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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Berbée, Paul (ZEW); Stuhler, Jan (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid) |
| Abstract: | Germany has become the second-most important destination for migrants worldwide. Using all waves from the microcensus, we study their labor market integration over the last 50 years and highlight differences to the US case. Although the employment gaps between immigrant and native men decline after arrival, they remain large for most cohorts; the average gap after one decade is 10 pp. Conversely, income gaps tend to widen post-arrival. Compositional differences explain how those gaps vary across groups, and why they worsened over time; after accounting for composition, integration outcomes show no systematic trend. Still, economic conditions do matter, and employment collapsed in some cohorts after structural shocks hit the German labor market in the early 1990s. Lastly, we examine the integration of recent arrivals during the European refugee "crisis" and the Russo-Ukrainian war. |
| Keywords: | immigration, labor market integration, long-run trends |
| JEL: | J11 J61 J68 |
| Date: | 2023–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16439&r=lab |
| By: | Elena Del Rey; Maria Racionero; Jose I. Silva |
| Abstract: | WA relatively large number of firms in Australia and in the US offer employer-funded parental leave to their employees beyond legal requirements. We introduce government-funded parental leave in a theoretical labour search and matching model. Firms choose the duration of paid parental leave offered to prospective employees. Matched firms and workers then negotiate wages through a Nash bargaining process. In equilibrium, the wage and the labour market tightness are determined by the point at which the wage and job creation curves intercept. We study the reasons behind the presence of employer-funded parental leave and its effects on wages and employment. We also explore the labour market and welfare effects of the introduction and extension of government-funded parental leave. |
| Keywords: | Employer-funded paid parental leave; wages; unemployment |
| JEL: | J30 J64 J68 |
| Date: | 2023–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:acb:cbeeco:2023-692&r=lab |
| By: | José-Antonio Espín-Sánchez; Joseph P. Ferrie; Christopher Vickers |
| Abstract: | We present an econometric structure for the analysis of intergenerational mobility that integrates non-linearities, the role of maternal-side effects and the impact of grandparents. We show how previously estimated models are special cases of this general framework and what specific assumptions each embeds. Our analysis of linked U. S. data 1900-40 reveals the extent to which inadequate consideration of assortative mating and the impact of mothers produces misleading conclusions. |
| JEL: | C36 C50 J08 J12 J13 J62 N31 N32 |
| Date: | 2023–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:31598&r=lab |
| By: | Chaza Abou Daher; Erica M. Field; Kendal M. Swanson; Kate H. Vyborny |
| Abstract: | Billions of women still face legal barriers to economic inclusion, yet it is unclear whether lifting these barriers is sufficient to enhance their economic participation. We conduct a field experiment to quantify the impact of a major legal reform - the lifting of the Saudi women's driving ban - on women's employment by randomizing rationed spaces in driver's training. Two years later, women in the treatment group are 61% more likely to drive, 19% more likely to leave the house unchaperoned, and 35% more likely to be employed. However, they are also 19% more likely to require permission to make purchases. These patterns vary systematically with marital status: although physical mobility increases for all women, treatment effects on employment are only observed among never-married and widowed women, who negotiate employment with their fathers. Married and divorced women with children, over whom husbands and ex-husbands have leverage, actually exit the labor force and experience decreased spending autonomy. We posit that these patterns reflect differences in male family members' support for women's employment. They provide evidence that men's resistance to wives' employment poses a binding constraint to female labor force participation when legal restrictions are relaxed, but also that men are more open to granting their daughters economic rights, as has been posited in the literature. The results underscore the importance of intra-household responses to gender reforms, which have the potential to counteract legal gains in women's freedoms, and help explain why potential economic gains from lifting discriminatory laws often go unrealized. |
| JEL: | J12 J16 J22 |
| Date: | 2023–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:31715&r=lab |
| By: | Huber, Katrin (University of Potsdam); Rolvering, Geske (University of Passau) |
| Abstract: | We study the impact of public child care on mothers' career trajectories, focusing on qualitative dimensions of career choices. Using an event study approach, we find that child care helps mothers to return to the labor market more quickly and that this effect is mainly due to an increase in part-time employment. At the same time, we find no short- or long-term effects of child care on the quality of maternal careers, as measured, for example, by employment stability, employment in occupations with abstract tasks, or employment in managerial positions. Furthermore, we find no evidence of heterogeneous effects across mothers. |
| Keywords: | child care, maternal employment, career costs of children, women's careers |
