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on Microeconomic European Issues |
| By: | Simonetta Longhi (Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of Essex); Magdalena Rokicka (Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of Essex) |
| Abstract: | The 2004 accession of Eastern European countries (EU8) to the European Union has generated concerns about the influx of low-skill immigrants to the Western member states (EU15). Only three countries, namely Ireland, Sweden, and the UK, did not impose restrictions to immigration from Eastern Europe. Did the elimination of barrier to immigration have an impact on the quality of immigrants arriving to the UK? Using EU15 immigrants as a control group, we find systematic differences between EU8 immigrants arrived before and after the enlargement. The elimination of barriers to immigration seems to have changed the quantity and quality of EU8 immigrants to the UK. |
| Keywords: | EU enlargement; East-West migration, UK labour market, self-selection. |
| JEL: | F22 J30 J61 |
| Date: | 2012–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nor:wpaper:2012030&r=eur |
| By: | Schneeweis, Nicole (University of Linz); Skirbekk, Vegard (University of Rostock); Winter-Ebmer, Rudolf (University of Linz) |
| Abstract: | We study the relationship between education and cognitive functioning at older ages by exploiting compulsory schooling reforms, implemented in six European countries during the 1950s and 1960s. Using data of individuals aged 50+ from the Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), we assess the causal effect of education on old-age memory, fluency, numeracy, orientation and dementia. We find a positive impact of schooling on memory. One year of education increases the delayed memory score by about 0.3, which amounts to 16% of the standard deviation. Furthermore, for women, we find that more education reduces the risk of dementia. |
| Keywords: | compulsory schooling, instrumental variables, education, cognitive functioning, memory, aging, dementia |
| JEL: | I21 J14 |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6958&r=eur |
| By: | Dubois, Maarten (KU Leuven, HUBrussel) |
| Abstract: | Although intra-European trade of combustible waste has grown strongly in the last decade, incineration and landfill taxes remain heterogeneous within Europe. A review of taxation schemes in North Western Europe shows that current heterogeneity does not constitute a level playing field for waste processing industries in different regions. The paper proposes a more coherent taxation strategy for Europe that is based on the principle of Pigovian taxation. The strategy aims to create a level playing field between European regions while reinforcing incentives for sustainable management of combustible waste. Three important policy recommendations emerge. First, integrating waste incineration into the European carbon Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) reduces the risk of tax competition between regions. Second, because taxation of every single air pollutant from waste incineration is cumbersome, a differentiated waste incineration tax based on NOx emissions can serve as a second-best instrument. Finally, in order to strengthen incentives for ash treatment, a landfill tax should apply for landfilled incineration residues. An example illustrates the coherence of the policy recommendations for incineration technologies with diverse environmental effects. |
| Date: | 2012–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hub:wpecon:201236&r=eur |
| By: | Aleksandra Parteka (Gdansk University of Technology, Gdansk, Poland) |
| Abstract: | This paper proposes an alternative approach to the empirical study of wage gap between workers with different educational levels in the enlarged EU. The analysis is based on sectoral database, linking labor market statistics and trade data at the level of 12 manufacturing sectors in a group of 20 European countries: selected New Member States (NMS-5) and former EU-15 economies, in the period 1995-2005. The results of the empirical model suggest that wage inequality between workers with academic education and lower is associated mainly with domestic (and not foreign) labor market conditions and, to a lower extent, to trade forces. Degree of trade penetration affects skilled-unskilled wage gaps but we do not find significant wage effects of imports from less developed EU countries. The same result is confirmed when we consider trade in intermediates and outsourcing practices in Europe. |
| Keywords: | wage inequality, skills, integration |
| JEL: | C62 F16 J31 |
| Date: | 2012–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iro:wpaper:1204&r=eur |
| By: | Mette Asmild (Institute of Food and Resource Economics, University of Copenhagen); Kurt Nielsen (Institute of Food and Resource Economics, University of Copenhagen); Peter Bogetoft (Department of Economics, Copenhagen Business School) |
