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on Labour Economics |
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Issue of 2024‒06‒17
twenty-six papers chosen by |
| By: | Jeronimo Carballo; Richard K. Mansfield; Charles Adam Pfander |
| Abstract: | Multi-establishment firms account for around 60% of U.S. workers' primary employers, providing ample opportunity for workers to change their work location without changing their employer. Using U.S. matched employer-employee data, this paper analyzes workers' access to and use of such between-establishment job transitions, and estimates the effect on workers' earnings growth of greater access, as measured by proximity of employment at other within-firm establishments. While establishment transitions are not perfectly observed, we estimate that within-firm establishment transitions account for 7.8% percent of all job transitions and 18.2% of transitions originating from the largest firms. Using variation in worker's establishment locations within their firms' establishment network, we show that having a greater share of the firm's jobs in nearby establishments generates meaningful increases in workers' earnings: a worker at the 90th percentile of earnings gains from more proximate within-firm job opportunities can expect to enjoy 2% higher average earnings over the following five years than a worker at the 10th percentile with the same baseline earnings. |
| JEL: | E24 J62 M51 |
| Date: | 2024–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:32420&r= |
| By: | Almeida, Vanda (OECD); Hoffmann, Claire (OECD); Königs, Sebastian (OECD); Moreno-Monroy, Ana Isabel (OECD); Salazar-Lozada, Mauricio (OECD); Terrero-Dávila, Javier (OECD) |
| Abstract: | People's ability to access essential services is key to their labour market and social inclusion. An important dimension of accessibility is physical accessibility, but little cross-country evidence exists on how close people live to the services facilities they need. This paper helps to address this gap, focusing on three types of essential services: Public Employment Services, primary schools and Early Childhood Education and Care. It collects and maps data on the location of these services for a selection of OECD countries and links them with data on population and transport infrastructure. This allows to compute travel times to the nearest service facility and to quantify disparities in accessibility at the regional level. The results highlight substantial inequalities in accessibility of essential services across and within countries. Although large parts of the population can easily reach these services in most countries, some people are relatively underserved. This is particularly the case in non-metropolitan and low-income regions. At the same time, accessibility seems to be associated with the potential demand for these services once accounting for other regional economic and demographic characteristics. |
| Keywords: | geographic inequalities, geospatial disparities, service accessibility, social services, employment services |
| JEL: | H00 I24 J01 O18 R12 |
| Date: | 2024–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16958&r= |
| By: | Saheel A. Chodavadia; Sari Pekkala Kerr; William R. Kerr; Louis J. Maiden |
| Abstract: | Immigrants contribute disproportionately to entrepreneurship in many countries, accounting for a quarter of new employer businesses in the US. We review recent research on the measurement of immigrant entrepreneurship, the traits of immigrant founders, their economic impact, and policy levers. We provide updated statistics on the share of US entrepreneurs who are immigrants. We utilize the Annual Business Survey to quantify the greater rates of patenting and innovation in immigrant-founded firms. This higher propensity towards innovation is only partly explained by differences in education levels and fields of study. We conclude with avenues for future research. |
| JEL: | F22 F6 J15 J61 L26 M13 O15 O3 R23 |
| Date: | 2024–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:32400&r= |
| By: | Niels Johannesen; Simon Muchardt |
| Abstract: | Do gender disparities in academia reflect that female scholars are held to higher standards than males? We address this question by comparing the scientific merit of male and female academic economists who make the same career step. Across four domains – i.e. faculty positions, network affiliations, research grants and editor appointments – we find no evidence that standards are higher for females. By contrast, the average female has less citations and publications than the average male who makes the same career step. In most domains, this reflects a gender gap for “marginal” scholars, consistent with lower merit thresholds for females. |
| Keywords: | gender differences, discrimination, unequal treatment, gender gap, academic labor markets |
| JEL: | A11 I23 J16 J44 J62 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11101&r= |
