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on Microeconomic European Issues |
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Issue of 2021‒04‒12
23 papers chosen by Giuseppe Marotta Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia |
| By: | Nicola Bianchi; Giulia Bovini; Jin Li; Matteo Paradisi; Michael L. Powell |
| Abstract: | This paper studies career spillovers across workers, which arise in firms with limited promotion opportunities. We exploit a 2011 Italian pension reform that unexpectedly tightened eligibility criteria for the public pension, leading to sudden, substantial, and heterogeneous retirement delays. Using administrative data on Italian private-sector workers, the analysis leverages cross-firm variation to isolate the effect of retirement delays among soon-to-retire workers on the wage growth and promotions of their colleagues. We find evidence of spillover patterns consistent with older workers blocking the careers of their younger colleagues, but only in firms with limited promotion opportunities. |
| JEL: | J21 J26 J31 M51 M52 |
| Date: | 2021–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:28605&r=all |
| By: | Andrew Clark (PSE - Paris School of Economics - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - ENS Paris - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris sciences et lettres - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS Paris - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris sciences et lettres - 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); Conchita Ambrosio (University of Luxembourg [Luxembourg]); Anthony Lepinteur (University of Luxembourg [Luxembourg]) |
| Abstract: | We here use panel data from the COME-HERE survey to track income inequality during COVID-19 in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Sweden. Relative inequality in equivalent household disposable income among individuals changed in a hump-shaped way over 2020. An initial rise from January to May was more than reversed by September. Absolute inequality also fell over this period. As such, policy responses may have been of more benefit for the poorer than for the richer. |
| Keywords: | COVID-19,COME-HERE,Income Inequality |
| Date: | 2021–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:psewpa:halshs-03185534&r=all |
| By: | Gabriele Ciminelli; Sílvia Garcia-Mandicó |
| Abstract: | Governments around the world have adopted unprecedented policies to deal with COVID-19. This paper zooms in on business shutdowns and investigates their effectiveness in reducing mortality. We leverage highly granular death registry data for almost 5,000 Italian municipalities in a diff-in-diff approach that allows us to mitigate endogeneity concerns credibly. Our results, which are robust to controlling for a host of co-factors, offer strong evidence that business shutdowns are very effective in reducing mortality. We calculate that the death toll from the first wave of COVID-19 in Italy may have been about twice as high in their absence. Our findings also highlight that timeliness is key – by acting one week earlier, the death toll may have been reduced by up to an additional 25%. Finally, shutdowns should be targeted. Closing service activities with a high degree of interpersonal contact saves the most lives. Shutting down production activities – while substantially reducing mobility – only has mild effects on mortality. |
| Keywords: | business shutdowns, COVID-19, Italy |
| JEL: | E02 E25 E63 J31 J61 |
| Date: | 2021–04–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:1664-en&r=all |
| By: | Hennecke, Juliane (Auckland University of Technology); Hetschko, Clemens (University of Leeds) |
| Abstract: | Work as well as family life are crucial sources of human wellbeing, which however often interfere. This is especially so if partners work in the same occupation or industry. At the same time, being work-linked may benefit their career success. Still, surprisingly little is known about the wellbeing of work-linked couples. Our study fills this gap by examining the satisfaction differences between work-linked and non-work-linked partners. Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP, 2019), we estimate the effect of working in the same occupation and/or industry on life satisfaction as well as satisfaction with four areas of life: income, work, family and leisure. In the process, we employ pooled OLS estimations and instrumental variable strategies, for instance based on the gender disparity in industries and occupations. Our results suggest that being work-linked increases satisfaction with life as well as income and job satisfaction. These findings are consistent with positive assortative matching and mutual career support between work-linked partners. Our conclusions concern hiring couples as a means of recruiting exceptional talent. |
| Keywords: | work-linked couples, wellbeing, assortative matching, relationship quality, work-life balance, copreneurs, occupational gender disparity, dual career support |
| JEL: | I31 J12 J21 J44 M51 |
| Date: | 2021–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14239&r=all |
| By: | Tommaso Ferraresi; Leonardo Ghezzi; Fabio Vanni; Alessandro Caiani; Mattia Guerini; Francesco Lamperti; Severin Reissl; Giorgio Fagiolo; Mauro Napoletano; Andrea Roventini |
