nep-eur New Economics Papers
on Microeconomic European Issues
Issue of 2013‒10‒11
twenty papers chosen by
Giuseppe Marotta
University of Modena and Reggio Emilia

  1. Patent litigation in Europe By Cremers, Katrin; Ernicke, Max; Gaessler, Fabian; Harhoff, Dietmar; Helmers, Christian; McDonagh, Luke; Schliessler, Paula; Van Zeebroeck, Nicolas
  2. Synthesis Report on the Impact of Capital Use By Petrick, Martin; Kloss, Mathias
  3. Simulation Results on the Impact of Changes in the Main EU Policy Tools on Farm Investment Behaviour By Guastella, Giovanni; Moro, Daniele; Sckokai, Paolo; Veneziani, Mario
  4. Combining climate and energy policies : synergies or antagonism ? Modeling interactions with energy efficiency instruments By Oskar Lecuyer; Ruben Bibas
  5. Addressing leakage in the EU ETS : Border adjustment or output-based allocation ? By Stéphanie Monjon; Philippe Quirion
  6. Benefits of an integrated European electricity market By Böckers, Veit; Haucap, Justus; Heimeshoff, Ulrich
  7. White certificate schemes : the static and dynamic efficiency of an adaptive policy instrument By Louis-Gaëtan Giraudet; Dominique Finon
  8. Determinants of foreign technological activity in German regions - a count model analysis of transnational patents (1996-2009) By Eva Dettmann; Iciar Dominguez Lacasa; Jutta Guenther; Bjorn Jindra
  9. Intellectual property box regimes: Effective tax rates and tax policy considerations By Evers, Lisa; Miller, Helen; Spengel, Christoph
  10. Empirical Evidence of the Distributional Effects of the CAP in New EU Member States By Ciaian, Pavel; Kancs, d'Artis; Pokrivcak, Jan
  11. Influence of Agricultural Support on Sale Prices of French Farmland: A comparison of different subsidies, accounting for the role of environmental and land regulations By Latruffe , Laure; Piet, Laurent; Dupraz, Pierre; Le Mouël, Chantal
  12. The European Union Emissions Trading System : should we throw the flagship out with the bathwater ? By Frédéric Branger; Oskar Lecuyer; Philippe Quirion
  13. Estimating consumer damages in cartel cases By Laitenberger, Ulrich; Smuda, Florian
  14. The ECJ Judgment on the Extensions of the ETS to Aviation: An Economist’s Discontent By Horn, Henrik
  15. Delegating home care for the elderly to external caregivers? An empirical study on Italian data By M. Lippi Bruni; C. Ugolini
  16. Unemployment Duration of Spouses: Evidence From France By Stefania Marcassa
  17. Will Ugly Betty ever find a job in Italy? By Giovanni BUSETTA; Fabio FIORILLO
  18. The determinants of Job Access Channels: Evidence from the Youth Labor Market in France By Jihan Ghrairi
  19. Are we wasting public money? No! The effects of grants on Italian university students’ performances By Tommaso Agasisti; Samuele Murtinu
  20. Heavy subsidization reduces free-ridership : Evidence from an econometric study of the French dwelling insulation tax credit By Marie-Laure Nauleau

  1. By: Cremers, Katrin; Ernicke, Max; Gaessler, Fabian; Harhoff, Dietmar; Helmers, Christian; McDonagh, Luke; Schliessler, Paula; Van Zeebroeck, Nicolas
    Abstract: We compare patent litigation cases across four European jurisdictions - Germany, France, the Netherlands, and the UK - covering cases filed during the period 2000-2008. For our analysis, we assemble a new dataset that contains detailed information at the case, litigant, and patent level for patent cases filed at the major courts in the four jurisdictions. We find substantial differences across jurisdictions in terms of case loads. Courts in Germany hear by far the largest number of cases in absolute terms, but also when taking country size into account. We also find important between-country differences in terms of outcomes, the share of cases that is appealed, as well as the characteristics of litigants and litigated patents. A considerable number of patents are litigated in multiple jurisdictions, but the majority of patents are subject to litigation only in one of the four jurisdictions. --
    Keywords: Patent litigation,Europe
    JEL: O34 K11 K41
    Date: 2013
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:13072&r=eur
  2. By: Petrick, Martin; Kloss, Mathias
    Abstract: This paper examines the drivers of productivity in EU agriculture from a factor markets perspective. Using econometrically estimated production elasticities and shadow prices of factors for a set of eight EU member states, we focus on field crop farms represented in the FADN database for the years 2002-08. As it turned out that output reacts most elastically to materials input, we investigate this factor further and find different rationing regimes represented in different member states. Marginal return on materials is low in Denmark and West Germany, but significantly above typical market interest rates in East Germany, Italy and Spain. In the latter countries and in Denmark it also increased towards the end of the observed period. This finding is consistent with a perception of tightening funding access, possibly induced or reinforced by the unfolding financial crisis. Marginal returns to land, labour and fixed capital are generally low. We conclude that the functioning of factor markets plays a crucial role for productivity growth, but that factor market operations display considerable heterogeneity across EU member states.
