whether culture affects the saving behavior of households and which cultural channels matter for this household decision. To disentangle cultural effects from economic and institutional factors, we study how the saving behavior of second-generation immigrants relates to the attitudes and beliefs in the respective countries of origin. Using data from Germany and the UK, we find that culture significantly determines household saving behavior. The two cultural components that we robustly identify to affect saving rates are the attitudes towards thrift and the wealth accumulation motive: second-generation immigrants from countries that value thrift and wealth accumulation more tend to save more in Germany. By linking parents to their children, we present evidence that these attitudes are related to the saving behavior of both parents and children. We also provide evidence that future-orientation is related to the saving behavior through the intergenerational transmission of language, rather than the direct transmission of attitudes. |
| JEL: | D14 Z10 E21 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc16:145854&r=eur |
| By: | Stephan, Gesine; van den Berg, Gerard; Homrighausen, Pia |
| Abstract: | To address the problem of high reservation wages among older unemployed individuals, a German targeted wage support program aimed at providing incentives to accept lower paid wage offers. We sent out information brochures on this program to randomly selected eligible men. The treatment significantly increased awareness of the program by 20 percentage points. Combining survey and administrative data, we conduct reduced form estimates of the effects of brochure receipt on recipients and estimate local average treatment effects of additional program knowledge. The information treatment significantly increased take-up rates of the program. For unemployed men aged 50--54, we find no positive effects on employment outcomes, thus the additional take-up seems to have been pure windfall. For unemployed men aged 55--59, however, we find some positive effects of additional information on labor market results. The labor market status of unemployed men above age 60 is not affected by brochure receipt. |
| JEL: | J64 J65 J68 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc16:145487&r=eur |
| By: | Niebuhr, Annekatrin |
| Abstract: | Agglomeration economies may impact on productivity in different ways. Up to now, only a few papers try to provide evidence on the underlying mechanisms that might give rise to a positive correlation between agglomeration and wages. In this analysis we focus on the matching mechanism, i.e. the hypothesis that the size of the local labour market allows for better matching of job seekers and vacancies. Better matches in turn are supposed to give rise to higher productivity. We aim at providing new evidence on the importance of the matching mechanism and investigate the effects of the density of local labour markets on the wages of new employment relationships. The analysis is based on a large micro data set that offers detailed information on labour market biographies of workers in Germany. We apply the two-stage regression approach proposed by Combes et al. (2008) and distinguish between different types of transition, i.e. job-to-job transitions as well as transitions from shor tand long-term unemployment. The results point to rather small positive effects on productivity: a doubling of the employment density increases the productivity of new employment relationships by 1.1% to 1.4%. Moreover, the findings indicate that the benefits of a better match might only accrue to persons with a job-to-job transition as well as short-term unemployed. We detect no important impact of agglomeration for transitions from long-term nonemployment. |
| JEL: | J31 R23 C23 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc16:145715&r=eur |
| By: | Guastella, Gianni; Pareglio, Stefano; Sckokai, Paolo |
| Abstract: | We estimate the relationship between urban spatial expansion and its socio-economic determinants in Lombardy, the most urbanised region of Italy (and one of the most urbanized of the European Union), at the municipality level. Test results suggest that this relationship varies significantly among municipalities of different size and findings support the hypothesis that larger ones are more efficient in managing land take. In particular, we find that the marginal land consumption per new household is inversely related to the size of the municipality and we link this evidence to the fact that, since more space is often available, small municipalities pay less institutional attention to the issue of land take and consequently internalise less the environmental externalities. This evidence calls for a reflection on the role of planning policies and the effectiveness of undifferentiated measures to contain land take, especially in the case of Italy, where the municipalities, more than 99% of which have less than 50,000 inhabitants, decide on land use transformations. |
| Keywords: | Land Take, City Size, Threshold Regression, Spatial Econometrics, Community/Rural/Urban Development, O18, Q15, R14, |
| Date: | 2017–02–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:feemss:253216&r=eur |
| By: | Walker, Ian (Lancaster University); Zhu, Yu (University of Dundee) |