| By: | Valencia, Christian (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign); Janzen, Sarah (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign); Ghorpade, Yashodhan (World Bank); Rahman, Amanina Abdur (World Bank) |
| Abstract: | We conduct a correspondence study to assess demand for soft skills in the context of hiring discrimination in Malaysia. We find no evidence of gender-based discrimination, including in STEM occupations. However, in line with previous studies in the same context, we find evidence of ethnic discrimination. We then test the relevance of two soft skills: leadership and teamwork. We find some evidence that the labor market rewards simple signals of teamwork for the average applicant. Teamwork also plays an important role in the context of labor market discrimination, reducing the discrimination gap by 40%. In contrast, signaling leadership skills has no effect. Last, we consider the role of labor market competition. Companies facing competition in the labor market, measured by the number of competitors advertising similar positions, are 56 to 66% less likely to discriminate. On the supply-side, discrimination increases with the relative quality of the pool of applicants. Our results provide novel evidence that soft skills and labor market competition both play an important role in understanding hiring discrimination. This underlines potential pathways to overcome labor market discrimination and improve job matching. |
| Keywords: | discrimination, labor market, soft skills, competition |
| JEL: | J01 J15 J16 J24 |
| Date: | 2024–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16993&r= |
| By: | Lundborg, Petter (Lund University); Plug, Erik (University of Amsterdam); Rasmussen, Astrid Würtz (Aarhus University) |
| Abstract: | Newly matched data on in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments are used to estimate the long-run consequences of children on the labor market earnings of women and men (often referred to as child penalties). We measure long-run child penalties in IVF-treated families by comparing the earnings of successfully and unsuccessfully first-time treated women and men up to 25 years after the first IVF treatment. In the short run, we find a large penalty immediately after the birth of the first child. In the long run, however, we find that the child penalty fades out, disappears completely after 10 years, and even turns into a child premium after 15 years, offsetting the initial setbacks experienced when children are young. Our findings therefore challenge the widely held view that children are the primary drivers behind the long-run gender gap in earnings. |
| Keywords: | child penalty, gender earnings gap, fertility |
| JEL: | J13 J16 J31 |
| Date: | 2024–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16959&r= |
| By: | Alexander Karaivanov; Benoit Mojon; Luiz Pereira da Silva; Albert Pierres Tejada; Robert Townsend |
| Abstract: | We model a reinsurance mechanism for the national unemployment insurance programs of euro area member states. The risk-sharing scheme we analyze is designed to smooth country-level unemployment risk and expenditures around each country’s median level, so that participation and contributions remain incentive-compatible at all times and there are no redistributionary transfers across countries. We show that, relative to the status quo, such scheme would have provided nearly perfect insurance of the euro area member states’ unemployment expenditures risk in the aftermath of the 2009 sovereign debt crisis if allowed to borrow up to 2 percent of the euro area GDP. Limiting, or not allowing borrowing by the scheme would have still provided significant smoothing of surpluses and deficits in the national unemployment insurance programs over the period 2000–2019. |
| JEL: | E62 F32 J65 |
| Date: | 2024–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:32396&r= |
| By: | L. Rachel Ngai; Claudia Olivetti; Barbara Petrongolo |
| Abstract: | Women's contribution to the economy has been markedly underestimated in predominantly agricultural societies, due to their widespread involvement in unpaid agricultural work. Combining data from the US Census and several early sources, we create a consistent measure of male and female employment and hours for the US for 1870-2019, including paid work and unpaid work in family farms and non-farm businesses. The resulting measure of hours traces a U-shape for women, with a modest decline up to mid-20th century followed by a sustained increase, and a monotonic decline for men. We propose a multisector economy with uneven productivity growth, income effects, and consumption complementarity across sectoral outputs. During early development stages, declining agriculture leads to rising services -- both in the market and the home -- and leisure, reducing market work for both genders. In later stages, structural transformation reallocates labor from manufacturing into services, while marketization reallocates labor from home to market services. Given gender comparative advantages, the first channel is more relevant for men, reducing male hours, while the second channel is more relevant for women, increasing female hours. Our quantitative illustration suggests that structural transformation and marketization can account for the overall decline in market hours from 1880-1950, and one quarter of the rise and decline, respectively, in female and male market hours from 1950-2019. |