    Date: 2013–08
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eps:fmwppr:169&r=eur
  3. By: Guastella, Giovanni; Moro, Daniele; Sckokai, Paolo; Veneziani, Mario
    Abstract: This paper completes the comparative analysis of the investment demand behaviour, of a sample of specialised arable crop farms, for farm buildings and machinery and equipment, as a function of the different types and levels of Common Agricultural Policy support, in selected European Union Member States. This contribution focuses on their quantitative interdependence calculating the relevant elasticity measures. In turn, they constitute the methodological tool to simulate the percentage expected change in average net investment levels associated to the implementation of the, recently proposed and currently under discussion, reductions in the Pillar I Direct Payments disbursed under the Common Agricultural Policy. Evidence suggests a statistically significant elastic and inelastic relationship between both types of subsidies and the investment levels for both asset classes in Germany and Italy, respectively. An elastic dependence of investment in farm buildings on decoupled subsidies exists in Hungary while changes in the level of coupled payments appear to translate into less than proportional changes in the demand for both farm buildings and machinery and equipment in France. Coupled payments appear to influence the UK demand for both asset classes in an elastic manner while decoupled support seems to induce a similar effect on investment in machinery and equipment. Since the currently discussed Common Agricultural Policy reform options imply, almost exclusively, a reduction in the level of support granted through Direct Payments, simulated effects were expected to reveal a worsening of the farm investment prospects for both asset types (i.e., a larger negative investment or a smaller positive one). The actual evidence largely respects this expectation with the sole exception of investment in machinery and equipment in France and Italy reaching smaller negative or larger positive levels irrespectively of the magnitude of the implemented cuts in Direct Payments.
    Date: 2013–06
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eps:fmwppr:168&r=eur
  4. By: Oskar Lecuyer (CIRED - Centre International de Recherche sur l'Environnement et le Développement - Centre de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour le développement [CIRAD] : UMR56 - CNRS : UMR8568 - École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales [EHESS] - École des Ponts ParisTech (ENPC) - AgroParisTech); Ruben Bibas (CIRED - Centre International de Recherche sur l'Environnement et le Développement - Centre de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour le développement [CIRAD] : UMR56 - CNRS : UMR8568 - École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales [EHESS] - École des Ponts ParisTech (ENPC) - AgroParisTech)
    Abstract: In addition to the already present Climate and Energy package, the European Union (EU) plans to include a binding target to reduce energy consumption. We analyze the rationales the EU invokes to justify such an overlapping and develop a minimal common framework to study interactions arising from the combination of instruments reducing emissions, promoting renewable energy (RE) production and reducing energy demand through energy efficiency (EE) investments. We find that although all instruments tend to reduce GHG emissions and although a price on carbon tends also to give the right incentives for RE and EE, the combination of more than one instrument leads to significant antagonisms regarding major objectives of the policy package. The model allows to show in a single framework and to quantify the antagonistic effects of the joint promotion of RE and EE. We also show and quantify the effects of this joint promotion on ETS permit price, on wholesale market price and on energy production levels.