| Abstract: | In this work, we evaluate the exposure of Italian regions to the risk associated with the spread of COVID-19 through a two-step value chain approach. First, we estimate the degree of participation of Italian regions in a plurality of value chains linked to consumption, investment and exports. We distinguish between value chains aimed at satisfying essential needs and supply chains activated by needs characterized by a lower level of necessity in line with the restriction measures implemented by the Italian government. Second, we investigate the different levels of contagion risk associated with each value chain and the possibility of reducing it through remote working. An exercise on policy measures implemented by the Italian government during Fall 2020 completes the paper. We find that regions are affected differently by lockdown policies because of their high heterogeneity in the degree of embeddedness within different value chains and because their sectoral contributions to each of them. As a result, Italian regions are associated with very diverse potentials for mitigating contagion risk via remote working practices. Finally, we find evidence that economic and contagion risks positively correlate in non essential value chains, while they are negatively associated in the production of medium-necessity and essential goods and services. In turn, strong lockdowns induce substantially different trade-offs across regions, depending on how regions participate to value chains. |
| Keywords: | COVID-19 lockdown; value chains; input-output models; contagion risk; remote working. |
| Date: | 2021–04–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ssa:lemwps:2021/10&r=all |
| By: | Picchio, Matteo; Santolini, Raffaella |
| Abstract: | The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the risk of participating in public events, among them elections. We assess whether the voter turnout in the 2020 local government elections in Italy was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. We do so by exploiting the variation among municipalities in the intensity of the COVID-19 outbreak as measured by the mortality rate among the elderly. We find that a 1 percentage point increase in the elderly mortality rate decreased the voter turnout by 0.5 percentage points, with no gender differences in the behavioural response. The effect was especially strong in densely populated municipalities. We do not detect statistically significant heterogeneous effects between the North and the South or among different levels of autonomy from the central government. |
| Keywords: | COVID-19 outbreak,pandemic,voter turnout,mortality rate,Italian municipalities |
| JEL: | D72 D81 H70 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:812&r=all |
| By: | Schubert, Torben (CIRCLE, Lund University) |
| Abstract: | The effects of establishing foreign-based subsidiaries on firm performance have long been debated, where empirical evidence hints at gains in terms of costs reductions, productivity or growth. Yet, little is known about the effects on innovative capabilities at the home base. Using a matched-employer-employee panel dataset of the Swedish Community Innovation Surveys (CIS) between 2008 and 2014, we estimate whether the employee share at subsidiaries abroad affects product innovation performance at home. Our results show the effects are positive on average. However, there is also evidence of detrimental effects of having employees abroad on innovation. In particular, for excessive shares of employees at foreign location, we provide evidence of an inverted u-shape between the probability to introduce product innovations and the share of foreign employment. Moreover, we show that the benefits of foreign employment are larger for firms with a more nationally diverse workforce at the home base. Our results are robust to a wide variety of robustness checks. |
| Keywords: | Internationalization; Innovation; Diversity |
| JEL: | M14 M16 O32 |
| Date: | 2021–03–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:lucirc:2021_003&r=all |
| By: | Tavassoli, Sam (RMIT University); Karlsson, Charlie (Jönköping International Business School) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we analyze how the location of firms influences their innovation outcomes, particularly the complexity of the outcomes. Using three waves of the Community Innovation Survey in Sweden for a balanced panel of firms from 2006 to 2012, we identified a range of innovation outcome categories, i.e. simple and complex (low-, medium-, highly-complex) innovation outcomes. The backbone of such categorization is based on how firms introduce a combination of Schumpeterian types of innovations (i.e. process, product, marketing, and organizational). Then we consider three regional characteristics that may affect the innovation outcomes of firms, i.e. (i) qualified labor market thickness, (ii) knowledge-intensive services thickness, and (iii) knowledge spillovers extent. We find that regional characteristics do not affect firms’ innovation outcomes in terms of their degree of complexity ubiquitously. They are only positively associated with those firms that introduce the most complex innovation outcomes. For firms with less complex innovation outcomes, regional factors seem not to play a pivotal role. For these innovators, internal resources as well as formal collaboration with external partners have a significant role. |
| Keywords: | innovation outcome; location; agglomeration economies; knowledge spillovers; Community Innovation Survey |