| JEL: | J08 J13 J22 |
| Date: | 2023–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16433&r=lab |
| By: | Rannveig Hart (Norwegian Institute of Public Health); Janna Bergsvik (Statistics Norway); Agnes Fauske (University of Oslo); Wookun Kim (Southern Methodist University) |
| Abstract: | This chapter reviews the literature on the causal effects of policies on fertility. It focuses on evidence from experiments and quasi-experiments in low fertility contexts, including studies from Europe, Northern America, Oceania, and Asia. Making no a priori restrictions on policy type, the review encompasses evaluations of parental leave, childcare, health insurance, and financial incentives such as child transfers. Childcare expansions increase completed fertility. Financial incentives had positive effects on fertility across contexts, both in the short and long run. Expansions of parental leave rights in Central Europe and the introduction of parental leave in the U.S. also had positive effects. The distributional effects of these policies are very different, with parental leave compensation benefiting high-earning couples, while expansions of childcare programs had potential to reduce social inequalities. |
| Keywords: | pro-natalist policies, cash transfer, parental leave, childcare, healthcare, fertility. |
| JEL: | H40 H75 J13 J16 J18 |
| Date: | 2023–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:smu:ecowpa:2309&r=lab |
| By: | Richard Grice; Victor Hernandez Martinez; Kaixin Liu |
| Abstract: | This paper documents a novel finding indicating that re-employment wages are elastic to the level of unemployment insurance (i.e., a binding reservation wage) and adapts the IV estimator for duration dependence in Schmieder et al. (2016) to account for this fact. Using administrative data from Spain, we find that unemployed workers lower their re-employment wages by 3 percent immediately after the exhaustion of unemployment insurance (UI) benefits. Workers’ characteristics and permanent unobserved heterogeneity cannot explain this. To estimate duration dependence, we extend the IV framework proposed by Schmieder et al. (2016), whose estimator of duration dependence is proportional to the response of wages to an extension of the potential duration of UI, to account for the response of reservation wages. We find that while extending the potential duration of UI has an insignificant effect on re-employment wages, duration dependence is strongly negative. We estimate that the degree of duration dependence in Spain is approximately 0.8 percent per month in daily wages. Workers’ inability to find full-time jobs as the duration of non-employment increases is an important mechanism behind this effect, since the duration dependence of hourly wages is 0.25 percent per month. Failing to account for the fact that reservation wages are binding would underestimate the magnitude of duration dependence by 15 to 20 percent. |
| Keywords: | unemployment; duration dependence; re-employment wages |
| JEL: | J65 J64 |
| Date: | 2023–09–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedcwq:96906&r=lab |
| By: | Ufuk Akcigit; Harun Alp; André Diegmann; Nicolas Serrano-Velarde |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates a unique policy designed to maintain employment during the privatization of East German firms after the fall of the Iron Curtain. The policy required new owners of the firms to commit to employment targets, with penalties for non-compliance. Using a dynamic model, we highlight three channels through which employment targets impact firms: distorted employment decisions, increased productivity, and higher exit rates. Our empirical analysis, using a novel dataset and instrumental variable approach, confirms these findings. We estimate a 22% points higher annual employment growth rate, a 14% points higher annual productivity growth, and a 3.6% points higher probability of exit for firms with binding employment targets. Our calibrated model further demonstrates that without these targets, aggregate employment would have been 15% lower after 10 years. Additionally, an alternative policy of productivity investment subsidies proved costly and less effective in the short term. |
| Keywords: | industrial policy, privatizations, productivity, size-dependent regulations |
| JEL: | D22 D24 J08 L25 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_10640&r=lab |
| By: | Afridi, Farzana (Indian Statistical Institute (Delhi) and IZA); Dhillon, Amrita (King’s College London and CAGE); Roy, Sanchari (King’s College London and CAGE); Sangwan, Nikita (Indian Statistical Institute) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the role of job search frictions and peer effects in shaping female employment outcomes in developing countries. Motivated by a collective model of household decision-making, we conduct a randomized field experiment in Delhi, India where we randomly offer a hyper-local digital job search and matching service to married couples on their own (non-network treatment), together with the wife's peer network (network treatment), or not at all. Approximately one year later, we find no significant impact on wives' overall likelihood of working in either treatment group, but wives in the non-network treatment group reduce their work intensity and casual work, while those in the network treatment group increase their home-based self-employment. Strikingly, husbands' labor market outcomes also improved significantly in the network treatment group. We show theoretically and empirically that our findings can be explained by the home-bound structure of women’s social networks that reinforce (conservative) social norms about women's outside-of-home work. |