| JEL: | J16 J20 O41 |
| Date: | 2024–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:32475&r= |
| By: | Stefan Jestl (The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw); Maryna Tverdostup (The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the socio-demographic disparities evident in the early labour market response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Austria, relying on the register-based labour market career dataset from the Austrian Micro Data Center (AMDC) for the 2018-2021 period. The analysis focuses on the divergences in out-of-unemployment transitions and medium-term employment stability among those who lost their jobs early in the pandemic in contrast to the group of the longer-term unemployed. We document that individuals affected by job loss during the initial phases of the pandemic did not exhibit enduring scarring effects. Unlike their longer-term unemployed counterparts, they did not demonstrate persistent labour market detachment, prolonged periods of unemployment or a diminished success rate in re-employment. However, certain socio-demographic cohorts – notably, women, parents with two or more young children, and individuals with lower levels of education – faced disproportionate challenges during the pandemic. They were more inclined to transition into precarious employment arrangements and experienced lower levels of employment stability in the months following re-employment. |
| Keywords: | COVID-19; employment stability; gender inequalities; labour market transitions; unemployment |
| JEL: | E24 J16 J21 I24 |
| Date: | 2024–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wii:wpaper:246&r= |
| By: | Di Nallo, Alessandro |
| Abstract: | This study assesses the labor market outcomes for both women who experience live births and those who undergo non-live births, in the UK. Leveraging data from the "Understanding Society" longitudinal survey spanning 2009-2023, it presents a nuanced exploration into how pregnancy outcomes—live births and non-live births—affect women's labor market trajectories, particularly in terms of labor earnings, employment probability, hourly wages, and weekly work hours. The analysis employs a step-wise approach, introducing variables related to career choices, human capital, health, and subsequent childbearing to dissect the factors influencing career paths. Findings reveal that women experiencing live births endure persistent decreases in labor earnings, highlighting a pronounced “motherhood penalty”. This penalty encompasses reduced income, diminished employment probabilities and shortened work hours. Conversely, women who face non-live births initially experience a temporary income and wage drop, which recovers, indicating a less enduring economic impact. This recovery suggests that the adverse labor market consequences of pregnancy loss, while immediate and significant, do not persist in the long term as they do with live births. |
| Date: | 2024–05–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:2m4xb&r= |
| By: | Cools, Angela (Cornell University); Grooms, Jared (Brigham Young University); Karbownik, Krzysztof (Emory University); O'Keefe, Siobhan (Davidson College); Price, Joseph (Brigham Young University); Wray, Anthony (University of Southern Denmark) |
| Abstract: | The nineteenth-century American family experienced tremendous demographic, economic, and institutional changes. By using birth order effects as a proxy for family environment, and linked census data on men born between 1835 and 1910, we study how the family's role in human capital production evolved over this period. We find firstborn premiums for occupational outcomes, marriage, and fertility that are similar across census waves. Our results indicate that the returns to investments in the family environment were stable over a long period. |
| Keywords: | birth order, parental investments, occupational outcomes, intergenerational mobility, marriage, fertility |
| JEL: | J13 J62 N30 |
| Date: | 2024–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16953&r= |
| By: | Mariano Kulish; James Morley; Nadine Yamout; Francesco Zanetti |