| Abstract: | We study the relative labour market wage outcomes of university graduates in the UK using the Labour Force Survey (LFS), matched to mean standardised admission scores at the institution*subject*cohort level using data on high school achievement scores of students admitted to these courses. Unlike earlier UK studies, we are able to consider the effect of differences in undergraduate degree subjects, degree class, and in particular the selectivity of the subject at the Higher Education Institution (HEI) attended. Our results show that selectivity of undergraduate degree programmes plays an important role in explaining the variation in the graduate wage premium across HEIs and subjects. In fact, much of the observed differential in relative wage outcomes across institutions*subjects is due to the quality of students that HEIs select. |
| Keywords: | college selectivity, graduate wage premium |
| JEL: | I23 I26 |
| Date: | 2017–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10536&r=eur |
| By: | Ugur, Mehmet; Trushin, Eshref; Solomon, Edna |
| Abstract: | Existing evidence on the relationship between R&D intensity and firm survival is varied and often conflicting. We argue that this may be due to overlooking R&D scale effects and complementarity between R&D intensity and market concentration. Drawing on Schumpeterian models of competition and innovation, we address these issues by developing a formal model of firm survival and using a panel dataset of 37,930 of R&D-active UK firms over 1998–2012. We report the following findings: (i) the relationship between R&D intensity and firm survival follows an inverted-U pattern that reflects diminishing scale effects; (ii) R&D intensity and market concentration are complements in that R&D-active firms have longer survival time if they are in more concentrated industries; and (iii) creative destruction as proxied by median R&D intensity in the industry and the premium on business lending have negative effects on firm survival. Other findings concerning age, size, productivity, relative growth, Pavitt technology classes and the macroeconomic environment are in line with the existing literature. The results are strongly or moderately robust to different samples, stepwise estimations, and controls for frailty and left truncation |
| Keywords: | R&D; Innovation; Firm dynamics; Survival analysis |
| Date: | 2016–05–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gpe:wpaper:15510&r=eur |
| By: | Briglauer, Wolfgang; Cambini, Carlo; Melani, Sauro |
| Abstract: | This paper provides evidence on the migration from an “old” technology to a “new” technology, taking into account the impact that regulatory interventions on the old one might have on the incentives to invest and adopt the new one. This analysis has been applied to a sample of EU27 countries using panel data from 2004 to 2014 on the adoption, coverage and take-up rate of ultra-fast broadband infrastructures, whose development is one of the flagship initiatives of the Europe 2020 programmes. Results show that a 1% increase in the regulated price to access the old technology increases the adoption and the investment on the new broadband technology by ~0.45% and ~0.47%. These effects are not homogeneous across countries and are weakened in Eastern European countries, where the existing old broadband infrastructures are less developed than in the rest of Europe. It has also been shown that the access price to old networks negatively affects the take-up rate of the new technology-based services, thus calling for the need of more specific and complementary demand side policy incentives to enhance service adoption. |
| JEL: | L43 L52 C26 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc16:145480&r=eur |
| By: | Wuppermann, Amelie; Schwandt, Hannes |
| Abstract: | Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a leading diagnosed health condition among children in many developed countries but the causes underlying these high levels of ADHD remain highly controversial. Recent research for the U.S., Canada and some European countries shows that children who enter school relatively young have higher ADHD rates than their older peers, suggesting that ADHD may be misdiagnosed in the younger children due to their relative immaturity. Using rich administrative health insurance claims data from Germany we study the effects of relative school entry age on ADHD risk in Europe's largest country and relate the effects for Germany to the international evidence. We further analyze different mechanisms that may drive these effects, focusing on physician supply side and demand side factors stemming from the production of education. We find robust evidence for school-entry age related misdiagnosis of ADHD in Germany. Within Germany and internationally, a higher share of misdiagnoses are related to a higher overall ADHD level, suggesting that misdiagnoses may be a driving factor of high ADHD levels. Furthermore, the effects in Germany seem to be driven by teachers and parents in an attempt to facilitate and improve the production of education. |
| JEL: | I10 I21 J13 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc16:145769&r=eur |
| By: | Michelsen, Claus; El-Shagi, Makram; Rosenschon, Sebastian |