| Keywords: | social networks, social norms, gender, job-matching platforms, employment JEL Classification: J16, J21, J24, O33 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cge:wacage:677&r=lab |
| By: | George J. Borjas; Anthony Edo |
| Abstract: | In May 1981, President François Mitterrand regularized the status of undocumented immigrant workers in France. The newly legalized immigrants represented 12 percent of the non-French workforce and about 1 percent of all workers. Employers have monopsony power over undocumented workers because the undocumented may find it costly to participate in the open labor market and have restricted economic opportunities. By alleviating this labor market imperfection, a regularization program can move the market closer to the efficient competitive equilibrium and potentially increase employment and wages for both the newly legalized and the authorized workforce. Our empirical analysis reveals that the Mitterrand regularization program particularly increased employment and wages for low-skill native and immigrant men, and raised French GDP by over 1 percent. |
| Keywords: | Monopsony;Regularization;Undocumented Immigrants;Labor Market |
| JEL: | D43 J31 J42 J61 |
| Date: | 2023–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cii:cepidt:2023-18&r=lab |
| By: | Marco Caliendo; Robert Mahlstedt; Aiko Schmei{\ss}er; Sophie Wagner |
| Abstract: | Job seekers' misperceptions about the labor market can distort their decision-making and increase the risk of long-term unemployment. Our study establishes objective benchmarks for the subjective wage expectations of unemployed workers. This enables us to provide novel insights into the accuracy of job seekers' wage expectations. First, especially workers with low objective earnings potential tend to display excessively optimistic beliefs about their future wages and anchor their wage expectations too strongly to their pre-unemployment wages. Second, among long-term unemployed workers, overoptimism remains persistent throughout the unemployment spell. Third, higher extrinsic incentives to search more intensively lead job seekers to hold more optimistic wage expectations, yet this does not translate into higher realized wages for them. Lastly, we document a connection between overoptimistic wage expectations and job seekers' tendency to overestimate their reemployment chances. We discuss the role of information frictions and motivated beliefs as potential sources of job seekers' optimism and the heterogeneity in their beliefs. |
| Date: | 2023–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2309.14044&r=lab |
| By: | Sergiu Burlacu; Dominique Cappelletti; Sonia Marzadro; Alessandro Tondini |
| Abstract: | Through a vignette study in Italian, we show that using the feminine job title negatively impacts how female lawyers are perceived by other professionals. 227 respondents were presented with hypothetical legal issues and shown several realistic profiles of male and female lawyers, with varying professional characteristics, and then asked to indicate how likely they would be to contact each of the given profiles for assistance with the legal issue. We randomly varied whether all the profiles of female lawyers for a given respondent were presented with the predominantly used masculine term - avvocato - or with the feminine term - avvocata. We find that, ceteris paribus, female profiles with the feminine term get lower scores by 0.36 (out of 10, -5%, -0.16SD). The downgrade is stronger among women respondents. The magnitude of the effect is large relative to the effect of other characteristics varied randomly in the profiles, such as work experience or other quality signals. |
| Keywords: | gender language, gender markedness, job titles, vignette study |
| JEL: | J16 C93 J44 |
| Date: | 2023–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fbk:wpaper:2023-06&r=lab |
| By: | Albertini, Julien; Langot, François; Sopraseuth, Thepthida |
| Abstract: | The US and French job polarization appear similar based on employment shares by task. This study shows that they are different when per capita employment by task is used to identify the sources of these structural changes. We build a multi-sectorial general equilibrium model with search frictions, endogenous layoffs, and occupational choices to estimate the relative impact of TBTC (Task-Biased Technological Change) and LMI changes (Labor Market Institutions) on employment patterns. Our analysis suggests that job polarization is mainly driven by TBTC in the US, whereas LMI changes drive job polarization in France. |
| Keywords: | job polarization, search and matching, labor market institutions, task-biased technological change |
| Date: | 2023–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpm:docweb:2307&r=lab |
| By: | Dominik Owczarek; Maciej PaÅ„ków |
| Abstract: | The paper aims at providing an overview of the connection between smart working practices and the organization of labour. It attempts to analyse both pre-pandemic and post-pandemic sources to obtain the broadest possible perspective and conclusions, based on well-established scientific theory and evidence. In so doing we first analysis the drivers of remote work, taking into account both the perspective of the organisation (managers) and employees. Second, we investigate the impact of remote work on the efficiency and quality of work from the perspective of the employer. Third we analyse ten case studies covering the motivation to introduce remote work, its impact on working conditions and job satisfaction, development of skills and the role of collective workers representation in setting conditions of remote work. The report is concluded with some final remarks and key takeouts. |