| Abstract: | We examine the relevance of Dutch Disease through the lens of an open-economy multisector model that features unemployment due to labor market frictions. Bayesian estimates for the model quantify the effects of both business cycle shocks and structural changes on the unemployment rate. Applying our model to the Australian economy, we find that the persistent rise in commodity prices in the 2000s led to an appreciation of the exchange rate and fall in net exports, resulting in upward pressure on unemployment due to sectoral shifts. However, this Dutch Disease effect is estimated to be quantitatively small and offset by an ongoing secular decline in the unemployment rate related to decreasing relative disutility of working in the non-tradable sector versus the tradable sector. The changes in labor supply preferences, along with shifts in household preferences towards non-tradable consumption that are akin to a process of structural transformation, makes the tradable sector more sensitive to commodity price shocks but a smaller fraction of the overall economy. We conclude that changes in commodity prices are not as relevant as other shocks or structural changes in accounting for unemployment even in a commodity-rich economy like Australia. |
| Keywords: | Dutch Disease, commodity prices, unemployment, structural change, structural transformation |
| JEL: | E52 E58 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11092&r= |
| By: | Andrés Blanco; Andres Drenik; Christian Moser; Emilio Zaratiegui |
| Abstract: | We develop a theory of labor markets with four features: search frictions, worker productivity shocks, wage rigidity, and two-sided lack of commitment. Inefficient job separations occur in the form of endogenous quits and layoffs that are unilaterally initiated whenever a worker's wage-to-productivity ratio moves outside an inaction region. We derive sufficient statistics for the labor market response to aggregate shocks based on the distribution of workers' wage-to-productivity ratios. These statistics depend on the incidence of inefficient job separations and are linked to readily available microdata on wage changes and worker flows between jobs. |
| JEL: | E31 E52 J64 |
| Date: | 2024–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:32409&r= |
| By: | Amanda Y. Agan; Andrew Garin; Dmitri K. Koustas; Alexandre Mas; Crystal Yang |
| Abstract: | We investigate whether removing a previously-obtained criminal record improves employment outcomes. We estimate the causal impact of criminal record remediation laws that have been widely enacted with the goal of improving employment opportunities for millions of individuals with records. We find consistent evidence that removing an existing record does not improve labor market outcomes, on average. A notable exception is participation in gig work through online platforms, which often screen workers based on their records but not their employment histories. The evidence is consistent with records initially scarring labor market trajectories in a way that is difficult to undo later. |
| JEL: | J0 K0 |
| Date: | 2024–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:32394&r= |
| By: | Enea Baselgia; Isabel Z. Martínez |
| Abstract: | We use a novel rich-list data set to estimate the sensitivity of the location choice of superrich foreigners to a special tax regime, under which wealthy foreigners are taxed on their living expenses, rather than their true income and wealth. We are the first to evaluate this controversial Swiss policy, and show that when some Swiss cantons abolished this practice, their stock of super-rich foreigners dropped by 43% as a consequence. We find no response for the Swiss super-rich, who were unaffected by the policy change. |
| Keywords: | super-rich, location-choice, tax mobility, expenditure-based taxation, preferential taxation, tax competition |
| JEL: | H24 H71 H73 R23 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11093&r= |
| By: | Charly Porcher; Eduardo Morales; Thomas Fujiwara |
| Abstract: | We investigate the role of information frictions in migration. We develop novel moment inequalities to estimate worker preferences while allowing for unobserved worker-specific information sets, migration costs, and location-specific amenities and prices. Using data on internal migration in Brazil, we find that common estimation procedures underestimate the importance of expected wages in migration choices, and that workers face substantial and heterogeneous information frictions. Model specification tests indicate that workers living in regions with higher internet access and larger populations have more precise wage information, and that information precision decreases with distance. Our estimated model predicts that information frictions play a quantitatively important role in reducing migration flows and worker welfare, and limit the welfare gains from reductions in migration costs. |
| JEL: | F10 J61 R23 |
| Date: | 2024–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:32413&r= |
| By: | Ciaschi, Matías (CEDLAS-UNLP); Fajardo-Gonzalez, Johanna (UNDP); Viollaz, Mariana (CEDLAS-UNLP) |
