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on Microeconomic European Issues |
| By: | Álvaro Choi (Universitat de Barcelona & IEB); Jorge Calero (Universitat de Barcelona & IEB) |
| Abstract: | In 2009 the European Council published its Europe 2020 Strategy in which it fixed a number of social, educational and economic targets to be achieved by 2020. However, given the current economic crisis, the majority of European countries are struggling to attain these goals. In this framework, this study seeks to quantify the potential contribution of one of the most disadvantaged groups, Europe’s disabled, to the attainment of the Europe 2020 Strategy targets via the monitoring of a number of indicators. The impact of changes in the situation of the disabled is simulated using micro data drawn from the 2009 European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions. Our results show that improving the socioeconomic situation of the disabled could be crucial for attaining the Europe 2020 targets. However, future policy designs at the national level will need to take into account the actual definition of disability that is employed, the heterogeneity of circumstances to be found within such a definition, and the gap between the situation of the disabled and non disabled populations. |
| Keywords: | Social inclusion, sustainable development, disability, education, European Union |
| JEL: | I14 I24 I32 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ieb:wpaper:2012/5/doc2012-16&r=eur |
| By: | Koop, Gary; Tole, Lise |
| Abstract: | In an effort to meet its obligations under the Kyoto Protocol, in 2005 the European Union introduced a cap-and-trade scheme where mandated installations are allocated permits to emit CO2. Financial markets have developed that allow companies to trade these carbon permits. For the EU to achieve reductions in CO2 emissions at a minimum cost, it is necessary that companies make appropriate investments and policymakers design optimal policies. In an effort to clarify the workings of the carbon market, several recent papers have attempted to statistically model it. However, the European carbon market (EU ETS) has many institutional features that potentially impact on daily carbon prices (and associated nancial futures). As a consequence, the carbon market has properties that are quite different from conventional financial assets traded in mature markets. In this paper, we use dynamic model averaging (DMA) in order to forecast in this newly-developing market. DMA is a recently-developed statistical method which has three advantages over conventional approaches. First, it allows the coefficients on the predictors in a forecasting model to change over time. Second, it allows for the entire fore- casting model to change over time. Third, it surmounts statistical problems which arise from the large number of potential predictors that can explain carbon prices. Our empirical results indicate that there are both important policy and statistical bene ts with our approach. Statistically, we present strong evidence that there is substantial turbulence and change in the EU ETS market, and that DMA can model these features and forecast accurately compared to conventional approaches. From a policy perspective, we discuss the relative and changing role of different price drivers in the EU ETS. Finally, we document the forecast performance of DMA and discuss how this relates to the efficiency and maturity of this market. |
| Keywords: | Bayesian, carbon permit trading, fi nancial markets, state space model, model averaging, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:edn:sirdps:261&r=eur |
| By: | Giovanni Marin (IMT Lucca Institute for Advanced Studies) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the patterns of emission efficiency (value added per emission) growth of 23 manufacturing sectors in 12 European countries with a focus on five emissions (CO2, NOx, NMVOC, SOx and CO). Emission efficiency growth is expected to be triggered by improvements in the efficiency of frontier countries through the diffusion of better technologies to laggard countries. This effect is likely to differ according to the distance from the frontier country. Finally, the role of productivity patterns (Total Factor Productivity) and energy prices dynamics is assessed. Results based on the European NAMEA (National Accounting Matrix including Environmental Accounts) further merged with sector accounts highlight significant spillovers from leaders in emission efficiency and a general tendency to converge for laggard countries and sectors (except for NMVOC emission efficiency). Energy prices weakly induce improvements in emission efficiency, with the effect being generally stronger for sectors and countries farther away from the emission efficiency frontier. Finally, total factor productivity (TFP) is strongly correlated with emission efficiency while the distance from TFP frontier significantly harms emission efficiency growth. |
| Keywords: | convergence, environmental efficiency, NAMEA, technological diffusion |
| JEL: | Q55 Q56 O33 |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ial:wpaper:2&r=eur |