| Keywords: | Remote work; post-pandemic recovery; labour organisation |
| JEL: | J08 J81 K31 |
| Date: | 2023–09–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:udf:wpaper:20230612&r=lab |
| By: | Miyoko Asai; Qiaoe Chen; Mr. Jiro Honda; Xingwei Hu; Qianqian Zhang |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the role of structural fiscal policies to promote female labor force participation and reduce gender gaps in labor markets in 26 OECD countries from 2000 to 2019. As both female labor force participation and many explanatory/control variables clearly exhibit non-stationarity (potentially leading to spurious regression results), we employ a panel vector error-correction model, in contrast with most previous empirical studies on this matter. Our analyses confirm statistically significant positive impacts of government spending on (1) early childcare and education, (2) active labor market programs, and (3) unemployment benefits, all of which would help encourage women to enter the labor force, while (4) an increase in relative tax rate on second earner could have negative impact on female labor force participation. |
| Keywords: | Fiscal Policy; Gender; Labor Force; OECD |
| Date: | 2023–09–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imf:imfwpa:2023/186&r=lab |
| By: | Eriksen, Tine Louise Mundbjerg (VIVE - The Danish Centre for Social Science Research); Gaulke, Amanda (Kansas State University); Svensson, Jannet (Copenhagen University Hospital); Skipper, Niels (Aarhus University); Thingholm, Peter Rønø (Aarhus University) |
| Abstract: | We examine the role of health shocks in childhood and parental background in transmitting intergenerational inequality. We use Danish administrative registry data (a setting with universal access to health care) and the quasi-random onset of Type 1 Diabetes in childhood to document substantial penalties in adult employment and labor market income at age 30. We document wide disparities in treatment effects and show that high-socioeconomic parents mitigate the adverse impacts of the health shock. This gradient is partly driven by differential impacts on health and human capital across the socioeconomic distribution. Maternal educational attainment matters for adoption of new and more advanced treatment regimens. |
| Keywords: | intergenerational transmission of inequality, childhood health shocks, labor market outcomes |
| JEL: | I12 I14 I24 |
| Date: | 2023–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16447&r=lab |
| By: | Monica Deza (Center for Policy Research, Maxwell School, Syracuse University, 426 Eggers Hall, Syracuse, NY 13244) |
| Abstract: | Previous literature presents mixed evidence on the effect of alcohol consumption on labor market outcomes. On one hand, heavy alcohol consumption has been shown to have detrimental effects on labor market outcomes. On the other hand, moderate consumption is positively associated with wages and employment. Despite substantial reduced form evidence, previous literature has not been able to separately identify the causal pathways linking moderate versus heavy alcohol use to labor market performance due to the lack of natural experiments that only target moderate versus heavy drinking, as well as limitations of available structural methods that model state dependence and unobserved heterogeneity. This study develops a multiple-equation dynamic discrete choice ordered logit model, which allows separate identification of the contribution of state dependence (within and between outcomes) and unobserved heterogeneity. I apply this newly-developed model to differentiate the effects of moderate and heavy drinking, after accounting for other correlated unobserved heterogeneity. This study finds that moderate alcohol use increases employment, which is consistent with moderate alcohol consumption being a venue for social capital accumulation. Policies that target alcohol consumption separately by dosage level may be beneficial to employment in ways that have not previously been expected. |
| Keywords: | Employment, state dependence, unobserved heterogeneity, alcohol, smoking |
| JEL: | I12 J01 |
| Date: | 2023–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:max:cprwps:260&r=lab |
| By: | Advani, Arun (University of Warwick); Burgherr, David (LSE); Summers, Andy (London School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | Using administrative data on the globally connected super-rich in the UK, we study the effect of a large tax reform on migration behaviour. Prior to 2017, offshore investment returns for 'non-doms' – individuals tax-resident in the UK but with connections to other countries – were untaxed. People making use of that tax status are strongly concentrated at the top of the income distribution: 86% are in the UK top 1% and 29% in the top 0.1% once overseas investment income is taken into account. A reform in 2017 brought long-stayers, who had been in the UK for at least 15 of the last 20 years, into the standard tax system, reducing their effective net-of-average-tax rate by 18%. We find that emigration responses were modest: our central estimate is that the emigration rate increases by 0.26 percentage points for a 1% decline in the net-of-tax rate, and we can rule out increases larger than 0.4 percentage points. Dispelling fears that the targeted taxpayers were able to circumvent the tax hike, we find large average increases in income reported and tax paid in the UK of more than 150%. |
