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on Microeconomic European Issues |
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Issue of 2020‒07‒27
28 papers chosen by Giuseppe Marotta Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia |
| By: | Fetzer, Thiemo; Sen, Srinjoy; Souza, Pedro CL |
| Abstract: | Homelessness and precarious living conditions are on the rise across much of the Western world. This paper exploits exogenous variation in the affordability of rents due to a cut that substantially lowered housing benefit -- a welfare benefit aimed at helping low income households pay rent. Before April 2011, local housing allowance covered up to the median level of market rents; from April 2011 onwards, only rents lower than the 30th percentile were covered. We exploit that the extent of cuts significantly depend on statistical noise due to estimation of percentiles. We document that the affordability shock caused a significant increase in: evictions; individual bankruptcies; property crimes; share of households living in insecure temporary accommodation; statutory homelessness and actual rough sleeping. The fiscal savings of the cut are much smaller than anticipated. We estimate that for every pound saved by the central government, council spending to meet statutory obligations for homelessness prevention increases by 53 pence. We further document political effects: the housing benefit cut causes lower electoral registration rates and is associated with lower turnout and higher support for Leave in the 2016 EU referendum, most likely driven by its unequal impact on the composition of those that engage with democratic processes. |
| Keywords: | homelessness and populism: Evidence from the UK; Housing insecurity |
| JEL: | D72 H2 H3 H5 P16 |
| Date: | 2019–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:14184&r=all |
| By: | Gozde Corekcioglu; Marco Francesconi; Astrid Kunze |
| Abstract: | Generous government-mandated parental leave is generally viewed as an effective policy to support women’s careers around childbirth. But does it help women to reach top positions in the upper pay echelon of their firms? Using longitudinal employer-employee matched data for the entire Norwegian population, we address this question exploiting a series of reforms that expanded paid leave from 30 weeks in 1989 to 52 weeks in 1993. The representation of women in top positions has only moderately increased over time, and career profiles of female top earners within firms are significantly different from those of their male counterparts. The reforms did not affect, and possibly decreased, the probability for women to be at the top over their life cycle. We discuss some implications of this result to put into perspective the design of new family-friendly policy interventions. |
| Keywords: | top earners, parental leave, women, regression discontinuity |
| JEL: | J18 J21 J22 J24 M14 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_8330&r=all |
| By: | Thomas Bolli (KOF Swiss Economic Institute, ETH Zurich, Switzerland); Ladina Rageth (KOF Swiss Economic Institute, ETH Zurich, Switzerland); Ursula Renold (KOF Swiss Economic Institute, ETH Zurich, Switzerland) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses how the social status of vocational education and training (VET) in Switzerland has changed over time and how it differs across population groups. The applied measure for the social status of VET compares the cognitive abilities (measured by PISA scores) of prospective students in a VET programme to those in an academic baccalaureate programme. The results suggest that the social status of VET has remained constant between 2000 and 2012. The social status of VET is higher for women than for men, in rural than in urban areas, and for students with a parent born in Switzerland than for those with immigrant parents. In contrast, the social status of VET is independent of parents’ education. Surprisingly, we find that the social status of VET is higher in the French- and Italian-speaking parts of Switzerland than in the German-speaking one. The reason is that prospective baccalaureate students have higher average abilities in the German part, while prospective VET students have about the same abilities in the German and French parts. |
| Keywords: | social status, education programmes, vocational education and training, apprenticeship, educational choices |
| Date: | 2019–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kof:wpskof:19-451&r=all |
| By: | Nicole Kapelle; Sergi Vidal |