    Date: 2013–09–30
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-00866439&r=eur
  5. By: Stéphanie Monjon (CIRED - Centre International de Recherche sur l'Environnement et le Développement - Centre de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour le développement [CIRAD] : UMR56 - CNRS : UMR8568 - École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales [EHESS] - École des Ponts ParisTech (ENPC) - AgroParisTech); Philippe Quirion (CIRED - Centre International de Recherche sur l'Environnement et le Développement - Centre de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour le développement [CIRAD] : UMR56 - CNRS : UMR8568 - École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales [EHESS] - École des Ponts ParisTech (ENPC) - AgroParisTech)
    Abstract: The EU ETS has been criticised for threatening the competitiveness of European industry and generating carbon leakage, i.e. increasing foreign greenhouse gas emissions. Two main options have been put forward to tackle these concerns : border adjustments and output-based allocation, i.e. allocation of free allowances in proportion to current production. We compare various configurations of these two options, as well as a scenario with full auctioning and no border adjustment. Against this background, we develop a model of the main sectors covered by the EU ETS : electricity, steel, cement and aluminium. We conclude that the most efficient way to tackle leakage is auctioning with border adjustment, which generally induces a negative leakage (a spillover). Another relatively efficient policy is to combine auctioning in the electricity sector and output-based allocation in exposed industries, especially if free allowances are given both for direct and indirect emissions, i.e. those generated by the generation of the electricity consumed. Although output-based allocation is generally less effective than border adjustment to tackle leakage, it is more effective to mitigate production losses in the sectors affected by the ETS.
    Date: 2013–09–30
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-00866444&r=eur
  6. By: Böckers, Veit; Haucap, Justus; Heimeshoff, Ulrich
    Abstract: This paper analyses the benefits of further market integration of European wholesale electricity markets. Major gains from trade are sill left unrealized due to (1) uncomplete market coupling of national wholesale markets, (2) isolated national regulation of capacity and reserve mechanisms (CRM) and (3) a lack of harmonization of national support schemes for renewable energies. --
    Date: 2013
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:dicedp:109&r=eur
  7. By: Louis-Gaëtan Giraudet (CIRED - Centre International de Recherche sur l'Environnement et le Développement - Centre de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour le développement [CIRAD] : UMR56 - CNRS : UMR8568 - École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales [EHESS] - École des Ponts ParisTech (ENPC) - AgroParisTech); Dominique Finon (CIRED - Centre International de Recherche sur l'Environnement et le Développement - Centre de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour le développement [CIRAD] : UMR56 - CNRS : UMR8568 - École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales [EHESS] - École des Ponts ParisTech (ENPC) - AgroParisTech)
    Abstract: White certificate schemes mandate energy companies to promote energy efficiency through flexibility mechanisms, including the trading of energy savings. They can be characterized as a quantity-based, baseline-and-credit system for the diffusion of energy efficient technologies. This paper offers a comprehensive comparison of experiences with white certificate schemes in Great Britain, Italy and France. Starting from the identification of the key drivers underlying each scheme, it proposes an original interpretation of this type of scheme as an adaptive instrument, in the sense that it can take different forms in response to specific institutional contexts. The analysis shows that schemes perform well in terms of static efficiency - they generate net social benefits over the period considered - though there are large discrepancies in cost-effectiveness due to various technical potentials across countries. They achieved mixed results regarding dynamic efficiency - the ability to induce and sustain technological change over the long run. Market transformation occurred in Great Britain, but was poorly incentivized in Italy and France due to inadequate compliance cost recovery rules. Substantial organisational change has occurred in every country, mainly by strengthening vertical relationships between obliged parties and upstream businesses. Overall, the obligation (rather than the market component) drives the early phases of the schemes.