| JEL: | D22 L20 O31 O32 |
| Date: | 2021–03–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:lucirc:2021_001&r=all |
| By: | Massimiliano Mazzanti (University of Ferrara; SEEDS, Italy); Marco Modica (Gran Sasso Science Institute, Italy.); Andrea Rampa (Ministry of Economy and Finance – Directorate of Economic and Fiscal Studies; SEEDS, Italy) |
| Abstract: | The degree of social acceptance of biogas as a renewable green energy source is still somewhat disregarded. Although many initiatives have focused on the construction of new biogas plants around the world, with Italy as a relevant actor in the field, local protests on the construction of new plants are frequent in some areas. This study aims to analyse the determinants of citizens’ perceptions regarding the construction of new biomass plants in their neighbouring areas. In particular, the focus is on prior knowledge of the production process of biogas as well as on other individual characteristics. The investigation is based on two repeated surveys administered to citizens living in proximity to two Italian local areas in which the construction of new large biogas plants is planned: the provinces of Oristano in Sardinia and Andria in Apulia. The first survey analyses the main variables correlated with the degree of biogas acceptability with a focus on the role played by biogas knowledge. The second set of surveys focuses on the role of participatory processes and information campaigns undertaken by policy makers and environmental associations to increase the social acceptance of communities regarding the construction of new biogas plants. |
| Keywords: | Biomass, Local Acceptance, Local public goods, waste management, renewable energy, Circularity |
| JEL: | Q42 H49 |
| Date: | 2021–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:srt:wpaper:0221&r=all |
| By: | Emmanuelle Lavaine (CEE-M - Centre d'Economie de l'Environnement - Montpellier - UMR 5211 - UM - Université de Montpellier - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - Montpellier SupAgro - Institut national d’études supérieures agronomiques de Montpellier - Institut Agro - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement); Marion Davin (CEE-M - Centre d'Economie de l'Environnement - Montpellier - UMR 5211 - UM - Université de Montpellier - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - Montpellier SupAgro - Institut national d’études supérieures agronomiques de Montpellier - Institut Agro - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement) |
| Abstract: | This paper combines a theoretical and an empirical approach to address how health at birth affects child development? Using a simple theoretical model in which parents invest in their children, we identify the mechanisms through which better health at birth can improve child development. We also emphasise how parental socioeconomic status can shape the effects of health at birth. We perform an empirical analysis on a French cohort of children born in 2011, using a unique dataset ELFE. We identify the effect of birth weight and gestational age on child development at one year. The results indicate that only gestational age positively affects early development. We find no empirical evidence for the existence of a severity effect, according to which the adverse effects of poor health at birth are higher for children in low-income families or with poorly educated mothers. |
| Keywords: | Early Child Development,Health at birth,Parental investment |
| Date: | 2021–04–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpceem:hal-03189147&r=all |
| By: | Martina Bisello (Eurofound); Marta Fana (Joint Research Centre of the European Commission); Enrique Fernández-Macías (Joint Research Centre of the European Commission); Sergio (Joint Research Centre of the European Commission) |
| Abstract: | This paper presents a new and enriched version of the European database of tasks indices across jobs in the EU15 (minus UK) economy using most recent data from European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS 2015), a European (Italian) version of the O*NET database of occupational contents (ICP 2012) and the OECD´s PIAAC Survey. The database of tasks indicators was created based on a coherent and comprehensive taxonomy of tasks contents, methods and tools developed in Fernández-Macías and Bisello (2020), which builds on the original version published in Fernández-Macías et al., (2016a, 2016b) including several additional new concepts and indicators at different levels. After a detailed description of the construction of the database and an initial assessment of its internal consistency, the paper offers an analysis of the tasks distribution across occupations and sectors at the European level, providing useful insights of work content and organisational methods prevailing along the job structure. The possibility to dig into the complexity of work activities characterizing single jobs allow to identify patterns of correlation across task indices and to better understand how tasks are bundled across occupations by sectors pairs. The empirical analysis confirms that tasks are not isolated forms of labour inputs that just happen to be in productive processes but building blocks of coherently constructed jobs which are embedded in productive organisations. Any analysis of tasks which focuses on a particular type in isolation risks missing important connections with other types of task content and forms of work organisation. We hope that our contribution raises awareness of the importance of having good and detailed measures of tasks contents, consistently measured at the individual worker level and at different points in time, in order to understand better how technical change and other factors are continuously changing the nature of work and the associated skills demand and job quality. A future European tasks survey could precisely provide that. |