| Abstract: | Against the backdrop of soaring wealth inequalities in older age, this research addresses the relationship between increasingly diverse family life courses and widening wealth differences between individuals as they age. We holistically examined how childbearing and marital histories matter for West German baby boomer cohorts’ personal wealth at ages 51 to 59. We proposed that wealth penalties associated with departures from culturally and institutionally supported family patterns accumulate overtime and can explain wealth inequalities at older ages. We tested our thesis using longitudinal data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP, v34, waves 2002-2017). We first identified typical family trajectory patterns between ages 16 and 50 using multichannel sequence analysis and cluster analysis. We then modeled personal wealth ranks at ages 51 to 59 as a function of family patterns. Results showed that departures from a standard family pattern consisting of a stable marriage with (on average, two) children was associated with lower wealth ranks at older age. We also found higher wealth penalties for greater deviation and lower penalties for moderate deviation from the standard family pattern. Addressing entire family trajectories, our research extended and nuanced our knowledge of the role of earlier family behavior for later economic wellbeing. By using personal-level wealth data instead of household-level data, we were able to identify substantial gender differences in the study associations. Our research also recognizes the importance of combining marital and childbearing histories to assess the relationship between family life courses and wealth inequality. |
| Keywords: | Family, Life Course, Inequality/Social Stratification |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp1092&r=all |
| By: | Butikofer, Aline; Løken, Katrine; Willén, Alexander |
| Abstract: | We exploit the construction of the Oresund bridge, which connects a medium-sized city in Sweden to the capital of Denmark, to study the labor market effects of gaining access to a larger labor market. Using unique cross-country matched registry data that allow us to follow individuals across the border, we find that the bridge led to a substantial increase in cross-country commuting among Swedish residents. This effect is driven both by extensive and intensive margin employment responses, and translates into a 15% increase in the average wage of Swedish residents. However, the wage effects are unevenly distributed: the effect is largest for high-educated men and smallest for low-educated women. Thus, the wage gains come at the cost of increased income inequality and a widening of the gender wage gap, both within- and across-households. We show that these inequality effects are driven not only by differences in the propensity to commute, but also by educational specialization. |
| Keywords: | Equity Concerns; Labor Market Expansions; wages |
| JEL: | J3 J62 |
| Date: | 2020–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:14287&r=all |
| By: | Mathilde Munoz (PSE - Paris School of Economics, PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENS Paris - École normale supérieure - Paris - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, WIL - World Inequality Lab) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the effects of top earnings tax rates on the mobility of top ten percent employees within Europe. I use a novel detailed micro-level dataset on mobility built from the largest European survey (EU-LFS), representative of the entire population of 21 European countries. My estimation strategy exploits the differential effects of changes in top income tax rates on individuals of different propensities to be treated by these changes. I find that top ten percent workers' location choices are significantly affected by top income tax rates. I estimate a rather low but significant elasticity of the number of top earners with respect to net-of-tax rate that is between 0.1 and 0.3. The mobility response to taxes is especially strong for foreigners, with an estimated elasticity of the number of foreign top earners with respect to net-of-tax rate that is above one. Turning to tax policy implications, I uncover large heterogeneities within Europe, that translate into large differences in incentives to implement beggar-thy-neighbour policies across member states. These findings suggest that despite the overall moderate estimated mobility elasticity, tax competition entails substantial welfare costs. |
| Keywords: | Tax Competition,international taxation,migration elasticities,taxation rate,migration,Europe,Top Incomes,Labour Taxation,Migration |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:psewpa:hal-02876987&r=all |
| By: | Benoît SCHMUTZ (Ecole Polytechnique and CREST); Grégory VERDUGO (Université Paris-Saclay) |
| Abstract: | When elections are local and voters are mobile, politicians may be tempted to implement policies that attract inhabitants more likely to vote for them while prompting their opponents to leave. We test this hypothesis using data from French municipalities that, in recent decades, received large in ows of immigrants, who tend to vote for the left once naturalized, while immigrant-hostile voters lean to the right. Based on quasi-experimental evidence from thirty years of close elections, we show that six years after close elections, municipalities where a left-wing mayor was elected are characterized by a 2.4 p.p. higher share of immigrants and a 1.4 p.p. lower share of retired natives than the corresponding shares in municipalities where a right-wing mayor was elected. These effects are driven by peripheral municipalities that make up a small share of the population in their metropolitan areas and can therefore benefit from substantial population reshuffling. The evidence suggests that mayors use the large stock of municipal public housing over which they have allocative authority to favor or discriminate against immigrants. These strategies are electorally rewarding as we find a higher probability of reelection for the same party in municipalities in which these demographic changes are the most pronounced. We also find evidence that these demographic changes are associated with the surge of the far-right in local elections in the 1980s. |