| Keywords: | taxation, migration, capital income, inequality, mobility |
| JEL: | F22 H31 J61 |
| Date: | 2023–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16432&r=lab |
| By: | Hamid Firooz |
| Abstract: | What are the pro-competitive consequences of trade in frictional labor markets? This paper develops and estimates a dynamic general equilibrium trade model to show that the interplay between endogenously variable markups in product markets and frictions in labor markets has important implications for aggregate as well as distributional consequences of trade. In particular, I show that once markups are allowed to respond to trade liberalization, unemployment and residual wage inequality rise almost three times more than in a model with constant markups (in the steady state). The presence of labor market frictions makes the pro-competitive gains from trade liberalization negative. |
| Keywords: | international trade, variable markups, pro-competitive gains, labor elasticity of revenue, unemployment, residual wage inequality, firm size distribution |
| JEL: | F12 F16 E24 J64 L11 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_10649&r=lab |
| By: | Damaris Castro; Brent Bleys (-) |
| Abstract: | Collective working-time reduction (WTR) policies, organized by companies, organizations, sectors or governments, can yield benefits across diverse domains including productivity and well-being. Despite an increasing number of WTR trials, the attractiveness of such policies remains relatively underexplored in literature. In this study, a factorial survey experiment investigates employees' preferences for collective WTR policies with pay reduction that vary along five dimensions. Findings reveal that employees favour policies that minimize pay reduction, that reduce working time moderately rather than extensively, and that establish a high degree of flexibility for taking up the additional leisure time. Moreover, the uptake amongst significant others matters: participation of colleagues as well as of close friends and family positively influences WTR attractiveness, although the latter primarily matter in WTR-supportive company cultures. Our findings provide valuable guidance for companies, organizations and policymakers when devising collective WTR policies and underline the importance of societal participation to enhance WTR attractiveness. |
| Keywords: | working-time reduction, working-time preferences, factorial survey experiment |
| JEL: | C83 C91 J22 J88 |
| Date: | 2023–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rug:rugwps:23/1076&r=lab |
| By: | William R. Kerr |
| Abstract: | We study the relationship between firm centralization and organizational reproduction in satellite locations. For decentralized firms, the ethnic compositions of inventors in satellite locations mostly resemble their host cities, with little link to the inventor composition of their parent firms' R&D headquarters. For highly centralized firms, by contrast, organizational reproduction has an explanatory power equal to half or more of the host city effect. Reproduction is strongest when a firm exhibits a hands-on approach to the satellite facility, such as cross-facility team collaboration or internal talent mobility. |
| JEL: | F22 F23 J61 L22 L25 M51 O31 O32 R11 R12 |
| Date: | 2023–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:31724&r=lab |
| By: | Bíró, Anikó; Hornok, Cecília; Krekó, Judit; Prinz, Daniel; Scharle, Ágota |
| Abstract: | Disability benefits are costly and tend to reduce labor supply. While spending can be contained by careful targeting, correcting past flaws in eligibility rules or assessment procedures may entail welfare costs. We study a major reform in Hungary that reassessed the health and working capacity of a large share of beneficiaries. Leveraging age and health cutoffs in the reassessment, we estimate employment responses to loss or reduction of benefits. We find that among those who left disability insurance due to the reform 58% were employed in the primary labor market, 6% participated in public works and 36% were out of work without benefits in the post-reform period. The consequences of leaving disability insurance sharply differed by pre-reform employment status. 81% of beneficiaries who had some employment in the pre-reform year worked, while only 33% of those without pre-reform employment did. The gains of the reform in activating beneficiaries were small and strongly driven by pre-reform employment status. This points to the importance of combining financial incentives with broader labor market programs that increase employability. |
| Keywords: | disability insurance, benefit reduction, employment |
| JEL: | H55 J14 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ifwkwp:2256&r=lab |
| By: | Márton Csilalg (Centre for Economic and Regional Studies, Budapest Institute for Policy Analysis); Ágota Scharle (Budapest Institute for Policy Analysis); Balázs Munkácsy (Budapest Institute for Policy Analysis) |
| Abstract: | We evaluate the effect of a drastic cut in potential benefit duration, reducing the maximum length of UI benefits from 9 to 3 months in Hungary at the end of 2011. We rely on rich longitudinal matched administrative data, which allows us to obtain information on a large sample of UI benefit claimants, and we use matching methods to evaluate the effect of the benefit cut. While UI claimants found jobs more rapidly as a result of the reform, this is a relatively small change, and we find only negligible negative effects of reemployment wages overall. The notion that changes are due to the reform is reinforced by the result that the effect on employment is largest for the group where the ‘bite’ of the reform was the largest. Our heterogeneity analysis reveals that the drastic cut seems to have reduced moral hazard for the most employable (those with tertiary education) and forced them to be ‘less picky’. This means that they took up lower wage jobs, but this effect was only temporary. Overall, the reform led to significantly lower income for over 60 percent of jobseekers, since the increase in labour income did not compensate for the large reduction in UI benefits paid; while only benefiting less than 10 percent of jobseekers, over a two-year horizon. |