| Keywords: | tasks, employment structure, European labour market, work organisation |
| Date: | 2021–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:laedte:202104&r=all |
| By: | Devi Brands (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam); Erik Verhoef (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam); Jasper Knockaert (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) |
| Abstract: | With congestion being one of the most important externalities in transportation, it remains important to investigate effective and politically feasible solutions for it. We have conducted an 8-week experiment with tradable mobility permits, specifically applied to the use of parking facilities at a Dutch employer. We combine actual mobility behaviour with trading behaviour and survey responses of participants and non-participating employees of the same company. We have analysed the choice to participate in a voluntary experiment, and the behavioural response to tradable permits. Our results provide suggestive evidence that active participants do adjust their behaviour as intended. Furthermore, participation takes less time than people anticipate, and permits are viewed as a fairer and better functioning alternative to paid parking. |
| JEL: | C93 R41 R48 |
| Date: | 2021–04–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tin:wpaper:20210029&r=all |
| By: | Giovanni Abramo; Francesca Apponi; Ciriaco Andrea D'Angelo |
| Abstract: | This study is about public-private research collaboration. In particular, we want to measure how the propensity of academics to collaborate with their colleagues from private firms varies over time and whether the typical profile of such academics change. Furthermore, we investigate the change of the weights of main drivers underlying the academics' propensity to collaborate with industry. In order to achieve such goals, we apply an inferential model on a dataset of professors working in Italian universities in two subsequent periods, 2010-2013 and 2014-2017. Results can be useful for supporting the definition of policies aimed at fostering public-private research collaborations, and should be taken into account when assessing their effectiveness afterwards. |
| Date: | 2021–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2102.05364&r=all |
| By: | Morgan Raux (Department of Economics and Management, Université du Luxembourg) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, I investigate how cultural differences affect the labor-market performance of immigrant workers in Germany. I document a negative relationship between hourly wages and the cultural distance between immigrants' countries of origin and Germany. This result is robust across the three main indicators used in the gravity literature: linguistic, religious, and genetic distances. This cultural wage penalty disappears after five to ten years spent in Germany. Controlling for language proficiency as well as for selective in- and out-migration, these results highlight the cultural integration of immigrant workers. I finally provide evidence suggesting that lower wage progression may be explained by fewer job-to-job transitions. |
| Keywords: | Cultural distance, Immigrant Workers. |
| JEL: | J61 Z10 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:luc:wpaper:21-02&r=all |
| By: | Dauth, Christine (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]) |
| Abstract: | Among health care systems with both public and private elements (such as in the US and Germany), an important question is whether the type of health insurance exerts an impact on workers' careers. We exploit the unique German case of a two-tier health care system to analyze whether opting out of public statutory health insurance and into private health insurance affects the specific health and employment outcomes of employed workers over a period of nine years. We exploit administrative registers and apply a fuzzy regression discontinuity design. We do not find any evidence that the type of health insurance affects employed workers' outcomes in the medium or long run. This suggests that even though private health insurance entails more comfortable healthcare conditions, public health insurance does not come with heavy health impairments or detrimental employment outcomes." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en)) |
| JEL: | I13 J21 J30 |
| Date: | 2021–03–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iab:iabdpa:202103&r=all |
| By: | Williams, Rhys |