| Abstract: | The impact of environmental regulation on market diffusion and market entry of "green'', innovative buildings in the housing market is studied using a unique data set of German residential buildings. Particularly, we analyze how energy efficiency regulation, in terms of minimum standards, affects energy-requirements in newly constructed buildings over time in both, the high and low quality housing segment. The data we use consists of a large sample of German apartment houses built between 1950 and 2005. We develop a new measure for regulation intensity and apply a panel-error-correction regression model to energy requirements of low and high quality housing. Our findings suggest that regulation is effective and significantly impacts technology adoption in low quality housing. Moreover, we find that regulation indirectly also positively affects energy efficiency in the high quality housing markets. This suggests that tighter building codes have a substantial impact on both, the entry and the diffusion of ``green'' buildings in the housing market. |
| JEL: | D20 Q40 R30 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc16:145534&r=eur |
| By: | D'Albis, Hippolyte (University of Toulouse I); Boubtane, Ekrame (CERDI, University of Auvergne); Coulibaly, Dramane (CEPII, Paris) |
| Abstract: | This article examines the causal relations between non-European immigration and the characteristics of the housing market in host regions. We constructed a unique database from administrative records and used it to assess annual migration flows into France's 22 administrative regions from 1990 to 2013. We then estimated various panel VAR models, taking into account GDP per capita and the unemployment rate as the main regional economic indicators. We find that immigration has no significant effect on property prices, but that higher property prices significantly reduce immigration rates. We also find no significant relationship between immigration and social housing supply. |
| Keywords: | immigration, property prices, social housing, panel VAR |
| JEL: | E20 F22 J61 |
| Date: | 2017–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10516&r=eur |
| By: | Vuong, Van Anh; Maican , Florin; Orth, Matilda; Roberts, Mark |
| Abstract: | In this paper we develop a structural empirical model that allows us to estimate the impact of R&D on firm profitability through two channels. In the first channel, R&D investment by the firm can impact the firm’s production efficiency and lower its marginal cost. This productivity channel raises the firm’s sales and profits in both the domestic and export market. The second channel is specific to exporting firms where R&D acts to increase the demand for the firm’s products in foreign markets. Using micro data for Swedish manufacturing firms from 2000-2010 we estimate the impact of R&D investment on the unobserved component of the firm’s productivity and export market demand. Our empirical results show that firm R&D investment has a statistically significant, positive effect on both the future productivity and the future export demand of the firm. For high-tech industries, we find that the impact of R&D investments on the demand shocks is twice as large as its impact on productivity. On the other hand, the impact of R&D investments on productivity in the low-tech industries is higher than on demand shocks. |
| JEL: | D22 F10 L60 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc16:145945&r=eur |
| By: | Alzbeta Mullerova |
| Abstract: | Two decades after the fall of state socialism, the Czech Republic records the widest employment gap between women with and without pre-school children among OECD countries: 41 pp. Several substantial parental leave reforms took place during the first stage of the transition (1995) and after the EU accession (2008). The responses by the targeted population, i.e. take-up rates and duration of work interruptions, do not fully mimic predictable effects drawn by financial incentives. Why is that? Using the European Values Study and the Generations and Gender Programme panel data, I show that quite counter-intuitively, in the context of post-socialist public policy adjustments, preference for long leaves does not stem from lower preference for welfare state institutions, but from a purely intra-household value change in favour of higher task specialization between men and women. Indeed, unlike most European countries and even other post-communist countries, we observe a significant turn towards specialized couple preferences - among both women and men, both parents and non-parents, and both the higher and lower educated. |
| Keywords: | Family policy, Gender roles, Culture, Central and Eastern European transition. |
| JEL: | J16 Z10 P52 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:drm:wpaper:2017-6&r=eur |
| By: | Grunau, Philipp; Hohendanner, Christian |
| Abstract: | This paper addresses the career mobility of temporary workers from a demand-side perspective, focussing on promotions to managerial positions and wage growth. We use a large-scale revised administrative data source on employees entailing the entire population of promotions, which are considered a rare event. We provide evidence that compared to employees with a permanent contract, temporary workers are more likely to be promoted to a managerial position. Looking closer, this advantage is more pronounced across than within establishments, which we interpret as evidence for the greater importance of the flexibility over the screening function of temporary employment. However, because the qualification-related impact of fixed-term contracts on promotion is U-shaped, i.e. lowest for the medium-skilled IVET workers with long training periods in the establishments, we conclude that the screening function is still relevant in the German labour market. Moreover, the wage growth premium we find to be associated with fixed-term contracts can be explained by the fact that temporary workers benefit more from promotions to managerial positions. [166 words] |