    Date: 2013–09–30
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-00866422&r=eur
  8. By: Eva Dettmann (Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH), Department of Structural Change, Kleine Markerstrasse 8, 06108, Halle (Saale), Germany); Iciar Dominguez Lacasa (Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH), Department of Structural Change, Kleine Markerstrasse 8, 06108, Halle (Saale), Germany); Jutta Guenther (Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH), Department of Structural Change, Kleine Markerstrasse 8, 06108, Halle (Saale), Germany and Friedrich Schiller University Jena Faculty of Economics, Carl-Zeiss-Str. 3, 07743 Jena, Germany); Bjorn Jindra (Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH), Department of Structural Change, Kleine Markerstrasse 8, 06108, Halle (Saale), Germany and Copenhagen Business School, Department of International Economics and Management, Solbjerg Plads 3, DK-2000 Frederiksberg, Denmark and University of Sussex, Science and Technology Policy Research (SPRU) Famer, Brighton, BN1 9SL, United Kingdompostion)
    Abstract: This paper analyses the determinants of spatial distribution of foreign technological activity across 96 German regions (1996-2009). We identify foreign inventive activity by applying the ‘cross-border-ownership concept’ to transnational patent applications. The descriptive analysis shows that foreign technological activity more than doubled during the observation period with persistent spatial heterogeneity in Germany. Using a pooled count data model, we estimate the effect of various sources for externalities on the extent of foreign technological activity across regions. Our results show that foreign technological activity is attracted by technologically specialised sectors of regions. In contrast to existing findings this effect applies both to foreign as well as domestic sources of specialisation. We show that the relation between specialization and foreign technological activity is non-linear and that it is influenced by sectoral heterogeneity. Externalities related to technological diversification attract foreign R&D only into ‘higher order’ regions.
    Keywords: foreign direct investment, technology, Europe, patent information
    JEL: O32 O33 R12
    Date: 2013
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:17sti2013&r=eur
  9. By: Evers, Lisa; Miller, Helen; Spengel, Christoph
    Abstract: 11 European countries now operate IP Box regimes that provide substantially reduced rates of corporate tax for income derived from important forms of intellectual property. We incorporate these policies into forward-looking measures of the cost of capital, effective marginal tax rates and effective average tax rates. We show that the treatment of expenses relating to IP income is particularly important in determining the effective tax burden. A key finding is that regimes that allow expenses to be deducted at the ordinary corporate income tax rate, as opposed to the IP Box tax rate, may result in negative tax rates and can thereby provide a subsidy to unprofitable projects. We assess the specific design features of different regimes against the possible policy aim of improving the incentives to undertake R&D investment in a country. While some countries have tried to tie the policy to real activities, others have designed a policy targeted at the income streams associated with intellectual property. A key concern is the role that IP Boxes may play in increased, and possibly harmful, tax competition between European countries. --
    Keywords: corporate taxation,effective tax rate,innovation,tax incentive patent box,innovation box,license box,tax competition
    JEL: H25 H32 H87 K34 O38
    Date: 2013
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:13070&r=eur
  10. By: Ciaian, Pavel; Kancs, d'Artis; Pokrivcak, Jan
    Abstract: This study, carried out in the context of the Factor Markets research project, investigates the impact of the SAPS (Single Area Payment Scheme) on farmland rental rates in the new EU member states. Using a unique set of farm level panel data with 20,930 observations for 2004 and 2005 we are able to control for important sources of endogeneity. According to our results, the SAPS has a positive and statistically significant impact on land rents in the EU. However, the estimated incidence is smaller than predicted theoretically. Land rents capture only 19 cents of the marginal SAPS euro, and around 10% of the SAPS benefit non-farming landowners through higher farmland rental prices. As the share of rented land is higher in corporate farms than individual ones, family farms benefit more from the SAPS than corporate farms do.