| By: | Holter, Hans A (Uppsala Center for Fiscal Studies); Chakraborty, Indraneel (Southern Methodist University); Stepanchuk, Serhiy (Magyar Nemzeti Bank) |
| Abstract: | Americans work more than Europeans. Using micro data from the U.S. and 17 European countries, we study the contributions from demographic subgroups to these aggregate level dierences. We document that women are typically the largest contributors to the discrepancy in work hours. We also document a negative empirical correlation between hours worked and dierent measures of taxation, driven by men, and a positive correlation between hours worked and divorce rates, driven by women. Motivated by these observations, we develop a life-cycle model with heterogeneous agents, marriage and divorce and use it to study the impact of two mechanisms on labor supply: (i) dierences in marriage stability and (ii) dierences in tax systems. We calibrate the model to U.S. data and study how labor supply in the U.S. changes as we introduce European tax systems, and as we replace the U.S. divorce and marriage rates with their European equivalents. We nd that the divorce and tax mechanisms combined explain 58% of the variation in labor supply between the U.S. and the European countries in our sample. |
| Keywords: | Aggregate Labor Supply; Taxation; Marriage; Divorce; Heterogeneous Households |
| JEL: | E24 E62 H24 H31 J21 J22 |
| Date: | 2012–05–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:uufswp:2012_007&r=eur |
| By: | Piacentino, Davide |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates sources of product or process innovation, such as investments in research and development, machinery, personnel training and management systems, by examining microdata from eight European countries. We pay particular attention to the effect of research and development in favouring the absorption of new technologies, i.e. the absorptive capacity. Significant positive effects of each source on both product and process innovations are found. Significant evidence of positive absorptive capacity emerges only in firms with low predicted probabilities of introducing innovation. |
| Keywords: | Innovation; Absorption; Microdata; European countries |
| JEL: | D21 O32 O31 |
| Date: | 2012–05–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:39110&r=eur |
| By: | Mine Hancioglu; Bastian Hartmann |
| Abstract: | To explore single mothers' labor market participation we analyze specific circumstances and dynamics in their life courses. We focus on the question which individual and institutional factors determine both professional advancement and professional descent. Due to dynamics in women's life course identifying and analyzing restrictions and interruptions of employment requires a longitudinal research design. The German Socio-Economic Panel (1984-2009) provides all necessary information identifying episodes of single motherhood and employment during life courses. Since family statuses of single mothers are partially endogenous and can end in multiple ways, we use semi-parametric survival models. Competing risks estimations offer a detailed view by analyzing single mothers' transition from not being employed to full-time or part-time work and vice versa simultaneously. Estimates show that occupational careers of single mothers are influenced by both individual factors and institutional circumstances. Whereas specific problems occur shortly after becoming a single mother, these problems seem to be dealt with over time. Enhancing labor market participation or maintaining full-time employment as a single mother can be achieved when certain challenges are met such as appointed and reliable working hours. Single mothers that do not have to rely on public childcare arrangements, but are capable of finding individual solutions are more likely to balance work and family life. Among institutional determinants welfare benefits have a negative effect on the market labor participation of women in low-paid jobs. |
| Keywords: | Single mothers, labor supply, event history analysis, Cox-regression |
| JEL: | C14 C23 J12 J13 J16 J22 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp446&r=eur |
| By: | Giovanni Marin (IMT Lucca Institute for Advanced Studies) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the patterns of emission efficiency (value added per emission) growth of 23 manufacturing sectors in 12 European countries with a focus on five emissions (CO2, NOx, NMVOC, SOx and CO). Emission efficiency growth is expected to be triggered by improvements in the efficiency of frontier countries through the diffusion of better technologies to laggard countries. This effect is likely to differ according to the distance from the frontier country. Finally, the role of productivity patterns (Total Factor Productivity) and energy prices dynamics is assessed. Results based on the European NAMEA (National Accounting Matrix including Environmental Accounts) further merged with sector accounts highlight significant spillovers from leaders in emission efficiency and a general tendency to converge for laggard countries and sectors (except for NMVOC emission efficiency). Energy prices weakly induce improvements in emission efficiency, with the effect being generally stronger for sectors and countries farther away from the emission efficiency frontier. Finally, total factor productivity (TFP) is strongly correlated with emission efficiency while the distance from TFP frontier significantly harms emission efficiency growth. |