| Keywords: | Immigration, Public Housing, Local Elections, Incumbent Effect. |
| Date: | 2020–07–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crs:wpaper:2020-18&r=all |
| By: | Sara Flisi (European Commission - JRC) |
| Abstract: | Work-based learning (WBL) has been high on the policy agenda of the European Commission for many years. Given the priority attributed to work-based learning in vocational education and training (VET) across the EU, the Commission is currently exploring different options for supporting its further development and tracking progress in this field. One of the options is the development of indicators or a benchmark to monitor work-based learning in formal VET. This report provides evidence in support of this process. After elaborating the main definitions relevant to the work-based learning domain, it presents an overview of the main data sources currently available to monitor country performance in WBL. It also provides an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the sources that could underpin a possible indicator or benchmark on work-based learning. |
| Keywords: | work based learning, VET, WBL, education, vocational education, labour market, indicators, monitoring. |
| Date: | 2020–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc118196&r=all |
| By: | Cristina Lion; Vanessa Lupo; Katia Santomieri; Veronica Sciatta |
| Abstract: | Job quality is a key issue in the agenda of policy makers at the international and European level: a strong commitment towards decent work has strengthened and a particular attention to young generation has been devoted. Since 2014 the European Youth Guarantee Program has been strongly investing in active labor market policies, with the aim to combat youth unemployment and inactivity: noncurricular traineeship is one of the most widespread measure supported by the program and the issue of its quality has become more and more relevant. Against this background,the paper has analysed the relationship between the quality of traineeship that young people have experienced and the quality of their job: the hypothesis is that participating in a high quality traineeship entails a better transition towards decent jobs. We use data of a sample survey carried out in 2017 by ANPAL on 20,000 young people who have registered to the Youth Guarantee program. Preliminary results suggest that the quality of traineeship is important in promoting better job for young people. |
| Keywords: | quality of work, non-curricular traineeship, NEETS, Youth Guarantee |
| JEL: | J24 C38 |
| Date: | 2020–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ast:wpaper:0053&r=all |
| By: | Muehlemann, Samuel; Pfeifer, Harald; Wittek, Bernhard |
| Abstract: | A firm’s expectation about the future business cycle is an important determinant of the decision to train apprentices. As German firms typically train apprentices to either fill future skilled worker positions, or as a substitute for other types of labor, the current coronavirus crisis will have a strong and negative impact on the German economy according to the current business cycle expectations of German firms. To the extent that the training decision of a firm depends on its perception of the business cycle, we expect a downward shift in the firm’s demand for apprentices and consequently also a decrease in the equilibrium number of apprenticeship contracts. We analyze German data on the apprenticeship from 2007 to 2019 and apply first-differences regressions to account for unobserved heterogeneity across states and occupations, allowing us to identify the association between changes in two popular measures of business cycle expectations (the ifo Business Climate Index and the ifo Employment Barometer) and subsequent changes in the demand for apprentices, the number of new apprenticeship contracts, unfilled vacancies and unsuccessful applicants. Taking into account the most recent data on business cycle expectations up to May 2020, we estimate that the coronavirus-related decrease in firms’ expectations about the business cycle can be associated with a predicted 9% decrease in firm demand for apprentices and an almost 7% decrease in the number of new apprenticeship positions in Germany in 2020 (-34,700 apprenticeship contracts; 95% confidence interval: +/- 8,800). |
| JEL: | J23 J24 M53 |
| Date: | 2020–07–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:umagsb:2020020&r=all |