| Keywords: | Keywords: unemployment insurance benefits; potential benefit duration; statistical matching |
| JEL: | J64 J65 |
| Date: | 2023–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:has:discpr:2326&r=lab |
| By: | Ariel Kalil; Susan Mayer; William Delgado; Lisa A. Gennetian |
| Abstract: | College-educated mothers spend substantially more time in intensive childcare than less educated mothers despite their higher opportunity cost of time and working more hours. Using data from the 2010–2013 and 2021 waves of the Well-being Module of the American Time Use Survey, we investigate this puzzle by testing the hypothesis that college-educated mothers enjoy childcare more. We find that among all mothers, spending time in childcare is associated with higher positive feelings compared to spending time in other activities. However, college-educated mothers experience no more positive feelings and no fewer negative feelings during intensive childcare than other mothers. Moreover, college-educated mothers report substantially fewer positive feelings for time spent in management activities and substantially more negative feelings for time spent in educational activities with their child. Findings are robust to controlling for a rich set of covariates, mother fixed effects, and simulations to account for selection into intensive childcare. |
| JEL: | D13 J13 J22 |
| Date: | 2023–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:31712&r=lab |
| By: | Donn L. Feir; Rob Gillezeau; Maggie E.C. Jones |
| Abstract: | For nearly three centuries, Indigenous peoples within the borders of present-day Canada engaged in treaty-making with the British Crown and other European powers. These treaties regularly formed the colonial legal basis for access to Indigenous lands. However, treaties were not negotiated everywhere, including in regions subsequently settled by Europeans. Consequentially, there is substantial regional variation in the legal status of occupied lands, jurisdiction over natural resources, and state commitments to Indigenous nations. We study how these legal institutions have shaped the path of economic development in Indigenous communities. Using restricted-access census data, we show that historical treaties substantially lower income in Indigenous communities today. We argue that this results from the constitutional and legal recognition of Aboriginal rights and title, which have dramatically increased bargaining power and, consequently, income growth in non-treaty Indigenous communities. |
| JEL: | J15 N31 N32 P14 |
| Date: | 2023–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:31713&r=lab |
| By: | Thomas Fackler (ifo Institute, LMU Munich, CESifo, Laboratory for Innovation Science at Harvard); Michael Hofmann (LMU Munich); Nadzeya Laurentsyeva (LMU Munich, CESifo) |
| Abstract: | How can teams organize for productive online collaboration? The coronavirus pandemic has led to a large and persistent shift toward remote work. Using fine-grained data from the world's largest platform for open-source software development, we find that the pandemic reduced the productivity of previously co-located teams substantially, whereas similar teams with remote work experience remained resilient. While access to remote talent and experience are important for overall team success, our results highlight the crucial role of communication for productive online collaboration. We find suggestive evidence that, with their peers shifting to online work, remote workers become better integrated into their teams' communication. We conclude that while teams' performance may suffer from the shift to remote work, setting up systems for effective online communication can help mitigate productivity loss. |
| Keywords: | gravity model; open source; knowledge workers; knowledge flows; remote work; online labor markets; COVID-19; |
| JEL: | J01 M54 O30 F14 |
| Date: | 2023–09–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rco:dpaper:427&r=lab |
| By: | Ana María Iregui-Bohórquez; Ligia Alba Melo-Becerra; María Teresa Ramírez-Giraldo; Ana María Tribín-Uribe; Héctor M. Zárate-Solano |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the evolution of women's participation in the labor market from 1960 to 2018, shedding light on the complex factors that influence their labor opportunities. The study emphasizes the significance of the historical context in understanding these factors. This research uncovers nuanced insights using a two-step methodology involving principal component analysis and Time-Varying Effect Modeling (TVEM). The results indicate that the transition from high to low fertility rates significantly influenced female labor participation until the late 1970s. Educational advancements, economic growth, and changing marital dynamics also played a role in shaping evolving patterns. From 1980 to 1995, factors such as diminishing fertility, declining infant mortality, and varying economic conditions influenced women's labor involvement. From 1995 to 2010, higher education emerged as a key