| Abstract: | This study analyzes the adjustment in time allocation to school support activities by mothers and fathers during the pandemic across 22 Latin American and Caribbean countries, exploring the repercussions on labor market outcomes and children's learning losses. Our analysis reveals that mothers experienced a disproportionate increase in time dedicated to children's educational support compared to fathers, particularly when mothers could work from home. The results suggest that these effects were more pronounced in countries with stringent school closure measures and limited access to in-person instruction. Even as mobility restrictions eased and schools reopened, the additional responsibilities taken on by mothers remained above pre-pandemic levels. Mothers also significantly increased the time spent on non-educational childcare, though to a lesser extent than educational support. We also show evidence indicating a decline in maternal labor force participation and a rise in flexible labor arrangements as mothers allocated more hours to child-related duties. Our study also provides descriptive evidence that children's learning losses were less severe in countries where the gender disparity in pandemic-related school support was greater. |
| Keywords: | time use, childcare, labor, COVID-19, Latin America |
| JEL: | I1 J13 J21 |
| Date: | 2024–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16985&r= |
| By: | Ylenia Brilli (Ca’ Foscari University of Venice and CHILD-Collegio Carlo Alberto); Simone Moriconi (IESEG School of Management, Univ. Lille, CNRS, UMR 9221 - LEM - Lille Economie Management, F-59000 Lille, France; CESIfo Munich; Institut Convergences Migrations) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes how culture affects the engagement of parents in child-rearing activities, and time allocations of parents inside the family. We use data from the World Value Survey to construct a country-specific measure of the value attached to obedience as a child quality, which we associate with the actual parenting behavior and time investments of firstand second-generation migrant parents in Australia. We show that migrant parents from countries in which obedience is more valued as an important child quality, are more likely to be warm and to enact discipline in their parent-child interactions. We also show that a higher value of obedience in the country of origin is associated with a shift of parental time from general care to playing activities, and from the weekdays to the weekends. These results are robust to a large set of sensitivity analyses, which account for omitted variable bias and selection. Finally, we provide evidence that this cultural value may feature a more egalitarian allocation of parenting vs. labor supply tasks at the household level, by increasing fathers’ parental time and mothers’ labor supply at the intensive margin. We interpret this as indirect evidence that fathers may have a greater marginal utility from parenting time than mothers, on average. |
| Keywords: | culture, parental investments, parenting, labor supply |
| JEL: | D10 J13 J15 J22 Z13 |
| Date: | 2024–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ies:wpaper:e202413&r= |
| By: | Marcel Smolka |
| Abstract: | We investigate the effect of immigration on consumer prices in Spain between 1997 and 2013. Using variation across provinces, we first document a positive correlation between consumer prices and the share of migrants in the population. However, controlling for regional supply and demand shocks, and addressing endogeneity through an instrumental variables approach, we show that immigration has actually reduced consumer prices in Spain. An increase in the share of migrants by 10 percentage points reduces (CPI-weighted) consumer prices by approx. 1.25 percent. We show that the effect materializes around the years of the 2008 financial crisis, and that it is concentrated among non-tradable goods and services. Focusing on individual products, we find that some of those products that rely most heavily on migrant labor have been subject to considerable price reductions, while we find no such effects for those products that make intensive use of native labor. Finally, we find that it is immigration from outside Western Europe that led to a reduction in consumer prices, while the effect of immigration from Western Europe is zero. Overall, our results paint a complex picture of the effects of immigration on consumer prices. They support the idea that immigration can reduce consumer prices through both supply-side and demand-side channels. |
| Keywords: | immigration, consumer prices, Spain |
| JEL: | F22 J61 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11097&r= |
| By: | Weber, Enzo (Institute for Employment Research (IAB), Nuremberg, Germany ; Univ. Regensburg) |
| Abstract: | "On the labour markets, recent decades were characterised by structural supply-side reforms in many countries. Following its hawkish reforms from the 2000s, Germany has recently made a dovish turnaround. Conditions in basic income support for unemployed became more generous. Before, a temporary moratorium on sanctions had been imposed, providing a unique policy shift. We analyse the short-run consequences for job findings, building on large administrative data and a novel control group approach. The moratorium dampened job findings by four percent and the subsequent benefit reform by almost six percent in the first year. Other factors played a still larger role for the recent weakening of job findings." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en)) |