| Abstract: | This paper analysis the competitiveness of Danish dairy farmers relative to dairy farmers in other Northern European countries. We use individual farm accounts data from the European Commission’s Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) and have an average of 1665 observations per year in the period from 2002 to 2008. In all years, the hourly pay for labour is highest in Denmark and the difference is increasing, especially in 2007 and 2008. We apply Data Envelopment Analysis in a new way to capture the effect on the competitiveness from these differences in labour costs. We compare the distributions of efficiency scores in different countries to assess their relative competitiveness. To analyze the effect of labour costs we apply two different DEA models; one including the labour input as hours worked and the other including labour costs. This way we capture the effect of labour costs on the differences in average efficiencies between countries. The results shows that the Danish dairy farmers, on average, were the most economically efficient in Northern Europe in 2007 and 2008. We find that the effect of labour costs for the Danish dairy farmers is decreasing during the study period despite of the salary differences increasing. In 2002 the negative impact of having the highest hourly pay was an average 4.7 percentage points whereas it in 2008 was only 0.6 percentage points.This indicates that the Danish dairy farmers have been highly successful in adapting to having the highest, and increasing, hourly labour costs in Northern Europe. |
| Keywords: | International benchmarking, Data Envelopment Analysis, Agriculture, FADN data |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:foi:msapwp:01_2012&r=eur |
| By: | Francesco LISSONI (GREThA, CNRS, UMR 5113); Fabio MONTOBBIO (KITeS, Université BOCCONI - Milan) |
| Abstract: | This paper compares the value and impact of academic patents in five European countries with different institutional frameworks: Denmark, France, Italy, the Netherlands, and Sweden. Ownership patterns of academic patents are found to: (i) differ greatly across country, due to a combination of legal norms on IP and institutional features of the university system; (ii) be strongly associated to academic patents\' value, as measured by patent citations. Company-owned academic patents tend to be as cited as non-academic ones, while university-owned tend to be less cited. Academic patents in the Netherlands are more cited than non-academic ones, irrespective to their ownership, while university-owned patents get fewer citations in both France and Italy. We propose an explanation of these results based on the different autonomy and experience in dealing with IP and technology transfer enjoyed by universities in the countries considered. We also find that company-owned academic patents in Sweden get many fewer citations than non-academic. Individually-owned academic patents are more cited than non-academic patents similarly owned by their inventors. |
| Keywords: | Academic patents, Academic entrepreneurship, Patent citations, University system, Technology Transfer, Professor privilege |
| JEL: | O31 O32 O33 O34 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:grt:wpegrt:2012-24&r=eur |
| By: | Turrini, Alessandro (European Commission) |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates the impact of fiscal consolidation on unemployment and job market flows across EU countries using a recent database of consolidation episodes built on the basis of a “narrative” approach (Devries et al., 2011). Results show that the impact of fiscal consolidation on cyclical unemployment is temporary and significant mostly for expenditure measures. As expected, the impact of fiscal policy shocks on job separation rates is much stronger in low-EPL countries, while high-EPL countries suffer from a stronger reduction in the rate at which new jobs are created. Since a reduced job-finding rate corresponds to a longer average duration of unemployment spells, fiscal policy shocks also tend to have a stronger impact on long-term unemployment if EPL is stricter. Results are broadly confirmed when using "top-down" fiscal consolidation measures based on adjusting budgetary data for the cycle. |
| Keywords: | fiscal consolidation, unemployment, job market flows, employment protection legislation, labour market reforms |
| JEL: | E62 J63 J65 |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izapps:pp47&r=eur |
| By: | Caminada, Koen; Goudswaard, Kees; Wang, Chen |
| Abstract: | In most OECD countries the gap between rich and poor has widened over the past decades. This paper analyzes whether and to what extent taxes and social transfers have contributed to this trend. Has the redistributive power of different social programs changed over time? The paper contributes to the literature by disentangling several parts of fiscal redistribution in a comparative setting. We use micro-data from the Luxembourg Income Study to examine household market inequality, redistribution from transfers and taxes, and the underlying social programs that drive the changes, for 20 countries from the mid-1980s to mid-2000s. The contribution of each program is estimated using a sequential accounting budget incidence decomposition technique. The aim of this paper is to offer detailed information on the redistributive impact of social transfer programs. We focus on changes in fiscal redistribution of 13 different social programs and taxes. We observe a sizeable increase in primary household inequality in all 20 countries over the last 25 years (except Ireland). In most countries, the extent of redistribution has increased too. Tax-benefit systems have offset two-third of the average increase in primary income inequality, although they appear to have become less effective in doing so since the mid-1990s. We find that the public old age pensions and the survivors scheme attribute 60 percent to the increase of redistribution during the period 1985-2005 for a subset of countries considered (with full tax/benefit information). Social assistance accounts for 20 percent, and the benefits for sickness, disease, and disability account for around 13 percent of the total increase in redistribution. Other transfers (invalid career benefits, education benefits, child care cash benefits and other child and family benefits) account for 22 percent of the total increase in redistribution. On the contrary, taxes slowed down redistribution by 17 percent during 1985-2005. |