| By: | Alicia de Quinto (Banco de España); Laura Hospido (Banco de España); Carlos Sanz (Banco de España) |
| Abstract: | The role of parenthood in the gender pay gap has been extensively discussed in the literature. Using data from social security records, we adopt the methods used for other countries to evaluate the existence of a child penalty in Spain, looking at disparities for women and men across different labor outcomes following the birth of the first child. Our findings suggest that, the year after the first child is born, mothers’ annual earnings drop by 11 percent while men’s remain unaffected. The gender gap is even larger ten years after the birth. Our estimate of the long-run child penalty in earnings equals 28 percent, similar in magnitude to that found for Sweden and Denmark, and smaller than in the UK, the US, Germany, and Austria. In addition, we identify channels that may drive this phenomenon, including reductions in working days and shifts to part-time or fixed-term contracts. Finally, we encounter heterogeneous responses in earnings and labor market participation by educational level: college-educated women react to motherhood more on the intensive margin (working part-time), while non-college-educated women are relatively more likely to do so in the extensive margin (working fewer days). |
| Keywords: | gender, labor supply, employment, wage differentials, parenting, education |
| JEL: | I24 J13 J16 J21 J22 J31 |
| Date: | 2020–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bde:opaper:2017&r=all |
| By: | Maximilian Goethner; Lars Hornuf; Tobias Regner |
| Abstract: | During the past decade, equity crowdfunding (ECF) has emerged as an alternative funding channel for startup firms. In Germany, the Small Investor Protection Act became binding in July 2015, with the legislative goal to protect investors engaging in this new asset class. Since then, investors pledging more than 1,000 EUR now must self-report their income and wealth. Investing more than 10,000 EUR in a single ECF issuer is only possible through a corporate entity. We examine how the Small Investor Protection Act has affected investor behavior at Companisto, Germany’s largest ECF portal for startup firms. The results show that after the new law became binding, sophisticated investors invest less on average while casual investors invest more. Moreover, the signaling capacity of large investments has disappeared. |
| Keywords: | equity crowdfunding, crowdinvesting, investor protection |
| JEL: | E22 G18 G38 K22 L26 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_8351&r=all |
| By: | Aassve, Arnstein; Luppi, Francesca; Pronzato, Chiara; Pudney, Steve (University of Turin) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the relationships between physical health, work, family history and mental well-being of people aged 50+ years and tests whether their children’s education, family formation and work circumstances also affect their level of depression. We use data for 10 European countries from six waves of the Survey of Health Ageing Retirement in Europe, from which we can observe current circumstances, past events and changes of conditions over time for older parents and their adult children. We find strong beneficial effects of being retired and detrimental effects of bad health conditions. A problematic family of origin, as well as grief over the death of spouses or children, persists over the entire life. Regarding non-coresident adult children, we observe that having children in better working and family conditions beneficially affects parental mental well-being. Geographical variability allows testing of whether the effects vary across different cultural contexts and institutions. Important context heterogeneities emerge: unemployment is more burdensome in countries with more difficult labour market conditions, sickness is less heavy in countries with better healthcare systems and divorce is less bearable in countries characterized by more traditional family values. |
| Date: | 2020–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uto:dipeco:202001&r=all |
| By: | Burkhard Heer; Mark Trede |
| Abstract: | We present new empirical evidence on the distribution of earnings, income and wealth among entrepreneurs in Germany. We document that both earnings and income are more concentrated among entrepreneurs than among workers and describe a large-scale overlapping-generations model that can replicate these findings. As an application, we compute the equilibrium effects of a reform of the German pay-as-you-go pension system in which entrepreneurs must also contribute and receive a pension. We show that in the presence of mobility between workers and entrepreneurs, the expected lifetime utility of all newborn households unanimously declines due to the general equilibrium effects of lower aggregate savings, and welfare losses amount to approximately 5% of total consumption. In addition, the integration of self-employed workers into the social security system in Germany does not help to improve its fiscal sustainability, and only an increase in the retirement age to 70 years will help to finance pensions at the present level beyond the year 2050. |
