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on Microeconomic European Issues |
| By: | Corneo, Giacomo; Keese, Matthias; Schröder, Carsten |
| Abstract: | Since 2002 the German government seeks to stimulate private retirement savings by means of special allowances and tax exemptions - the so-called Riester scheme. We apply matching and panel regression techniques to assess the impact of the Riester scheme on households' propensities to save in a natural experiment framework. Estimation results from both the German Socio-Economic Panel and the SAVE study indicate that private saving was hardly affected by the introduction of the Riester scheme. -- |
| Keywords: | Household saving,Saving incentives,Retirement,Riester scheme,Coarsened exact matching |
| JEL: | D12 D14 H24 H31 I38 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:fubsbe:20103&r=eur |
| By: | Alfonso Arpaia; Nicola Curci |
| Abstract: | This paper provides an analysis of the labour market adjustment to the 2008-2009 recession. It highlights differences in the response of employment and unemployment across countries and different socioeconomic groups. For all EU Member States, it provides evidence of the developments during the crisis of the monthly job finding and separation rates. This helps to assess whether the increase in unemployment is due to an increase of job separation or to a decline in the job finding rate. The paper discusses the risks of jobless growth and compares the dynamics of unemployment and employment across different periods. It provides evidence of an asymmetric response over the cycle, with recessions being characterised by more job destruction than by job creation in the following recoveries. The analysis of the wage dynamics suggests that there has been an adjustment in the compensation per employee led by the variable component; yet, this has not been sufficient to avoid the increase in the nominal unit labour costs due to labour hoarding. |
| Keywords: | european union eu recession labour markets unemeployment Workers' flows job separation job finding rate Okun's law arpaia curci |
| JEL: | E24 E32 J6 |
| Date: | 2010–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:euf:ecopap:0405&r=eur |
| By: | Joan Canton; Åsa Johannesson Lindén |
| Abstract: | This paper discusses the level and design of support schemes used to promote renewable electricity in Europe. A theoretical model is presented to determine optimal renewable energy policies. Policies that solely aim to address environmental externalities and energy security risks are unlikely to make renewable power technologies competitive. Learning effects and spillovers are necessary to justify the need for support schemes. The analysis suggests that feed-in premiums guaranteed in addition to the electricity market price should be preferred over feed-in tariffs, which provide the eligible power producer with a guaranteed price. The premiums should be time limited and frequently reviewed. Once the technology becomes competitive, tradable green certificates would be a more suitable support instrument. As regards wind energy, the available estimates of externalities suggest that levels are probably too high in many Member States. In addition, the current promotion of photovoltaics could possibly be more cost-efficient if it targeted technology development more directly. |
| Keywords: | european union eu setzer wolff van den Noord euro area money heterogeneity money holdings |
| JEL: | Q42 Q48 H23 |
| Date: | 2010–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:euf:ecopap:0408&r=eur |
| By: | Pedro Pita Barros (Departamento de Economia, Universidade Nova de Lisboa and CEPR); Isabel Medalho Pereira (Human Development Report Office (UNDP) and CEFAGE-UE) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the performance of immigrants relative to natives, in terms of their health status, use of health care services, lifestyles, and coverage of health expenditures. We base the analysis on international evidence that identified a healthy immigrant effect, complemented by empirical research on the Portuguese National Health Survey. Furthermore, we assess whether differences in health performance depend on the personal characteristics of the individuals or can be directly associated with their migration experience. |
| Keywords: | Migration; Health status; Health care; Healthy immigrant effect; Portugal. |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cfe:wpcefa:2010_04&r=eur |
| By: | Robin, Stéphane; Schubert, Torben |
| Abstract: | We evaluate the impact of cooperation with public research institutions on firms' inno-vative activities in France and Germany, using data from the fourth Community Innova-tion Survey (CIS4). We propose an original econometric methodology, which explicitly takes into account potential estimation biases arising from self-selection and endoge-neity, and apply it to both process and product innovation. We find a positive effect of cooperation on both types of innovation. This effect is significant in both countries, but much higher in Germany than in France. Drawing on a comparison of the institutional context of cooperation across both countries, we interpret this difference as a conse-quence of the more diffusion-oriented German science policy. Finally, our robustness checks confirm the importance of controlling for selection and endogeneity. We show that these problems can be serious, and may lead to inconsistent estimates if ne-glected. -- |
| Keywords: | Public/private research partnerships,University/industry linkages,Innova-tiveness,Heckit procedure with endogenous regressors |
| JEL: | O31 O33 O38 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:fisidp:24&r=eur |
| By: | INSEL, Aysu; SUNGUR CAKMAK, Nesrin |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the link between migration and trade, focusing on Turkey as a “sending” country and the selected trading partners, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK, as the “receiving” countries in Europe. The research question is: “Do Turkish emigrants have positive impacts on the exports and imports of Turkey through preference and/or network channels.” The investigation methodology involves the fixed effect panel data analysis, and the estimation technique is the Least Squares under the assumption of the presence of cross section heteroskedasticity and the robust standard errors. This paper includes the 1980-2007 period, as well as two sub-periods, 1980-1995 and 1996-2007, in order to test the impact of the 1995 December Customs Union agreement between Turkey and EU countries. The trade function has been determined by the stock of Turkish population, per capita real income, real exchange rate, and the lagged dependent variable. It has been found that Turkish emigrants have significantly positive effect on trade mainly after the Custom Union Agreement, through the preference and network channels. |
| Keywords: | Migration; Trade; Panel data; Dynamic models; Turkey |
| JEL: | F22 C23 F14 |