| Keywords: | welfare states; social income transfers; inequality; Gini coefficient; LIS |
| JEL: | H55 H53 I32 |
| Date: | 2012–09–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:42350&r=eur |
| By: | Angela Cheptea; Lionel Fontagné; Soledad Zignago |
| Abstract: | Competitiveness has come to the forefront of the policy debate within the European Union, focusing on price competitiveness and intra-EU imbalances. But how to measure competitiveness properly, beyond price or cost competitiveness, remains an open methodological issue; and how can we explain the resilience of producers located in the EU to the competition of emerging economies? We analyze the redistribution of world market shares at the level of the product variety, as countries no longer specialize in sectors or even products, but in varieties of the same product, sold at dierent prices. We decompose changes in market shares into structural eects (geographical and sectoral) and a pure performance eect. Our method is based on an econometric shift-share decomposition and we regard the EU-27 as an integrated economy, excluding intra-EU trade. Revisiting the competitiveness issue in such a perspective sheds new light on the ongoing debate. From 1995 to 2009 the EU-27 withstood the competition from emerging countries better than the US and Japan. The EU market shares in the upper price range of the market proved quite resilient, by combining good performance and favorable structure eects, unlike the US and Japan. Finally, while most developed countries lose market shares in high-technology products to developing countries, the EU is slightly gaining, beneting of a favorable structure eect. |
| Keywords: | International Trade, Export Performance, Competitiveness, Market Shares, Shift-Share, European Union |
| JEL: | F12 F15 |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cii:cepidt:2012-19&r=eur |
| By: | Belit Saka |
| Abstract: | This paper deals with long distance internal migration patterns of the immigrant population in Germany and addresses the question whether immigrants are more mobile than native Germans and to what extent the differences in spatial mobility behavior between immi-grants and native Germans are influenced by a) individual level characteristics, b) macro level regional economic characteristics and c) regional ties. The analysis shows in general a very low rate of long distance internal migration in Germany for native Germans as well as for immigrants. Even after controlling for individual and regional level characteristics, the immigrant population is half as mobile as native Germans. The results are more robust for the 2nd generation immigrants. |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp495&r=eur |
| By: | Böhlmark, Anders (SOFI, Stockholm University); Lindahl, Mikael (Department of Economics, Uppsala University) |
| Abstract: | This paper evaluates average educational performance effects of an expanding independent- school sector at the compulsory level by assessing a radical voucher reform that was implemented in Sweden in 1992. Starting from a situation where all public schools were essentially local monopolists, the degree of independent schools has developed very differently across municipalities over time as a result of this reform. We regress the change in educational performance outcomes on the increase in the share of independent-school students between Swedish municipalities. We find that an increase in the share of independent-school students improves average performance at the end of compulsory school as well as long-run educational outcomes. We show that these effects are very robust with respect to a number of potential issues, such as grade inflation and pre-reform trends. However, for most outcomes, we do not detect positive and statistically significant effects until approximately a decade after the reform. This is notable, but not surprising given that it took time for independent schools to become more than a marginal phenomenon in Sweden. We do not find positive effects on school expenditures. Hence, the educational performance effects are interpretable as positive effects on school productivity. We further find that the average effects primarily are due to external effects (e.g., school competition), and not that independent-school students gain significantly more than public-school students. |
| Keywords: | School choice; independent schools; educational performance; external effects |
| JEL: | H40 I21 |
| Date: | 2012–10–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2012_019&r=eur |
| By: | Dieckhoener, Caroline (Energiewirtschaftliches Institut an der Universitaet zu Koeln) |
| Abstract: | Improving energy efficiency is one of the three pillars of the European energy and climate targets for 2020 and has led to the introduction of several policy measures to promote energy efficiency. The paper analyzes the effectiveness of subsidies in increasing energy efficiency in residential dwellings. An empirical analysis is conducted in which the effectiveness of subsidies on the number of dwelling modernizations is investigated. Next, the impact of renovations on energy consumption is analyzed using a differences-indifferences-in-differences approach for modernizations made in given subsidy program periods, as well as for ownership status and household types for more than 5000 German households between 1992 and 2010. By controlling for socio-economic status, dwelling characteristics and macro-indicators, it becomes apparent that homeowners invest signi ficantly more and have significantly lower heating expenditures than their tenant counterparts. Thus, the landlord-tenant problem tends to broaden the energy efficiency gap. It is also found that the number of modernizations made by landlords does not increase with higher subsidies. However, the renovations made during the subsidy periods decrease the heating consumption of tenants. Given the conditions that homeowners already invest more in energy efficiency, they increase modernizations only slightly with increasing subsides. However, these modernizations during subsidy periods do not further decrease homeowners' energy consumption. Thus, the large part of the overall subsidies received by homeowners can be identifi ed as windfall pro ts. |