| JEL: | M51 J41 J62 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc16:145857&r=eur |
| By: | Zimmermann, Markus; Fitzenberger, Bernd; Osikominu, Aderonke |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes educational pathways of West German birth cohorts 1957 to 1986. We use a new data set including survey data with detailed information on educational biographies linked to administrative social security records. We find a strong expansion of higher secondary school degrees over time, which is mostly driven by changes in social-background characteristics, in particular rising parental education and a decrease in family size. Moreover, a sizeable share of those pupils that had a lower or middle secondary degree as their first degree upgrade to the next school degree, suggesting that the German education system provides ``second chances" to revise decisions made after early tracking at age 10. However, these upgraders are less likely to continue with university education, and they also tend to have lower earnings premia than students who obtained the degree on the direct path. Finally, concerning labour market returns, we find rising inequality in employment and earnings at the bottom of the education distribution, i.e. between lower and middle secondary graduates, as well as rising returns to tertiary compared to vocational education. |
| JEL: | I20 I26 J24 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc16:145927&r=eur |
| By: | Welteke, Clara; Geyer, Johannes; Haan, Peter |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the employment effects of a major pension reform in Germany using cohort discontinuities. In particular, we focus on the abolition of an early retirement option for women. Up until cohort 1951 women could draw old-age pensions starting with age 60. Women born after 1951 no longer had this opportunity. The eligibility age for early retirement was increased to 63. We exploit this reform in a regression discontinuity framework to study the effects on employment and program substitution. Our preliminary results suggest that the increase in the eligibility age for early retirement increased employment rates of older women. Remarkably, we do not find any significant spillover effects into alternative paths to exit the labor force. On the contrary, we find negative effects on reduced earnings capacity pension participation rates, and small insignificant effects on the unemployment rate of 60 year-old women. Furthermore, we find negative effects on social security program participation of women in their late 50s. |
| JEL: | J14 J26 J22 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc16:145783&r=eur |
| By: | de Vuijst, Elise (Delft University of Technology); van Ham, Maarten (Delft University of Technology) |
| Abstract: | There is a link between the socio-economic outcomes of parents and their children over the life course. Intergenerational transmissions were repeatedly shown for socioeconomic characteristics and (dis)advantage, but recently also for residential neighbourhood status. Previous research from the Netherlands, Sweden, and the US shows that children from disadvantaged parental neighbourhoods experience long-term exposure to similar neighbourhoods as adults. However, there are multiple parallel socio-spatial contexts besides the residential space to which individuals are exposed on a daily basis, such as households, schools, and places of work and leisure, which may also influence their outcomes. For children and adolescents, the school environment may be especially important. This study contributes to the literature by examining the joint influence of the parental background, the parental neighbourhood, and a compositional measure of the school environment, on the neighbourhood trajectories of Dutch adolescents after leaving the parental home. We use longitudinal register data from the Netherlands to study a complete cohort of school-going home-leavers, who were followed from 1999 to 2012. We fit cross-classified multilevel models, in order to split up the variance components of schools and parental residential neighbourhoods over time. We find that poverty concentration in the parental neighbourhood plays an important role in determining their children's residential outcomes later in life. Some variation in individual neighbourhood outcomes at the level of the secondary school remains unexplained. |
| Keywords: | intergenerational neighbourhood effects, secondary school, peer effects, contextual effects, register data |
| JEL: | I30 J60 P46 R23 |
| Date: | 2017–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10526&r=eur |
| By: | Berniell, Maria Ines (European University Institute); Bietenbeck, Jan (Lund University) |