| Keywords: | patents, CDM model, eco-innovation, crowding out |
| JEL: | Q55 L60 O30 |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ial:wpaper:3&r=eur |
| By: | Busch, Anne (DIW Berlin); Holst, Elke (DIW Berlin) |
| Abstract: | The paper analyzes the gender pay gap in private-sector management positions based on German panel data and using fixed-effects models. It deals with the effect of occupational sex segregation on wages, and the extent to which wage penalties for managers in predominantly female occupations are moderated by firm size. Drawing on economic and organizational approaches and the devaluation of women's work, we find wage penalties for female occupations in management only in large firms. This indicates a pronounced devaluation of female occupations, which might be due to the longer existence, stronger formalization, or more established "old-boy networks" of large firms. |
| Keywords: | gender pay gap, managerial positions, occupational sex segregation, gendered organization, firm size |
| JEL: | B54 J16 J24 J31 J71 L2 M51 |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6568&r=eur |
| By: | Mario Coccia (Ceris - Institute for Economic Research on Firms and Growth,Turin, Italy) |
| Abstract: | The study here analyzes, across European countries, the relationship between labour and drivers of technological innovation, also considering the interaction of these variables with the structural indicator of the public debt. The main findings are: the fruitful effect of total public expenditure on education as a percentage of GDP and R&D intensity on employment rate, whereas an increase of general government consolidated gross debt has a negative effect for employment rate as well as for technology proxies. Empirical evidence provides some elements to discuss main economic policy implications from relationships between observed facts. |
| JEL: | J01 J08 I20 H63 O30 O33 |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csc:cerisp:201206&r=eur |
| By: | Ernest Miguélez |
| Abstract: | In this paper, I aim to assess the influence of spatial mobility of knowledge workers on the formation of ties of scientific and industrial collaboration across European regions. Co-location has been traditionally invoked to ease formal collaboration between individuals and firms. Tie formation is costly and decreases as distance between the partners involved increases, making ties between co-located individuals more likely than between spatially separated peers. In some instances, highly-skilled actors might become mobile and bridge regional networks across long physical distances. The effect of trust and mutual understanding between members of a co-located community may well survive the end of their co-localisation, and therefore the formation of networks across the space may overcome long distances. In this paper I estimate a fixed effects logit model to ascertain whether there exists a ‘previous co-location premium’ in the formation of networks across European regions. The role of mobility in network formation has been lately discussed elsewhere, but, to my knowledge, barely empirically tested. |
| Keywords: | inventors’ mobility, technological collaborations, co-location, brain drain, panel data |
| JEL: | C8 J61 O31 O33 R0 |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:1208&r=eur |
| By: | Silvia Maja Melzer; Ruud J. Muffels |
| Abstract: | The German reunification, which several economists have called a 'natural' experiment, provides the unique possibility to inquire the impact of migration on subjective well-being (SWB). The main goal of the research is to assessing the impact of adaptation, social comparison and relative deprivation on the change in SWB associated with moving from Eastern to Western Germany after the German reunification in 1989. We suspect that the gains or losses in subjective well-being after migration are affected by the way migrants adapt to their new economic conditions, by with whom migrants compare themselves (that is, their reference group), their former peers in the East or their new peers in the West, and how well they integrate into the new society, that means whether they are relatively deprived with respect to earnings or not. We estimate fixed- and random-effects Generalized Least Square panel regression models. Our results indicate a positive and lasting effect of migration on SWB, although it is strongly suppressed by dissatisfaction resulting from the comparison of migrants' income with the incomes of their former peers in East Germany and the relatively higher earnings of their new peers in West Germany. Moreover, our analyses provide an explanation for the increase of SWB associated with an increase in income found in East Germany after the reunification; a deviation from the Easterlins' paradox. |