| Keywords: | Entrepreneurship, aging, income distribution, overlapping |
| JEL: | H55 D31 J11 L26 C68 |
| Date: | 2020–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cqe:wpaper:9120&r=all |
| By: | John T. Addison; Paulino Teixeira |
| Abstract: | Using multilevel mixed effects ordered logistic models, this paper conducts an original investigation of the new management as a technology approach for all EU nations in a framework that explicitly recognizes worker representation while incorporating the notion of affective commitment. It is reported that that low worker commitment is unlikely to be found in establishments with better management practices and that, controlling for management practices and worker representation, the hypothesis that financial and productivity performance is superior in establishments without worker representation is not rejected by the data. For establishments with worker representation, the works council-only variant is seemingly the most favorable regime for financial performance, although this does not carry over to the labor productivity outcome. On net, however, the evidence suggests that the selected management practices are likely to be favorable to performance in plants with and without formal workplace representation. Greater worker commitment is strongly associated with improved labor productivity. Moreover, in this case there is seemingly no difference between works council-only representation and no representation at all. Overall, although the results for workplace representation and the financial situation are mixed, it is the case that greater commitment trumps any negative influence of worker representation type. |
| Keywords: | management as a technology, human resource management, worker commitment worker representation, labor productivity, financial performance |
| JEL: | D22 J53 J50 L20 M54 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_8329&r=all |
| By: | László Lõrincz (Centre for Economic- and Regional Studies, Institute of Economics, Budapest and Networks, Technology and Innovation Lab, Corvinus University of Budapest); Guilherme Kenji Chihaya (Department of Geography, Umea University;); Anikó Hannák (Department of Information Science, University of Zurich); Dávid Takács (Department of Geography, Umea University); Balázs Lengyel (Centre for Economic- and Regional Studies, Institute of Economics, Budapest; Networks, Technology and Innovation Lab, Corvinus University of Budapest;Agglomeration and Social Networks Lendület Research Group, Hungarian Academy of Sciences); Rikard Eriksson (Department of Geography, Umea University; Center for Regional Science, Umea University) |
| Abstract: | Social connections that reach distant places are advantageous for individuals and firms by providing access to new skills and knowledge. However, systematic evidence on how firms work up global knowledge access is still missing. In this paper, we analyse how global work connections relate to differences in the skill composition of employees within companies. We gather survey data from 10% of workers in a local industry in Sweden and complement this with digital trace data to map co-worker networks and skill composition. This unique combination of data and features allows us to quantify global connections of employees and measure the degree of skill-similarity and skill-relatedness to co-workers. We find that the workers with extensive local networks typically have related skills to others in the region and to their co-workers. Workers with more global ties typically bring in less related skills to the region. These results provide new insights to the composition of skills within knowledge intensive irms by connecting the geography of networks contacts to the diversity of skills accessible through them. |
| Keywords: | Co-worker networks, skills, relatedness, global connections, survey, online social network |
| JEL: | D85 J24 J61 |
| Date: | 2020–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:has:discpr:2034&r=all |
| By: | Valentina Michelangeli; José-Luis Peydró; Enrico Sette |
| Abstract: | This paper identifies and quantifies -for the first time- the relative importance of borrower (credit demand) versus bank (supply) balance-sheet channels. We submit fictitious applications (varying households'characteristics) to the major Italian online-mortgage platform. In this way we ensure that all banks receive exactly the same mortgage applications, and that -for each application- there are other identical ones except for one borrower-level characteristic. We find that: (i) Borrower and bank channels are equally strong in causing (and explaining) loan acceptance (each channel changes acceptance by 50 p.p. for the interquartile range and explains 29% of R-square). (ii) Differently, for pricing, borrower factors are much stronger. (iii) Banks supplying less credit accept riskier borrowers. Finally -exploiting administrative credit register data- we document borrower-lender assortative matching: safer banks have more credit relations with safer firms. Moreover, the measure of credit supply estimated in the experiment (differently from a very similar measure estimated from the observational mortgage data) determines bank credit supply to firms and risk-taking in administrative data. |