| Abstract: | Using data on student satisfaction and teaching time in the UK, this paper examines how the proportion of teaching conducted by casual staff affected student satisfaction ratings for the 2014-15 academic year. It is found that an increased proportion of teaching delivered by casual staff leads to lower student satisfaction, even when controlling for university and faculty fi�xed effects. This may be a result of the features of casual contracts or might reflect the characteristics of individuals taking up such contracts. Regardless, it suggests that there is a trade-off between increasing casualisation and student satisfaction which could have implications for future student demand. As a result, policymakers should consider the long-term implications before offloading teaching to casual staff. |
| Keywords: | Casual Contracts; UK Higher Education; Student Satisfaction; Educational Economics |
| JEL: | C21 I20 I23 J41 |
| Date: | 2020–11–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:106024&r=all |
| By: | van den Berg, Gerard J. (IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy); Hofmann, Barbara (FEA Nuremberg); Stephan, Gesine (IAB Nuremberg); Uhlendorff, Arne (IAB Nuremberg) |
| Abstract: | Integration Agreement (IA) are contracts between the employment agency and the unemployed, nudging the latter to comply with rules on search behavior. We designed and implemented an RCT involving thousands of newly unemployed workers, randomizing at the individual level both the timing of the IA and whether it is announced in advance. Administrative registers provide outcomes. Novel theoretical and methodological analyses provide tools to detect anticipation and suggest estimation by individual baseline employability. A small positive effect on entering employment is driven by individuals with adverse prospects. For them, early IA increase re-employment within a year from 45% to 53%. |
| Keywords: | unemployment; monitoring; job search; active labor market policy; nudge; anticipation; randomized controlled trial |
| JEL: | C93 J64 J68 |
| Date: | 2021–03–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2021_004&r=all |
| By: | Eliana Barrenho (Paris and Imperial College Business School.); Eric Gautier (Toulouse School of Economics); Marisa Miraldo (Imperial College Business School,); Carol Propper (Imperial College Business School); Christiern Rose (School of Economics, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia) |
| Abstract: | We examine the effect of a physician network on medical innovation using novel matched patient-physician-hospital panel data. The data include every relevant physician and all patients in the English NHS for 15 years and physicians’ workplace histories for more than 20. The dynamic network arising from physician mobility between hospitals over time allows us to separate unobserved physician and hospital heterogeneity from the effect of the network. We build on standard peer-effects models by adding cumulative peer behaviour and allow for particularly influential physicians (‘key players’), whose identities we estimate. We find positive effects of peer innovation take-up, number of peers, and proximity in the network to both pioneers of the innovation and key players. Counterfactual estimates suggest that early intervention targeting young, connected physicians with early take-up can significantly increase aggregate take-up. |
| Keywords: | Innovation, medical practice, networks, peer-effects |
| Date: | 2020–12–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qld:uq2004:638&r=all |
| By: | Severin Reissl (IUSS Pavia); Alessandro Caiani (IUSS Pavia); Francesco Lamperti (Institute of Economics and EMbeDS, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna; RFF-CMCC European Institute on Economics and the Environment); Mattia Guerini (Université Côte d'Azur, CNRS, GREDEG, France; Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies; Sciences Po., OFCE); Fabio Vanni (Sciences Po, OFCE); Giorgio Fagiolo (Institute of Economics and EMbeDS, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna); Tommaso Ferraresi (Istituto Regionale per la Programmazione Economica della Toscana); Leonardo Ghezzi (Istituto Regionale per la Programmazione Economica della Toscana); Mauro Napoletano (OFCE Sciences-Po; SKEMA Business School); Andrea Roventini (Institute of Economics and EMbeDS, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna; Sciences Po, OFCE) |
| Abstract: | We build a novel computational input-output model to estimate the economic impact of lockdowns in Italy. The key advantage of our framework is to integrate the regional and sectoral dimensions of economic production in a very parsimonious numerical simulation framework. Lockdowns are treated as shocks to available labor supply and they are calibrated on regional and sectoral employment data coupled with the prescriptions of government decrees. We show that when estimated on data from the first "hard" lock-down, our model closely reproduces the observed economic dynamics during spring 2020. In addition, we show that the model delivers a good out-of-sample forecasting performance. We also analyze the e ects of the second "mild" lockdown in fall of 2020 which delivered a much more moderate negative impact on production compared to both the spring 2020 lockdown and to a hypothetical second "hard" lockdown. |
| Keywords: | Input-output, Covid-19, Lockdown, Italy |
| JEL: | C63 C67 D57 E17 I18 R15 |
| Date: | 2021–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gre:wpaper:2021-15&r=all |
