|
on Unemployment, Inequality and Poverty |
|
Issue of 2022‒05‒02
three papers chosen by |
| By: | Ernst Fehr; Thomas Epper; Julien Senn |
| Abstract: | Increasing inequality and associated egalitarian sentiments have again put redistribution on the political agenda. Other-regarding preferences may also affect support for redistribution, but knowledge about their distribution in the broader population and how they are associated with political support for redistributive policies is still scarce. In this paper, we take advantage of Swiss direct democracy, where people voted several times on strongly redistributive policies in national plebiscites, to study the link between other-regarding preferences and support for redistribution in a broad sample of the Swiss population. We document that inequality aversion and altruistic concerns play a quantitatively large positive role in the support for redistribution, in particular for more affluent individuals. In addition, previously identified key motives underlying opposition to redistribution – such as the belief that effort is an important driver of individual success – play no role for selfish individuals but are highly relevant for altruistic and egalitarian individuals. Finally, while inequality averse individuals display strong support for policies that primarily aim at reducing the incomes of the rich, altruistic individuals are considerably less supportive of such policies. Thus, knowledge about the fundamental properties and the distribution of individuals’ other-regarding preferences also provides a deeper understanding about who is likely to support specific redistributive policies. |
| Keywords: | social preferences, altruism, inequality aversion, preference heterogeneity, demand for redistribution |
| JEL: | D31 D72 H23 H24 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_9545&r= |
| By: | Clark, Andrew E.; D'Ambrosio, Conchita; Lepinteur, Anthony |
| Abstract: | Job insecurity is one of the risks that workers face on the labour market. As with any risk, individuals can choose to insure against it. We here consider marriage as a way of insuring against labour-market risk. The 1999 rise in the French Delalande tax, paid by large private firms when they laid off workers aged 50 or over, led to an exogenous rise in job insecurity for the uncovered (younger workers) in the affected firms. A difference-in-differences analysis using French panel data reveals that this greater job insecurity for the under-50s led to a significant rise in their probability of marriage, and especially when the partner had greater job security, consistent with marriage providing insurance against labour-market risk. |
| Keywords: | marriage; insurance; employment protection; perceived job security; difference-in-differences |
| JEL: | I38 J13 J18 |
| Date: | 2021–06–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:113928&r= |
| By: | Manning, Alan; Mazeine, Graham |
| Abstract: | There is a widespread belief that work is less secure than in the past, that an increasing share of workers are part of the “precariat”. It is hard to find much evidence for this in objective measures of job security, but perhaps subjective measures show different trends. This paper shows that in the US, UK, and Germany workers feel as secure as they ever have in the last thirty years. This is partly because job insecurity is very cyclical and (pre-COVID) unemployment rates very low, but there is also no clear underlying trend towards increased subjective measures of job insecurity. This conclusion seems robust to controlling for the changing mix of the labor force, and is true for specific sub-sets of workers. |
| JEL: | J28 |
| Date: | 2022–01–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:114258&r= |