    Date: 2013–08
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eps:fmwppr:170&r=eur
  11. By: Latruffe , Laure; Piet, Laurent; Dupraz, Pierre; Le Mouël, Chantal
    Abstract: This paper investigates the determinants of agricultural land price in several regions in France over the period 1994-2011, using individual plot transaction data, with a particular emphasis on agricultural subsidies and nitrate zoning regulations. It found a positive but relatively small capitalisation effect of the total subsidies per hectare. The data revealed that agricultural subsidies capitalised, at least to some extent, but the magnitude of such a capitalisation depends on the region considered, on the type of subsidy considered, and on the location of the plot in a nitrate surplus zone or not. Only land set-aside premiums significantly capitalise into land price, while single farm payments have a significant positive capitalisation impact only for plots located in a nitrate-surplus zone.
    Date: 2013–06
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eps:fmwppr:163&r=eur
  12. By: Frédéric Branger (CIRED - Centre International de Recherche sur l'Environnement et le Développement - Centre de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour le développement [CIRAD] : UMR56 - CNRS : UMR8568 - École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales [EHESS] - École des Ponts ParisTech (ENPC) - AgroParisTech); Oskar Lecuyer (CIRED - Centre International de Recherche sur l'Environnement et le Développement - Centre de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour le développement [CIRAD] : UMR56 - CNRS : UMR8568 - École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales [EHESS] - École des Ponts ParisTech (ENPC) - AgroParisTech); Philippe Quirion (CIRED - Centre International de Recherche sur l'Environnement et le Développement - Centre de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour le développement [CIRAD] : UMR56 - CNRS : UMR8568 - École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales [EHESS] - École des Ponts ParisTech (ENPC) - AgroParisTech)
    Abstract: The European Union Emissions Trading System (EU-ETS), presented as the ''flagship'' of European climate policy, is subject to many criticisms from different stakeholders. Criticisms include the insufficient carbon emissions reduction, the competitiveness losses and the induced carbon leakages, the unfair distributional effects, the frauds and the existence of several other overlapping climate policy instruments. We review these criticisms and find the EU-ETS brought small but real abatements. The competitiveness losses and carbon leakages do not seem to have occurred. The distributional effects have indeed been unfair and fraud has been important. Finally, the scheme does not justify abandoning other climate policies. Some of these problems could have been avoided and can still be corrected by rethinking flexibility mechanisms and by adding some control over the carbon price.
    Date: 2013–09–30
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-00866408&r=eur
  13. By: Laitenberger, Ulrich; Smuda, Florian
    Abstract: We use consumer panel data to calculate the damage suffered by German consumers due to a detergent cartel that was active between 2002 and 2005 in eight European countries. Applying before-and-after and difference-in-differences estimations we find average overcharges between 6.7 and 6.9 percent and an overall consumer damage of about 13.2 million Euro over the period from July 2004 until March 2005. Under the assumptions that the cartel-induced share on turnover is representative for the entire cartel period and all affected markets, the overall consumer damage would even sum up to about 315 million Euro. Our results further suggest that the retailers reacted to the price increases of the cartel firms via price increases for their own detergent products, resulting in significant umbrella effects. We quantify the damage due to this umbrella pricing to a total of about 7.34 million Euro. With respect to the discussion whether special procedures for bringing collective actions should be available in the EU, our results are important to the extent that we show how consumer associations can use consumer panel data in order to claim damages before national courts and thereby actively fulfill their mandate of consumer protection. --
    Keywords: cartels,damages,consumers,detergents,private damage claims
    JEL: L13 L41 L44
    Date: 2013
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:13069&r=eur
  14. By: Horn, Henrik (Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN))
    Abstract: Few EU decisions have caused more international outcry than the extension of the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) to apply to aviation. The directive was legally challenged by US airlines before a UK court, which referred the case to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary ruling concerning the compatibility of the directive with international law. This paper discusses the argumentation by the ECJ and the Advocate General from an economic perspective. Such an analysis is warranted in light of the fact that the contested measure is an economic regulation, the international laws that are invoked have clear economic objectives, and the ECJ judgment and the opinion by the Advocate General at least partly rely on economic concepts and mechanisms. An economic analysis also seems warranted from a legal point of view since the quality of the judgment and of the opinion presumably depend on the soundness of their economic reasoning. It is found that the argumentation by the legal authorities is highly questionable in important parts, when viewed from an economic perspective.