driver, accompanied by shifting societal norms, and from 2010 to 2018, the period witnessed positive contributions from fertility rates, minimum wage, and male labor participation. This study underscores the intricate relationship between education, demographics, social norms, and economics in shaping women's labor force participation, providing valuable insights for gender-inclusive policies and promoting women's economic empowerment. **** Este artículo examina la evolución de la participación laboral de las mujeres desde 1960 hasta 2018, analiza los factores que influyen en sus oportunidades laborales y destaca la importancia del contexto histórico para comprender la relación entre estos factores. El estudio utiliza una metodología de dos etapas, incluyendo el análisis de componentes principales y el modelo de efectos cambiantes en el tiempo (TVEM por su sigla en inglés). Los resultados muestran que la transición demográfica tuvo un impacto significativo en la participación laboral femenina hasta finales de la década de 1970. Además, los avances educativos, el crecimiento económico y los cambios en normas sociales, incluyendo el matrimonio, contribuyeron a explicar la dinámica laboral de las mujeres. Desde 1980 hasta 1995, factores como la disminución de la fecundidad, la reducción de la mortalidad infantil y las condiciones económicas moldearon su participación laboral. A partir de 1995, la educación superior se convirtió en un factor clave, junto con cambios en las normas sociales. Durante el período 2010 - 2018, se observaron contribuciones positivas de las tasas de fecundidad, el salario mínimo y la participación laboral masculina. Este estudio resalta la compleja relación entre la educación, la demografía, las normas sociales y la economía en la configuración de la participación de las mujeres en la fuerza laboral, y proporciona información valiosa para desarrollar políticas inclusivas de género promoviendo el empoderamiento económico de las mujeres. |
| Keywords: | female labor participation, Time-Varying Effect Modeling, demographic transition, Colombia, participación laboral femenina, modelo de efectos cambiantes en el tiempo, transición demográfica |
| JEL: | C29 J16 N36 |
| Date: | 2023–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdr:borrec:1250&r=lab |
| By: | Süß, Karolin |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the effect of inheritance customs for agricultural land on household formation and gender disparities. Under partible inheritance, agricultural land is split equally among all siblings. Under impartible inheritance, only one descendant inherits the entire land. Using a spatial regression discontinuity design, I find that partible inheritance has a persistent negative effect on household size but not fertility. It has a positive impact on today's female political representation and a negative effect on the gender gap in employment. Fathers also have a lower probability of making use of parental leave benefits but receive them for a longer time. |
| Keywords: | Inheritance, agriculture, gender disparities |
| JEL: | J16 N53 R23 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:rwirep:1038&r=lab |
| By: | Robert Fairlie; Robert W. Fairlie |
| Abstract: | Many small businesses closed in the pandemic, but were economic losses disproportionately felt by businesses owned by people of color? This paper provides the first study of the impacts of COVID-19 on racial inequality in business earnings. Pandemic-induced losses to business earnings in 2020 were 16-19 percent for all business owners. Racial inequality increased in the pandemic: Black business owners experienced larger negative impacts on business earnings of 12-14 percent relative to white business owners. Regression estimates for Latinx and Asian business owners reveal negative point estimates but the estimates are not statistically significant. Using Blinder-Oaxaca decompositions and a new pandemic-focused decomposition technique, I find that the industry concentrations of Black, Latinx, and Asian business owners placed each of these groups at a higher risk of experiencing disproportionate business earnings losses in the pandemic. Higher education levels among Asian business owners helped insulate them from larger losses from COVID-19. In the following year of economic recovery, 2021, business earnings rebounded strongly for all groups except for Asian business owners who experienced large relative losses (which were partly due to industry concentrations). State-level variation in policies and disease spread does not explain racial differences in business earnings losses or rebounds. |
| Keywords: | entrepreneurship, Covid, racial inequality, business earnings, pandemic |
| JEL: | L26 J15 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_10634&r=lab |
| By: | Del Boca, Daniela (University of Turin); Flinn, Christopher (New York University); Verriest, Ewout (New York University); Wiswall, Matthew (University of Wisconsin-Madison) |
| Abstract: | We construct a dynamic model of child development where forward-looking parents and children jointly take actions to increase the child's cognitive and non-cognitive skills within a Markov Perfect Equilibrium framework. In addition to time and money investments in their child, parents also choose whether to use explicit incentives to increase the child's self-investment, which may reduce the child's future intrinsic motivation to invest by reducing the child's discount factor. We use the estimated model parameters to show that the use of extrinsic motivation has large costs in terms of the child's future incentives to invest in themselves. |