| Keywords: | Migration, subjective well-being, happiness, social comparison, adaptation, relative deprivation, German panel data, panel regression models, natural experiment |
| JEL: | I32 J24 J61 J62 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp448&r=eur |
| By: | Rafael Boix; Jose-Luis Hervas-Oliver; Blanca De Miguel-Molina |
| Abstract: | What makes special the geography of the clusters of creative industries (CI)? This paper considers the symbolic knowledge-base and the preference for location in urban spaces observed in those clusters. The study avoids classic research designs based on synthetic knowledge bases and regional-based administrative-constrained design, using instead micro-data (550,000 firms in creative industries) and geo-statistical algorithms. Results contribute to the economic geography by: (i) providing a specific observation of the spatial dimension (where) in the cluster theory; (ii) identifying and mapping the clusters of CI in Europe; (iii) exploring particular forms of agglomeration and co-location (urban and non-urban) followed by clusters of CI. Results present implications for scholars and policy-makers suggesting to stress the articulation of within and between-cluster policy strategies for existing clusters rather than fostering the generation of new clusters. |
| Keywords: | creative industries, clusters, symbolic knowledge, micro-data, geolocalization |
| JEL: | R12 C49 Z0 |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:1209&r=eur |
| By: | Harhoff, Dietmar; Mueller, Elisabeth; Van Reenen, John |
| Abstract: | Innovation processes within corporations increasingly tap into international technology sources, yet little is known about the relative contribution of different types of innovation channels. We investigate the effectiveness of different types of international technology sourcing activities using survey information on German companies complemented with information from the European Patent Office. German firms with inventors based in the US disproportionately benefit from R&D knowledge located in the US. The positive influence on total factor productivity is larger if the research of the inventors results in co-applications of patents with US companies. Moreover, research cooperation with American suppliers also enables German firms to better tap into US R&D, but cooperation with customers and competitors does not appear to aid technology sourcing. The results suggest that the brain drain to the US can have upsides for corporations tapping into American know-how. -- |
| Keywords: | technology sourcing,knowledge spillovers,productivity,open innovation |
| JEL: | O32 O33 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:fsfmwp:187&r=eur |
| By: | Heyman, Fredrik (Research Institute of Industrial Economics); Gustavsson Tingvall, Patrik (The Ratio Institute) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we analyze how the offshoring of services by Swedish firms is affected by corruption in target economies. The results suggest that firms avoid corrupt countries and that corruption reduces the amount of offshored services. In addition, the sensitivity to corruption is highest for poor countries, and large and internationalized firms are the ones that tend to be the most sensitive to corruption. |
| Keywords: | Corruption; Services; Offshoring; Gravity model; Firm level data |
| JEL: | C23 D22 F23 L24 |
| Date: | 2012–05–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ratioi:0192&r=eur |
| By: | Eric Delattre; Jean-Baptiste Combès; Bob Elliott; Diane Skatun (THEMA, Universite de Cergy-Pontoise; Health Economics Research Unit, University of Aberdeen; Health Economics Research Unit, University of Aberdeen; Health Economics Research Unit, University of Aberdeen) |
| Abstract: | Research has shown that where nurses’ wages are regulated but wages in other sectors are not this results in spatial variations in the competitiveness of nurses pay and that in England these are correlated with spatial differences in nurses’ labour supply. In France there is general regulation of wages and public hospitals compete with the private hospital and non hospital sectors for nurses. We construct and employ a unique dataset on nurses pay and the characteristics of hospitals in France. We undertake the first study of the impact of spatial wage differentials on nursing supply to French public hospitals. We show that nurse assistants’ labour supply is sensitive to spatial wage differentials, the more competitive their pay the smaller the shortage of nurse assistants, and that registered nurses and nurse assistants labour supply are interdependent, the greater the supply of nurse assistants the greater the supply of registered nurses. |
| Keywords: | Wage regulation, local pay, standardised spatial wage differentials, nursing shortage, nursing labour supply |
| JEL: | I12 I18 J31 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ema:worpap:2012-35&r=eur |
| By: | Giulia Faggio; Olmo Silva |