| By: | Michel Beine (Department of Economics and Management, Université du Luxembourg); Ana Cecilia Montes Vinas (Department of Economics and Management, Université du Luxembourg); Skerdikajda Zanaj (Department of Economics and Management, Université du Luxembourg) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we push forward the hypothesis that misalignment between expectations and aspira- tions crucially affects the educational outcomes of young adults. Using AddHealth, a dataset of 20,774 adolescents between the grades 7-12, we show that the difference in school performance between mi- grant children and natives lies within the aspirations and expectations that migrant children form. More specifically, we find that positive misalignment between aspirations and expectations is a driving force for higher effort and better education outcomes of immigrant teenagers in the USA. This force resolves the well-known immigrant paradox. Furthermore, this result is specific to migrant children and does not hold for second-generation migrant pupils. |
| Keywords: | Add-health database, aspirations, expectations, immigrant paradox, education achievements. |
| JEL: | I20 I21 I26 J15 F22 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:luc:wpaper:20-26&r=all |
| By: | Vulpe, Simona - Nicoleta; Rughinis, Cosima |
| Abstract: | Background: Despite lacking scientific support, vaccine hesitancy is widespread. While “vaccine damage” as a scientific fact is statistically highly uncommon, emerging social and technological forces have converted “probable vaccine damage” into an alternative fact, thus making it a widely shared intersubjective reality. Methods: Using the Eurobarometer 91.2 survey on a statistically representative EU27-UK sample interviewed in March 2019, we documented perceptions of vaccine risks and identified three belief configurations regarding vaccine effectiveness, safety, and usefulness, through exploratory cluster analysis. Results: The public beliefs in vaccine risks are frequent. Approximatively one-tenth of the EU27-UK population consider that vaccines are not rigorously tested before authorization, one-third believe that vaccines can overload or weaken the immune system and that they can cause the disease against which they protect, and almost one-half believe that vaccines can cause serious side effects. We identified three belief configurations: the skeptical, the confident, and the trade-off clusters. The skeptical type (approx. 11% of EU27-UK respondents) is defined by the belief that vaccines are rather ineffective, affected by risks of probable vaccine damage, not well-tested, and useless; the confident type (approx. 59%) is defined by beliefs that vaccines are effective, safe, well-tested, and useful; and the trade-off type (approx. 29%) combines beliefs that vaccines are effective, well-tested and useful, with beliefs of probable vaccine damage. The vaccine-confident and the trade-off types profess having similar vaccination histories, indicating the significant role of other factors besides beliefs in inducing behavior. Conclusions: The high proportion of varying public beliefs in vaccine risks and the presence of a trade-off type of vaccination assessment indicate the social normality of beliefs in probable vaccine damage. Probable vaccine damage presently exists as an alternative fact in the public imagination, perceptively available for wide segments of the public, including those who trust medical science. |
| Keywords: | Vaccine hesitancy; vaccine damage; typology; Eurobarometer; belief configurations |
| JEL: | I12 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:105647&r=all |
| By: | Ivaldi, Marc; Nicolle, Ambre; Verboven, Frank; Zhang, Jiekai |
| Abstract: | Do new digital consumption channels of music depress sales in old physical ones, or are they complementary? To answer this question, we exploit product-level variations in prices of about 30 million sales and streams of over 300 thousand products observed weekly between 2014 and 2017 for the entire French market. At the track-level, we find that streaming displaces digital sales. Similarly, at the album level, digital sales displace physical sales. At the more aggregate artist-level, digital sales displace physical sales, but streaming implies a promotional effect on physical sales. This complementarity is driven by popular genres, i.e., Pop and Urban Music. Most of our findings are robust to whether we consider the hits or include the products that belong to the long tail. |
| Keywords: | Music industry; Music consumption; Digitization |
| JEL: | D12 L82 O33 |
| Date: | 2021–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tse:wpaper:125467&r=all |
| By: | Samuel Bentolila; Florentino Felgueroso; Marcel Jansen; Juan F. Jimeno |
| Abstract: | Young workers in Spain face the unprecedented impact of the Great Recession and the Covid-19 crisis in short sequence. Moreover, they have also experienced a deterioration in their employment and earnings over the last three decades. In this paper we document this evolution and adopt a longitudinal approach to show that employment and earnings losses suffered by young workers during recessions are not made up in the subsequent expansions. We also estimate the size of the scarring effects of entering the job market in a recession for college-educated workers during their first decade in the labor market. Our empirical estimates indicate that, while there is some evidence of scarring effects, the driving force is a trend worsening of youth labor market outcomes. |
| Date: | 2021–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fda:fdaeee:eee2021-12&r=all |