| Keywords: | time allocation, child development, parenting styles |
| JEL: | J13 D1 |
| Date: | 2023–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16441&r=lab |
| By: | N. Meltem Daysal; Michael F. Lovenheim; David N. Wasser |
| Abstract: | Rising wealth inequality has spurred an increased interest in understanding how and why wealth is correlated across generations. We exploit plausibly exogenous variation in housing wealth driven by home price changes in different areas to isolate the causal impact of parental housing wealth during different childhood periods on children’s long-run wealth accumulation. Using population-level Danish administrative data, we find that 27% and 25% of each Krone of parental housing wealth change during early-childhood is transmitted to children’s overall and housing wealth in adulthood, respectively. The corresponding transmission rates for parental housing wealth changes during middle-childhood are 25% and 15%, with a transmission to non-housing wealth of 10%. There is little evidence of transmission of parental housing wealth changes that occur during the teenage years. Examining mechanisms, we find that parental housing wealth changes in early and middle-childhood lead to modest increases in adult children’s home ownership, educational attainment, and earnings. However, earnings and education can explain only 20-30% of the intergenerational transmission of parental wealth gains during these periods. We argue that the transmission of parental housing wealth changes in childhood are driven in large part by changes to unobserved household environment and parental behaviors that are passed on to children and shape their savings behavior in adulthood. |
| Keywords: | intergenerational wealth transmission, housing wealth |
| JEL: | J62 D31 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_10647&r=lab |
| By: | Davide Dazzi; Daniela Freddi |
| Abstract: | Policymakers, social parts, businesses, employees, media and citizens became familiar with a broad use of words such as remote working, teleworking, working from home, mobile worker, ICT-based worker. In this view, it is of crucial importance to define a general conceptual framework related to the terms referred to when a person works from a distance. The present paper delves into a taxonomy of the regulations and approaches to remote work within the EU. The results highlight that several characteristics of teleworking, positive and negative, were already known before the pandemic and they have substantially been confirmed by the massive shift occurred after the pandemic outbreak. As we saw in the report, no specific EU Directives were dedicated to remote working before Covid-19 even if many directives and EU regulations had indirect implications on it. |
| Keywords: | Remote work; post-pandemic recovery; regulation |
| JEL: | J51 J83 K31 |
| Date: | 2023–09–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:udf:wpaper:20230512&r=lab |
| By: | Gáfaro, Margarita; Ibáñez, Ana María; Sánchez Ordóñez, Daniel; Ortiz, María Camila |
| Abstract: | Latin American and Caribbean countries have historically been known for their rates of land inequality, highest in the world. However, these countries also exhibit a high degree of heterogeneity in their patterns of land concentration and average farm sizes. These cross-country differences play a determining role in productivity of farms and the distribution of agricultural income. Constructing a new data-set matching agricultural census and household survey data, we provide suggestive evidence on the positive relationship between farm size and farm income and wages. We identify the prevalence of small farms and the resulting low agricultural incomes as an important mechanism contributing to high income inequality in agricultural regions. Low labor productivity in small farms appears as a key explanatory factor. |
| JEL: | N0 R14 J01 |
| Date: | 2023–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:120239&r=lab |
| By: | Elsenberger, Fabio (Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW)); Kendzia, Michael Jan (Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW)) |
| Abstract: | Educational reforms aim to improve education quality and accessibility, creating positive externalities like individual growth and societal benefits. Although the global educational attainment has progressed, disparities still exist. This study applies the four-cell matrix developed by Münich and Psacharopoulos (2018) as analytical framework to classify the benefits of schooling into four different quadrants. It distinguishes between private and social benefits on the x-axis and market and non-market benefits on the y-axis. The survey finds that educational reforms and policies significantly impact society's development and progress, improving economic growth, social mobility, and health outcomes. By and large, the investigated reforms vary by country and education level, with some focusing on primary education and access to education while others focus more on tertiary education. The findings reveal that large differences exist in how far certain reforms were already implemented. Developing nations mainly experience non-market benefits like improved health and disease reduction, while developed countries show positive externalities in market and non-market areas. Reforms targeting tertiary education often translate into more positive externalities in the two private quadrants. |
| Keywords: | educational reforms, market benefits, non-market benefits, private benefits, social benefits |
| JEL: | I0 J6 O1 N3 |
| Date: | 2023–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16435&r=lab |