| Date: | 2010–04–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:22100&r=eur |
| By: | Leon Oerlemans; René Bakker; Joris Knoben; Nardo de Vries |
| Abstract: | There has recently been noted a rapid increase in research attention to projects that involve outside project partners. Our knowledge of such inter-organizational projects, however, is limited. This paper reports large scale data from a repeated trend survey amongst 2,000 SMEs in 2006 and 2009 that focused on inter-organizational project ventures. Our major findings indicate that the overall prevalence of inter-organizational project ventures remained significant and stable over time, even despite the economic crisis. Moreover, we find that these ventures predominantly solve repetitive rather than unique tasks and are embedded in prior relations between the partnering organizations. These findings provide empirical support for the recent claims that project management should pay more attention to inter-organizational forms of project organization, and suggest that the archetypical view of projects as being unique in every respect should be reconsidered. Both have important implications for project management, especially in the area of project-based learning. |
| Date: | 2010–04–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eim:papers:h201016&r=eur |
| By: | Anna Bottasso (Department of Economics, University of Genova); Maurizio Conti (Department of Economics, University of Genova) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we analyze the cost structure of the UK airport industry by estimating a variable cost function for the period 1994-2005. Overall results suggest that the long run average costs curve is U-shaped: it decreases until passenger traffic reaches approximately five millions, it remains flat over the range between five and fourteen million passengers and afterwards it starts to increase. Moreover, our findings provide evidence consistent with the existence of some degree of overcapitalization for the largest regulated airports. Finally, we analyze whether different forms of ownership entail cost differentials across airports and we find that privately owned airports are characterized by lower costs with respect to public and mixed ones, although cost differentials shrank over time as public and mixed airports improved their rate of cost reduction. Main results are robust to unobserved heterogeneity at the airport or market level and to possible endogeneity biases. Possible regulatory and policy implications of these results are also discussed. |
| Keywords: | scale economies, public ownership, airports |
| JEL: | L25 L91 |
| Date: | 2010–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tur:wpaper:13&r=eur |
| By: | Andreas Peichl; Nico Pestel |
| Abstract: | Closely following recent innovations in the literature on the multidimensional measurement of poverty, this paper provides similar measures for the top of the distribution using a dual cutoff method to identify individuals, who can be considered as rich in a multidimensional setting. We use this framework to analyze the role of wealth, health and education, in addition to income, as dimensions of multidimensional well-being in Germany. Our analysis shows that more than half of the German population is affluent in at least one dimension and less than 1% is affluent in all four dimensions. The likelihood of being rich in all dimensions is highest for prime-aged males from the West who live in couple households without children. Mobility between different affluence counts between 2002 and 2007 is rather low and existing changes are mostly driven by health and to a lesser extent by wealth. |
| Keywords: | Affluence, multidimensional measurement, mobility, elites |
| JEL: | D31 D63 I0 I31 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp295&r=eur |
| By: | Elke Holst; Andrea Schäfer; Mechthild Schrooten |
| Abstract: | Remittances from Germany are substantial. Cross-border transfers to family and friendship networks outside Germany are not only made by foreigners. Many naturalized migrants send money home as well. Here, we focus on transnational networks and gender-specific determinants of remittances from the senders’ perspective, based on data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP) for the years 2001-2006. |
| Keywords: | Remittances, Gender, Foreigners, Naturalized Migrants |
| JEL: | F24 J16 D13 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp296&r=eur |
| By: | Fabrizio Cesaroni; Marco S. Giarratana; Ester Martínez-Ros |
| Abstract: | This work explores the factors that spur firms’ propensity to enter in international markets. Among the whole population of Spanish firms active in the pharmaceutical sector (over the period 1995-2004), we identify those firms that have entered the US market by assessing whether they have filed at least a trademark in the US Patents and Trademarks Office. By means of a hazard model, we empirically estimate which firm’s characteristics affect the probability of entry in the US market in a given year. Results show that technological capabilities (breadth and depth of firms’ patent base), and the firm’s cost structure explain the entry in the US market with a branded product. Moreover, our evidence shows that entry strategies based on differentiation advantage (technological diversification) and strategies based on cost advantage (scale economies) are exclusive and do not mix well each other |
| Keywords: | Foreign market entry, Internationalization strategies, Firm-Specific advantages, Competitive advantage, Innovation and R&D, Patents, Trademarks |
| JEL: | F23 |
| Date: | 2010–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cte:werepe:we101103&r=eur |
| By: | Kamil Dybczak; Bartosz Przywara |
| Abstract: | Total health care expenditure in the EU countries accounts for between 4 and 11% of GDP, out of which between 3 and 9% of GDP is financed from public sources. As it accounts for between 10 and 18 % of total government spending, health care is therefore among the most significant items of social public expenditure. In addition, public expenditure on health care has been growing over most of the second half of the 20th century, not only in absolute terms, but also in relation to the national income.The paper analyses past developments of health care expenditure in EU Member States. The methodology used expands the set of standard explanatory variables, such as demographic structure, income and health status of the population, by a variable characterising the effect of the technological progress on health care spending.Subsequently the paper provides a projection of the long-term development of health care expenditure, with the methodology based on the EC-EPC model extended by the impact of technological development. |
| Keywords: | Baltic States financial accelerator dynamic general equilibrium Roeger Lendvai External Deficits in the Baltics 1995 to 2007 Catching Up or Imbalances |
| JEL: | I1 H51 J11 |
| Date: | 2010–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:euf:ecopap:0400&r=eur |