| Keywords: | Household behavior; econometric analysis; energy efficiency; demand modelling |
| JEL: | D12 Q51 R21 |
| Date: | 2012–10–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:ewikln:2012_017&r=eur |
| By: | Peter Mühlau (Institute for International Integration Studies, Trinity College Dublin); |
| Abstract: | How has the recession affected the employment and job quality of Polish migrants in Ireland? The paper analyse unique data of more than 600 Polish migrants in Dublin, that has been collected using respondent-driven sampling, to shed lights on this question. Based on the reconstruction of the employment histories of the respondents, the paper demonstrates that employment levels, occupational status and earnings have been surprisingly stable at the macro-level of the Polish community in Dublin between 2008 and 2010. Underlying this macro-stability is a high degree of individual transitions in and out of employment and of vertical earnings and occupational mobility. Up-to 50 percent of Polish migrants in 2008 may have seen a deterioration of their labour market position until 2010, while in the same period about 40 percent may have seen gains in terms of employment and occupational attainment. The position of Polish women improved strongly relative to Polish men in this period. The main reason is that men on particularly well-paid and prestigious jobs had a particular high risk of losing their job. Job losses among women were fewer and the quality of the lost jobs was poor relative to the average job women held in 2008. The study is the first longitudinal study of labour market and occupational attainment of immigrants in Ireland. Length: 33 pages |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iis:dispap:iiisdp413&r=eur |
| By: | Bassanini, Andrea; Garnero, Andrea |
| Abstract: | Exploiting a unique dataset including cross-country comparable hiring and separation rates by type of transition for 24 OECD countries, 23 business-sector industries and 13 years, we study the effect of dismissal regulations on different types of gross worker flows, defined as one-year transitions. We use both a difference-in-difference approach – in which the impact of regulations is identified by exploiting likely cross-industry differences in their impact – and standard time-series analysis – in which the effect of regulations is identified through regulatory changes over time. We find that the more restrictive the regulation, the smaller is the rate of within-industry job-to-job transitions, in particular towards permanent jobs. By contrast, we find no significant effect as regards separations involving an industry change or leading to non-employment. The extent of reinstatement in the case of unfair dismissal appears to be the most important regulatory determinant of gross worker flows. We also present a large battery of robustness checks that suggest that our findings are robust. |
| Keywords: | gross worker flows; industry-specific human capital; job-to-job transitions; EPL; reinstatement; cross-country data |
| JEL: | J23 J24 J62 J63 |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpm:docweb:1211&r=eur |
| By: | Laun, Lisa (Dept. of Economics, Stockholm University) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the effect of two age-targeted policy initiatives to delay retirement that were simultaneously implemented in Sweden in 2007: an earned income tax credit and a payroll tax credit. Both policies were targeted at workers aged 65 or above at the beginning of the tax year. The paper exploits that the special rules for elderly were governed by the year of birth while the social security system is governed by age at retirement, i.e., the day of birth, in analyzing the effect of the new policies. The results suggest that the age-targeted tax credits increased employment in the year following the 65th birthday by 1.5 percentage points among individuals with annual earnings above the 2007 tax liability threshold three to five years earlier. An analysis of fiscal implications indicates, however, that the increase in employment was not large enough to offset the implied decrease in tax revenues. |
| Keywords: | Labor supply; Retirement; Earned income tax credit; Payroll taxes |
| JEL: | H24 J14 J18 J21 |
| Date: | 2012–10–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:sunrpe:2012_0014&r=eur |
| By: | J. Ignacio García Pérez; Victoria Osuna |