| Keywords: | credit demand, credit supply, bank lending channel, household balance sheet channel, mortgages, SMEs, risk-taking |
| JEL: | G21 E51 C93 |
| Date: | 2020–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bge:wpaper:1192&r=all |
| By: | Clara Toledano (PSE - Paris School of Economics, PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS Paris - École normale supérieure - Paris - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, WIL - World Inequality Lab) |
| Abstract: | Business cycle dynamics can shape the wealth distribution through asset price changes, saving responses, or a combination of both. This paper studies the implications of housing booms and busts for wealth inequality, examining two episodes over the last four decades in Spain. I combine fiscal data with household surveys and national accounts to reconstruct the entire wealth distribution and develop a new asset-specific decomposition of wealth ac- cumulation to disentangle the main forces behind wealth inequality dynamics (e.g., capital gains, saving rates). I find that the top 10% wealth share drops during housing booms, but the decreasing pattern reverts during busts. Differences in capital gains across wealth groups appear to be the main drivers of the decline in wealth concentration during booms. In contrast, persistent differences in saving rates across wealth groups and portfolio reshuf- fling towards financial assets among top wealth holders are the main explanatory forces behind the reverting evolution during housing busts. I show that the heterogeneity in saving responses is largely driven by differences in portfolio adjustment frictions across wealth groups and that tax incentives can exacerbate this differential behavior. Using a novel personal income and wealth tax panel, I explore the role of tax incentives exploiting quasi-experimental variation created by a large capital income tax reform in a differences- in-differences setting. I find that capital income tax cuts, largely benefiting top wealth holders, explain on average 60% of the increase in the top 10% wealth share during the re- cent housing bust. These results provide novel empirical evidence to enrich macroeconomic theories of wealth inequality over the business cycle. |
| Keywords: | Wealth distribution,wealth concentration,Spain,inequality,asset,housing,wealth tax |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:psewpa:hal-02876979&r=all |
| By: | Victor Ginsburgh; Sergio Perelman; Pierre Pestieau |
| Abstract: | The objective of this paper is to explain populist attitudes that are prevailing in a number of European democracies. Populist attitudes expectedly lead to social protests and populist votes. We capture the populist wave by relying not on voting behavior but rather on values that are traditionally viewed as populist values, such as distrust of institutions and neighbors, rejection of migrations and strong preferences for law and order. Our study covers the period 2004 to 2018 and 25 European countries for which we match aggregated indicators of populist values and social polarization computed from ESS and SILC survey micro-data, respectively. We find that social polarization, along with other factors, can explain populist attitudes. We also observe that both populist attitudes and polarization vary across countries much more than over time, with the exception of authoritarian values which appear positively correlated with social polarization, particularly among baby-boomers and younger cohorts. |
| Keywords: | populism; polarization; social divide |
| JEL: | D63 I30 |
| Date: | 2020–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eca:wpaper:2013/309660&r=all |
| By: | Lars Hornuf; Eliza Stenzhorn; Tim Vintis |
| Abstract: | In this article, we examine how investor motives affect investment behavior in equity crowdfunding. In particular, we compare the investment behavior of sustainability-oriented with ordinary crowd investors on six leading equity crowdfunding platforms in Austria and Germany and investigate whether they suffer from a default shock that was recently identified by Dorfleitner et al. (2019). In general, we find evidence of a default shock in equity crowdfunding that occurs immediately after the event and if investors experience more than two insolvencies. Moreover, we find that sustainability-oriented investors pledge larger amounts of money and invest in more campaigns than ordinary crowd investors. The results also suggest that sustainability-oriented crowd investors care about non-financial returns, as they react more sensitively after experiencing a default in their equity crowdfunding portfolios, which indicates that they suffer beyond the pure financial loss. These findings contribute to recent literature on equity crowdfunding, socially responsible investing, and how individual investment motives and personal experiences affect investment decisions. |