| Abstract: | Research on entrepreneurship often uses information on self-employment to proxy for business creation and innovative behaviour. However, little evidence has been collected on the link between these measures. In this paper, we use data from the UK Labour Force Survey (LFS) combined with data from the Business Structure Database (BSD), and the Community Innovation Survey (CIS) to study the relation between self-employment, business creation and innovation. In order to do so, we aggregate individual and firm-level data at the Travel-to-Work Area (TTWA) and investigate how the incidence of self-employment correlates with the density of business start-ups and innovative firms. Our results show that in urban areas a higher incidence of self-employment positively and strongly correlates with more business creation and innovation, but this is not true for rural areas. Further analysis suggests that this urban/rural divide is related to lack of employment opportunities in rural areas, which might push some workers into self-employment as a last resort option. |
| Keywords: | Entrepreneurship, self-employment, spatial distribution |
| JEL: | L26 J21 R12 R23 |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:sercdp:0109&r=eur |
| By: | Stefania Marcassa (THEMA, Universite de Cergy-Pontoise) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the conditional probability of leaving unemployment of French married individuals from 1991 to 2002. We nd that the eect of spousal labor income on unemployment duration is asymmetric for men and women. In particular, the probability of men to nd a job is increasing in wife labor income, while it is decreasing in husband's earnings for women. To adjust for endogenous selection into marriage, we use the occupation of the fathers in-law as an instrumental variable for the spousal wage. Finally, we show that introducing a breadwinner stigma in a joint job search model generates the positive correlation observed for men in the data. |
| Keywords: | unemployment duration, hazard models, labor income, marriage, joint search theory |
| JEL: | J12 J64 J65 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ema:worpap:2012-31&r=eur |
| By: | Nina Neubecker; Marcel Smolka; Anne Steinbacher |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the role of ethnic communities in shaping the recent immigration boom to Spain. We find that ethnic communities exerted a strong positive effect on the scale and a strong negative effect on the skill structure of this immigration. Unlike previous studies, we explicitly acknowledge similarities among final migration destinations and thus partly relax the independence of irrelevant alternatives assumption. We strengthen our causal interpretation by controlling for observed and unobserved heterogeneity in bilateral migration costs, and by adopting an instrumental variables approach. Our results suggest that previous estimates of the scale effect are upward-biased by approximately 50%. |
| Keywords: | international migration, ethnic networks, family and friends effect, skill structure of migration, Spain |
| JEL: | F22 |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iaw:iawdip:83&r=eur |
| By: | Gerhard Untiedt (GEFRA - Gesellschaft fuer Finanz- und Regionalanalysen); John Bradley (EMDS - Economic Modelling and Development Strategies) |
| Abstract: | Unlike the single European market and the single currency, EU cohesion policy – although the subject of major reforms at the end of the 1980s - has never been ex-posed to as rigorous investigation and research about its objectives and impact evaluation as the other two policy initiatives. As a result, the cohesion policy cycle consisting of design, implementation, monitoring and impact evaluation shows weaknesses at all of its stages, but especially at the microeconomic and macroeco-nomic level. In this paper we look at the different issues that influence approaches to EU cohesion policy, critique the way the policy cycle is implemented in practice, and conclude that a more rigorous and systematic approach is necessary and feasi-ble in order to justify the interventions in terms of returns to the investments. |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gef:wpaper:7-2012&r=eur |
| By: | Marco Bertoni; Giorgio Brunello; Lorenzo Rocco |
| Abstract: | Using a natural experiment designed by the Italian national test administrator (INVALSI) to monitor test procedures in Italian primary schools, this paper shows that the presence of an external examiner who monitors test procedures has both a direct and an indirect effect on the measured performance of monitored classes and schools. The direct effect is the difference in the test performance between classes of the same school with and without external examiners. The indirect effect is instead the difference in performance between un-monitored classes in a school with an external examiner and un-monitored classes in schools without external monitoring. We find that having an external examiner in the class reduces the proportion of correct answers by 5.5 to 8.6 percent compared to classes in schools with no external monitor, and by 1.2 to 1.9 percent compared to un-monitored classes of the same school. The size of the overall effect of external supervision varies significantly across regions and it is highest in Southern Italy. |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dpr:wpaper:0845&r=eur |