| Abstract: | Does working time causally affect workers' health? We study this question in the context of a French reform which reduced the standard workweek from 39 to 35 hours, at constant earnings. Our empirical analysis exploits variation in the adoption of this shorter workweek across employers, which is mainly driven by institutional features of the reform and thus exogenous to workers' health. Difference-in-differences and lagged dependent variable regressions reveal a negative effect of working hours on self-reported health and positive effects on smoking and body mass index, though the latter is imprecisely estimated. Results are robust to accounting for endogenous job mobility and differ by workers' occupations. |
| Keywords: | working hours, health, smoking, BMI |
| JEL: | I10 I12 J22 |
| Date: | 2017–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10524&r=eur |
| By: | Garnero, Andrea (OECD) |
| Abstract: | This paper provides a comprehensive portrait of the level and compliance to sectoral minimum wages in Italy between 2008 and 2015. The results show that minimum wages in Italy are relatively high both in absolute terms and relative to the median wage. However, non-compliance rates are not negligible: on average around 10% of workers are paid one fifth less than the reference minimum wage. Non-compliance is particularly high in the South and in micro and small firms and it affects especially women and temporary workers. Overall, wages in the bottom of the distribution appear to be largely unaffected by minimum wage increases. More effective enforcement practices are therefore needed to safeguard a level playing field for firms and ensure that minimum wage increases are effectively reflected into pay increases for workers at the bottom of the distribution. |
| Keywords: | collective bargaining, minimum wages, compliance |
| JEL: | J08 J31 J52 J83 |
| Date: | 2017–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10511&r=eur |
| By: | Brown, Martin; Henchoz, Caroline; Spycher, Thomas |
| Abstract: | We study the effect of culture on financial literacy by comparing secondary-school students along the German-French language border within Switzerland. We find that students in the French-speaking area have a lower level of financial literacy than students in the German-speaking area. The difference in financial literacy across the language groups is stronger among native students than among immigrant students. A mediation analysis suggests that the cultural divide in financial literacy is mainly related to systematic differences in financial socialisation across the language groups. Students in the German speaking region are more likely to receive pocket money at an early age and are more likely to have independent access to a bank account. |
| Keywords: | Culture, Financial Literacy, Financial Socialisation |
| JEL: | D03 D14 Z1 |
| Date: | 2017–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:usg:sfwpfi:2017:03&r=eur |
| By: | Joan Costa-Font; Sarah Flèche |
| Abstract: | We show that sleep deprivation exerts a strong negative effect on labour market performance. We exploit variations in child sleep quality to instrument for parental sleep quality. A one-hour reduction in sleep duration significantly decreases labour force participation, the number of hours worked and household income. In addition, we find that low-skilled mothers are more likely to opt out of the labour market and work less hours than high-skilled mothers when exposed to sleep deprivation. We argue that sleep is a major determinant of employment outcomes that needs more attention in designing economic models of time allocation and employment policies. |
| Keywords: | child sleep, sleep, maternal employment, working hours, job satisfaction, ALSPAC |
| JEL: | J13 J22 I18 J28 |
| Date: | 2017–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp1467&r=eur |
| By: | Bratsberg, Bernt (Ragnar Frisch Centre for Economic Research); Raaum, Oddbjørn (Ragnar Frisch Centre for Economic Research); Røed, Knut (Ragnar Frisch Centre for Economic Research) |
| Abstract: | We examine patterns of labor market integration across immigrant groups. The study draws on Norwegian longitudinal administrative data covering labor earnings and social insurance claims over a 25‐year period and presents a comprehensive picture of immigrant‐native employment and social insurance differentials by admission class and by years since entry. For refugees and family immigrants from low‐income source countries, we uncover encouraging signs of labor market integration during an initial period upon admission, but after just 5‐10 years, the integration process goes into reverse with widening immigrant-native employment differentials and rising rates of immigrant social insurance dependency. Yet, the analysis reveals substantial heterogeneity within admission class and points to an important role of host‐country schooling for successful immigrant labor market integration. |
| Keywords: | migration, refugees, assimilation, social insurance |
| JEL: | F22 H55 J22 |
| Date: | 2017–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10513&r=eur |
| By: | Svatopluk Kapounek (Mendel University in Brno, Czech Republic) |
| Abstract: | We analyse the bank lending activity after the financial crisis and focus on bank-specific supply factors. Using a rich microeconomic dataset from Bankscope and macroeconomic shocks data, we employ OLS and 2SLS fixed effects models with banking controls, macroeconomic shocks and institutional quality. The banks’ loan-rate spreads increased despite the recent policy of low interest rates and quantitative easing. We use the bank asset quality as instruments to capture exogenous changes in loan supply. The empirical evidence shows that loan-rate spread and through this the supply of loans is negatively affected by a low asset quality and capital ratios. |