| Keywords: | equity crowdfunding, individual investor behaviour, entrepreneurial finance, social , ethical, and environmental investing, socially responsible investing |
| JEL: | G11 G24 K22 M13 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_8339&r=all |
| By: | Ann Vourc'h; Coralie Perez |
| Abstract: | The creation of the Compte Personnel de Formation (CPF), an individualised financing scheme for professional training, marked an important step for the French professional training system. Implemented in 2015, it is the only example at the international level of an individual learning account in which training rights are accumulated over time. Born from a compromise between social partners, the CPF has generated significant improvements in training quality. The law of September 5, 2018 “For the freedom to choose one’s professional future” brought significant changes to the account in order to strengthen the role of the individual in the system, to reduce the role of collective actors – in particular sectors – and to increase that of free competition and market forces. After reviewing the design of the CPF before and after the reform, this paper provides evidence on its use in practice, discusses the extent to which it succeeds in reaching groups usually under-represented in training, as well as issues related to the quality of training. It concludes with a discussion of the CPF strengths and weaknesses. |
| JEL: | J24 J58 J62 M53 K31 |
| Date: | 2020–07–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:elsaab:245-en&r=all |
| By: | Alex Armand (Nova School of Business and Economics, NOVAFRICA, IFS); Pedro Carneiro (University College London, IFS, CeMMAP, FAIR-NHH); Federico Tagliati (Banco de España); Yiming Xia (University College London) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the impact of an experiment in North Macedonia in which vulnerable unemployed individuals applying to a subsidized employment program were randomly selected to attend job interviews. Employers hiring a new employee from the target population receive a subsidy covering the wage cost of the worker for the first six months. Using administrative employment data, we find that attending the job interview led to an increase of 15 percentage points in the likelihood of being employed 3.5 years after the start of the intervention. We also find positive and statistically significant effects on individuals’ non-cognitive and work-related skills. |
| Keywords: | active labor market policy, unemployment, wage subsidies, job search |
| JEL: | O15 J08 J68 |
| Date: | 2020–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bde:wpaper:2022&r=all |
| By: | Jaroslav Bukovina; Tomas Lichard; Jan Palguta; Branislav Zudel |
| Abstract: | We use administrative tax return data for all corporations in Slovakia to demonstrate how policies facilitating inter-temporal income shifting result in elevated corporate income tax (CIT) elasticity estimates. Our strategy exploits kinks in the statutory tax schedules and policy reforms of tax carry-forwards. If inter-temporal shifting is neglected, our bunching estimates imply CIT elasticity of up to 0.65, suggesting a highly sensitive tax base with respect to the marginal tax rate. However, we show that CIT elasticity drops at least 21.2-49.1% when we remove the inter-temporal shifting component. This correction significantly reduces the estimated marginal excess burden of corporate taxation. |
| Keywords: | corporate income tax; elasticity; inter-temporal profit shifting; bunching; tax carry-forwards; |
| JEL: | G32 H25 H26 L25 |
| Date: | 2020–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cer:papers:wp660&r=all |
| By: | Andrew E. Clark (PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS Paris - École normale supérieure - Paris - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, PSE - Paris School of Economics); Anthony Lepinteur (University of Luxembourg) |
| Abstract: | Job insecurity can have wide-ranging consequences outside of the labour market. We here argue that it reduces fertility amongst the employed. The 1999 rise in the French Delalande tax, paid by large private firms when they laid off workers aged over 50, produced an exogenous rise in job insecurity for younger workers in these firms. A difference-in-differences analysis of French ECHP data reveals that this greater job insecurity for these under-50s significantly reduced their probability of having a new child by 3.9 percentage points. Reduced fertility is only found at the intensive margin: job insecurity reduces family size but not the probability of parenthood itself. Our results also suggest negative selection into parenthood, as this fertility effect does not appear for low-income and less-educated workers. |
| Keywords: | Employment Protection,Fertility,Layoff tax,Perceived Job Security,Difference-in-Differences |
| Date: | 2020–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:ipppap:halshs-02540036&r=all |