| Abstract: | This paper evaluates Spain's recent labour market reform concerning the reduction in severance pay from 45 to 33 days of wages per year of seniority and the introduction of a new subsidized permanent contract. We also compare this policy with the introduction of a single open-ended labour contract with increasing severance payments for all new hirings. We use an equilibrium search and matching model to generate the main properties of this segmented labour market. Our steady {state results show this reform will reduce unemployment (by 20%) and job destruction (by 29%). However, in terms of wage subsidies, the cost of implementing this reform will be very high. A cheaper and more effective way to decrease the duality in the labour market would be to eliminate temporary contracts and introduce a single contract. Unemployment and job destruction in this case would be reduced by 28% and 42%, respectively. Most interestingly, tenure distribution would be even smoother than under the designed reform: 21% more workers would end up having tenures of more than three years, and there would be 32% fewer one year contracts. The transition shows that both changes would benefit a majority of workers: only 8.1% would be jeopardized under the approved reform (5.8% in the transition to the single contract) due to improvement in job stability. |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fda:fdaddt:2012-09&r=eur |
| By: | Budría, Santiago (University of Madeira); Swedberg, Pablo (St. Louis University) |
| Abstract: | This article uses micro-data from the Spanish National Immigrant Survey to investigate the impact of Spanish language proficiency on immigrants' earnings. The results, based on Instrumental Variables (IV), point to a substantial earnings return to Spanish proficiency, of approximately 27%. This figure varies largely across educational groups, with high-qualified workers earning a premium of almost 50%. This conspicuous complementarity between formal qualifications and language skills poses a challenge for traditional language training policies, for these typically neglect the immigrants' heterogeneous educational background. |
| Keywords: | immigration, Spanish language proficiency, earnings, instrumental variables |
| JEL: | F22 J24 J61 |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6957&r=eur |
| By: | Neuhoff, Karsten; Amecke, Hermann; Novikova, Aleksandra; Stelmakh, Kateryna |
| Abstract: | The German government has committed to reducing the primary energy demand of buildings by 80% by 2050. Achieving this reduction will require foremost efficiency improvements, with a first milestone of a 20% reduction in heat demand levels by 2020. Given that about 80% of today’s building stock will remain in place beyond 2050, thermal retrofit of this existing building stock is essential (Figure 1). At the current rate of retrofit, however, only a fraction of the required reduction in thermal energy demand will be reached by 2050. Therefore, both scale and depth of retrofit need to be increased: • The rate at which outer walls are being thermally retrofitted in Germany is currently ca. 0.8% per year for residential buildings; the government target for thermal retrofits is 2% [11]. Reaching this target will be more cost effective if thermal retrofits are linked to general, non-thermal retrofits that buildings owners pursue for non-energy related reasons (e.g. the current non-thermal retrofit rate, hence the retrofit rate that does not include energy efficiency improvements, for outside walls is 2.4%) [11]. • The depth of thermal retrofits today varies significantly, ranging from single measures delivering small overall improvements to deep comprehensive retrofits that may exceed the performance of new builds by up to 50%. Since a 2% retrofit rate only allows for each building to be retrofitted once before 2050, the overall efficiency improvement can only be achieved if all thermal retrofits are deep. -- |
| Keywords: | energy efficiency,thermal retrofit,residential buildings |
| JEL: | H31 Q48 R38 |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:esrepo:65868&r=eur |
| By: | Christian Dustmann (University College London and CReAM); Tommaso Frattini (Università degli Studi di Milano, CReAM, LdA and IZA); Anna Rosso (University College London and CReAM) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the effect of emigration from Poland around the time of EU accession on the Polish labour market. We develop a simple model that guides our empirical specification and provides a clear interpretation for our estimates. Focussing on the 1998–2007 period for Poland, we use a unique data set that contains information about household members who are currently living abroad, which allows us to develop region-specific emigration rates and estimate emigration’s effect on wages using within-region variation. Our results show that emigration from Poland was largest for workers with intermediate-level skills and that it is wages for this skill group that increased most. We also show that emigration led to a slight increase in wages overall but that workers at the low end of the skill distribution made no gains and may actually have experienced slight wage decreases. |
| Keywords: | Emigration, Wages, Impact. |
| JEL: | J31 J61 |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:1229&r=eur |
| By: | Paola Cardamone; Valeria Pupo; Fernanda Ricotta (Dipartimento di Economia e Statistica, Università della Calabria) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the influence of universities on Italian firm TFP at the provincial level separating the effects of main university functions, such as the creation of knowledge through research, the creation of human capital through teaching and the technology transfer. Overall, results show that the presence of the universities does not seem to affect firm productivity. If, instead, we focus only on the most developed and productive area of the country, the North of Italy, the results change: we find that university activities significantly improve firm performance. |
| Keywords: | University, R&D activities, Total Factor Productivity |
| JEL: | O30 D24 C21 |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:clb:wpaper:201207&r=eur |