| Keywords: | bank lending; loans; financial vulnerability; loan-rate spreads; institutions; macroeconomic shocks |
| JEL: | E58 G21 G28 |
| Date: | 2017–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ost:wpaper:362&r=eur |
| By: | Ana Pérez-Luño (Department of Business Organization and Marketing, Universidad Pablo de Olavide); Ana Bojica (Department of Business Organization and Marketing, Universidad de Granada); Shanthi Gopalakrishnan (School of Management, New Jersey Institute of Technology) |
| Abstract: | Innovation has become the cornerstone for achieving high performance and competitive advantage and is currently one of the principal topics of debate in the management literature. In order to develop innovations, ?rms need to deal with complex knowledge that comes from its different areas or departments through cross-functional integration. Using a unique sample of Spanish wineries, this paper shows that cross-functional integration moderates innovation- firm’s performance relationship, and that this moderation is conditioned by the degree of organizational knowledge complexity. These findings add to the innovation literature, showing that cross-functional integration has a direct positive relationship with firm performance, but a negative moderating effect on the relationship between product innovation and firm performance. However, this negative effect remains consistent only when the degree of knowledge complexity the organization has to manage is low and becomes positive (although not significant) when the degree of organizational knowledge complexity is high. |
| Keywords: | Knowledge strategy, structuration, depth, breadth, alliance, biotechnology |
| Date: | 2017–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pab:wpboam:17.01&r=eur |
| By: | Murnaghan, Kitty |
| Abstract: | During a time in which the subject of climate change is deemed high on the list of priorities of many governments, it is important to assess to what extent policies in this field are achieving meaningful results. The link between energy usage and global warming is clear and today in the European Union the use of renewable resources is being promoted more than ever before. The move towards a renewables based economy has clear benefits over a fossil fuel based one with regards to climate change and the environment, however if the implementation of renewables is not monitored and regulated then this is not a given by any means. Of the renewable resources, bioenergy has a high level of importance in the EU. For this reason, this paper will make a comprehensive evaluation of the EU's biofuel policy in order to assess what the driving forces behind the regulation of this resource are, and how they affect to what extent it is successful or not. In order to do this, firstly the impacts of current EU bioenergy consumption will be assessed, to determine whether it is achieving the stated and desired climate goals or not. Findings will show that in fact the current formulation of Europe's Renewable Strategy creates pressure to meet binding targets for renewable usage and the resultant rapid increase in the demand for bioenergy has caused a number of negative social and ecological impacts to arise. Therefore in light of this, the current systems in place at the EU level meant to regulate the use of bioenergy and ensure it is implemented in a sustainable way will be critically analysed in order to find out how such negative impacts have been able to occur. The final section will then look into the driving forces responsible for regulation of this kind through a case study of Germany and Indonesia. |
| Keywords: | European Union energy policy,agrofuel,biofuel,renewable energy,sustainability criteria |
| JEL: | Q16 Q28 Q21 Q56 F23 K32 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ipewps:812017&r=eur |
| By: | Marchal, Léa; Nedoncelle, Clément |
| Abstract: | We investigate the export-enhancing effect of foreign workers at the firm level. We first develop a theoretical framework of heterogeneous firms, assuming that foreign workers allow for productivity gains and convey valuable information on foreign markets. We illustrate that foreign workers foster exports at the extensive and the intensive margins. This effect can be decomposed in a general effect - to which any foreign worker contributes - and a destination-specific effect - to which only foreign workers who were born in the export destination contribute. We test these theoretical predictions using French firm-level data over the 1997-2008 period and a propensity score matching method to address endogeneity concerns. We find that foreign-born workers, and especially skilled individuals, foster exports at both margins. On average, a firm employing foreign-born workers exports 30% more in value than a control firm. We find evidence that this increase is spread over all destinations, suggesting that the effect of foreign-born workers goes beyond a destination-specific informational channel. |
| Keywords: | Foreign-born workers,Exports,Firms,Heterogeneity,Productivity |
| JEL: | F14 F22 F16 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ifwkwp:2071&r=eur |