| Keywords: | IAB-Open-Access-Publikation |
| JEL: | J20 J64 |
| Date: | 2024–05–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iab:iabdpa:20247&r= |
| By: | Gorgens, Tue (Australian National University); Meng, Xin (Australian National University); Zhao, Guochang (Southwest University of Finance and Economics, Chengdu) |
| Abstract: | Fifty years ago, China sent more than 16 million urban youths aged 16–19 to rural villages to work and they spent between 1 and 10 years there. This is known as the 'sent-down youth' (SDY) program. This paper examines how this internal migration impacted rural economic development in the regions that received a larger number of SDY per capita relative to regions that received less. We find a sizeable and persistent impact of the SDY program on real per capita GDP and nighttime light in the years after the program ended. Surprisingly, although our results confirm that the SDY increased education level of relevant cohorts, the variation in the education level of these cohorts does not seem to contribute directly to rural GDP and nighttime lights. We provide suggestive evidence regarding mechanisms through which the SDY influenced rural economic development. |
| Keywords: | economic development, migration, sent-down youth, China |
| JEL: | O18 J61 R23 N00 |
| Date: | 2024–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16951&r= |
| By: | Fortin, Pierre |
| Abstract: | I study the impact of Canada's expansive immigration policy launched in 2016 on labour shortages in six regions of the country, particularly in Quebec, which enjoys some autonomy of management in this area. I look at movements of the Beveridge curve, which draws the classical inverse relation between the job vacancy rate and the unemployment rate, before, during, and after the 2020-2021 pandemic. Since immigration not only expands the supply of labour, but also adds to the demand for labour in the overall economy, its net effect on job vacancies in the aggregate is a priori uncertain. To clarify matters, I present a statistical analysis of pre- and post-pandemic data in the six Canadian regions. Results suggest that the common-sense belief that more immigration contributes to reducing economy-wide labour scarcity is wrong and constitutes a dangerous fallacy of composition. |
| Abstract: | La présente étude analyse l'effet de la politique d'immigration expansive du Canada amorcée en 2016 sur la pénurie de main-d'œuvre dans six régions du pays, et tout particulièrement au Québec, qui dispose d'une certaine autonomie de gestion en la matière. J'examine l'évolution de la courbe de Beveridge, c'est-à-dire de la relation classique inverse observée entre le taux de postes vacants et le taux de chômage, avant, pendant et après la pandémie de 2020-2021. Comme l'immigration fait augmenter non seulement l'offre de main-d'œuvre, mais aussi la demande de main-d'œuvre, son effet net sur le taux de postes vacants dans l'ensemble de l'économie est a priori incertain. Pour y voir clair, je présente une analyse statistique des données d'avant et d'après la pandémie dans les six régions du Canada. Elle tend à démontrer que l'hypothèse du « gros bon sens », voulant que plus d'immigration permet d'atténuer une pénurie de main-d'œuvre qui est généralisée dans l'économie, est fausse et constitue un dangereux sophisme de composition. |
| Keywords: | immigration, labour shortages, job vacancies, unemployment, Beveridge curve |
| JEL: | J11 J21 J23 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:clefwp:295741&r= |
| By: | Ubfal, Diego (World Bank) |
| Abstract: | Innovative women entrepreneurs can be agents of change and offer novel solutions to global challenges. However, they face multiple barriers to growing their businesses. This paper reviews the literature on strategies to support women entrepreneurs in improving their business outcomes. It focuses on interventions designed to address four areas of constraints that influence their decisions and can impact their business performance: gaps in human capital, access to finance, access to technology and markets, and contextual factors such as legal and regulatory constraints, social norms, access to care, and gender-based violence. The review concludes that evidence of modest average treatment effects and heterogeneity in treatment effects across various interventions suggest the need for more precise targeting. The multiple constraints faced by women entrepreneurs necessitates testing different packages of interventions. Moreover, the successful implementation and adoption of proposed solutions require consideration of the contextual constraints that differentially affect women-led businesses. While the review highlights several interventions that show promise in supporting women entrepreneurs, significant gaps remain in the evidence concerning the most effective strategies. |