| By: | Claudio Battiati; Cecilia Jona-Lasinio; Silvia Sopranzetti |
| Abstract: | This paper provides an overview of the current productivity trends and their potential drivers exploring the impact of Global Value Chain (GVC) participation in the European economies and in the US taking into account the scope of country industry digital development. In particular, we investigate whether the reorganization of the production activity and the adoption of new business models as captured by the extent of GVC participation contribute to gain fresh insights about the factors affecting the productivity slowdown in the digital age. The analysis covers 12 European countries (AT, BE, DE, DK, ES, FI, FR, IT, NL, PR, SE, UK) plus the US and 30 industries (ISIC Rev. 4) over the years 2000-2014. We empirically test the linkages between productivity growth and GVC participation in an augmented production function framework and we find: a) a positive and statistically significant impact of forward and backward participation on productivity growth; b) a stronger productivity growth effect in the digital sectors of forward compared to backward linkages; c) relatively bigger productivity returns from forward participation in the medium intensive digital sectors. |
| Keywords: | Productivity growth, Global value chains, Digital economy |
| JEL: | O30 F23 |
| Date: | 2020–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nsr:escoed:escoe-dp-2020-04&r=all |
| By: | Benoît SCHMUTZ (Ecole Polytechnique and CREST, France); Modibo SIDIBÉ (Duke University, USA); Élie VIDAL-NAQUET (Aix-Marseille School of Economics, France) |
| Abstract: | Workers’ propensity to migrate to another local labor market varies a lot by occupation. We use the model developed by Schmutz and Sidibé (2019) to quantify the impact of mobility costs and search frictions on this mobility gap. We estimate the model on a matched employer-employee panel dataset describing labor market transitions within and between the 30 largest French cities for two groups at both ends of the occupational spectrum and find that: (i)mobility costs are very comparable in the two groups, so they are three times higher for blue-collar workers relative to their respective expected income; (ii)Depending on employment status, spatial frictions are between 1.5 and 3.5 times higher for blue-collar workers; (iii)Moving subsidies have little (and possibly negative) impact on the mobility gap, contrary to policies targeting spatial frictions. |
| Keywords: | mobility costs, spatial frictions, migration, local labor markets, occupation. |
| JEL: | J61 J64 R12 R23 |
| Date: | 2020–06–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crs:wpaper:2020-15&r=all |
| By: | Pietro Biroli (University of Zurich); Steven Bosworth (University of Reading); Marina Della Giusta (University of Reading); Amalia Di Girolamo (University of Birmingham); Sylvia Jaworska (University of Reading); Jeremy Vollen (University of Zurich) |
| Abstract: | The lockdown imposed following the COVID-19 pandemic of spring 2020 dramatically changed the daily lives and routines of millions of people worldwide. We analyse how such changes contributed to gender inequality within the household using a novel survey of Italian, British, and American families in lockdown. A high percentage report disruptions in the patterns of family life, manifesting in new work patterns, chore allocations, and household tensions. Though men have taken an increased share of childcare and grocery shopping duties, reallocations are not nearly as stark as disruptions to work patterns might suggest, and families having to reallocate duties report greater tensions. Our results paint a picture of tightened constraints budging up against stable and gendered patterns of intra-household cooperation. While the long-run consequences of the COVID-19 lockdown on family life cannot be assessed at this stage, we point towards the likely opportunities and challenges. |
| Keywords: | lockdown, care, housework, tensions |
| JEL: | I14 H75 J16 D13 |
| Date: | 2020–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hka:wpaper:2020-051&r=all |
| By: | Lionel WILNER (INSEE – CREST) |
| Abstract: | Using the 2016 merger of French regions as a natural experiment, this paper adopts a difference-in-difference identification strategy to recover its causal impact on individual subjective well-being. No depressing effect is found despite increased centralization and higher local public spending, an intended effect of the merger. Life satisfaction has even increased in regions that were absorbed from economic and political viewpoints. The empirical evidence suggests that local economic performance improved in the concerned regions, which includes a faster decline in the unemployment rate. In this setting, economic gains have likely outweighed cultural attachment to administrative regions. |
| Keywords: | Merger of regions, natural experiment, difference-in-difference, subjective well-being, centralization |
| JEL: | H75 I31 |
| Date: | 2020–07–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crs:wpaper:2020-20&r=all |