| Keywords: | literature review, gender, entrepreneurship, women-led businesses |
| JEL: | J16 L25 L26 O12 |
| Date: | 2024–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16950&r= |
| By: | Mark Bryan (Department of Economics, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S1 4DT, UK); Andrew Bryce (Department of Economics, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S1 4DT, UK); Jennifer Roberts (Department of Economics, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S1 4DT, UK); Cristina Sechel (Department of Economics, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S1 4DT, UK) |
| Abstract: | The UK is one of the most spatially unequal countries in the developed world, and there is a long recognised need to ‘level up’ the economy. A strong case can be made to suggest that disabled people are particularly disadvantaged when living in a ‘left behind’ area and hence have the most to gain from levelling up. The disability employment gap, that is the difference between the employment rates of non-disabled people and disabled people, was 31 percentage points (pp) in Great Britain as a whole between 2014 and 2019 but ranged from 17pp to 43pp at local (ITL3) level. Using novel decomposition techniques we find that the key drivers of this spatial variation, each explaining similar shares, are local population characteristics and economic structure, including the level and nature of labour demand in geographical areas and the industry composition of the area. However, spatial variation in healthcare capacity, social capital, employer policies towards disability and the stringency of statutory welfare provision do not appear to have an effect on the gap. Our results suggest that locally adapted policies to narrow the gap may be more effective than a one-size-fits-all approach. |
| Keywords: | disability employment gap, spatial inequalities |
| JEL: | I14 J14 R12 |
| Date: | 2024–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:shf:wpaper:2024002&r= |
| By: | Mira Fischer (WZB Berlin); Philipp Lergetporer (TU Munich); Katharina Werner (ifo Institute) |
| Abstract: | Behavioral policy, such as leveraging defaults, is increasingly employed by governments worldwide, but has sometimes faced public backlash, which limits political feasibility. We conducted a survey experiment with a large, representative sample to explore how the narrative describing the psychological mechanism by which a default rule impacts a socially significant outcome affects public approval. Respondents are presented with a vignette in which an unemployed person follows a default to participate in further training. We experimentally vary the narrative about his reasons for doing so. Compared to the baseline condition in which no information on the psychological mechanism is provided, voluntary ignorance, involuntary ignorance, perceived social expectations and perceived social pressure each reduce policy approval. These factors also lead to more negative perceptions of the default rule's impact on the decision maker’s welfare and autonomy. The benign mechanism of deliberate endorsement, however, does not significantly raise approval or perceptions. We show that these findings hold irrespective of assumed preferences and discuss their practical implications. |
| Keywords: | behavioral policy; public support; psychological mechanisms; default rule; |
| JEL: | D91 D83 I31 J68 |
| Date: | 2024–05–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rco:dpaper:505&r= |
| By: | Bedaso, Fenet Jima |
| Abstract: | Domestic violence against women is a pervasive public health problem in all countries regardless of cultural, economic, and political background. Yet, the prevalence of domestic violence is very high in Sub-Saharan Africa. In this paper, I examine the effect of women's employment on domestic violence using the Demographic and Health Survey in Ethiopia. To address the endogeneity of women's employment decisions due to reverse causality, the study employs an Instrumental Variables approach by exploiting exogenous geographical variation of women's employment rate at the community level. Moreover, the estimation accounts for the characteristics of socioeconomic and climate variations at the community level using external geospatial satellite information. After accounting for the endogeneity issue, the estimation result shows that women's employment significantly reduces the risk of domestic violence. This result holds robust across different dimensions of domestic violence such as physical, sexual, and emotional violence, and for urban and rural places of residence. |
| Keywords: | Domestic violence, women employment, IV estimations, Ethiopia |
| JEL: | J12 J16 J21 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:1436&r= |