    Keywords: EJC decision on aviation; ETS; Border carbon adjustment
    JEL: K31 K32 L93
    Date: 2013–09–30
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:0980&r=eur
  15. By: M. Lippi Bruni; C. Ugolini
    Abstract: We study care arrangement decisions in Italy, where families are increasingly delegating the role of primary caregiver to external (paid) people also for the provision of home care. We consider a sample of households with a dependent elderly person cared for either at home or in a residential home, extracted from a survey representative of the population of Italy’s Emilia-Romagna region. We investigate the determinants of a household’s decision to opt for one of the following three alternatives: the institutionalisation of elderly family members, informal home care, or paid home care. We estimate two model specifications, based on a simultaneous and a sequential decision process respectively, the results of which are fairly consistent. Disability related variables, rather than family characteristics, emerge as the main determinants of institutionalisation. On the other hand, household characteristics and socio-economic variables are more influential when it comes to choosing between informal and formal home care provisions.
    JEL: C21 D13 I18
    Date: 2013–10
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bol:bodewp:wp905&r=eur
  16. By: Stefania Marcassa (THEMA - Théorie économique, modélisation et applications - CNRS : UMR8184 - Université de Cergy Pontoise)
    Abstract: This paper analyzes the conditional probability of leaving unemployment of French married individuals from 1991 to 2002. We find that the effect of spousal labor income on unemployment duration is asymmetric for men and women. In particular, the probability of men to find 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 quarter of birth 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
    Date: 2013–10–02
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-00869323&r=eur
  17. By: Giovanni BUSETTA (Universit… di Messina, Department of Economics, Business, Environmental Sciences, and Quantitative Methods); Fabio FIORILLO (Universit… Politecnica delle Marche, Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali)
    Abstract: This paper evaluates the impact of beauty on employability, stressing the first stage of the hiring process. In particular, we studied the Italian labor market in order to ascertain whether there exists a preference for attractive applicants according to gender and racial characteristics. The sample analyzed consists of observations collected by sending 11008 curricula vitae (henceforth CVs) to firms looking for workers in response to advertised job postings.;Positive responses were obtained by 3278 CVs (almost 30% of the sample). We then compared response rates of different categories, obtaining the following results: those who receive the highest levels of positive responses are attractive subjects; most of the responses to plain subjects involve unqualified jobs; beauty appears to be essential for front clerical work; racial discrimination appears to be significant, but less so than discrimination based on physical features, especially for women.
    Keywords: beauty premium, experimental economics, racial discrimination
    JEL: C93 J71 J78
    Date: 2013–10
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:anc:wpaper:391&r=eur
  18. By: Jihan Ghrairi (ERMES - Equipe de recherche sur les marches, l'emploi et la simulation - CNRS : UMR7017 - Université Paris II - Panthéon-Assas, TEPP - Travail, Emploi et Politiques Publiques - CNRS : FR3435 - Université Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée (UPEMLV))
    Abstract: This article aims to study youth employability on the job access channel that provided their entry into the labor market. We examine the determinants of the formal and informal job access channels. For this purpose, we estimate a Multinomial Logit model of access channels controlling for selection bias. We use the youth sample of the French National Labor Force Survey (Enquête "Emploi") conducted by the INSEE. Our data provide a set of relevant variables required to identify the model which allows us to study different characteristics of young individuals that affect their access to the current job through a particular channel. First, we notice that young graduates access to their current jobs more often through direct applications and social networks. We find that, in 2010, referred young workers are more likely to be less educated man immigrants, living in rural areas and hired by large firms. However, immigrants were less likely to obtain a job through public employment agencies while the origin effect was not significant in 2007. Moreover, we find that the probability of finding a job through professional contacts increases significantly with the education level for both years (stronger effects for university graduates).
    Keywords: job access channels; social networks ; multinomial logit ; selection bias
    Date: 2013–06
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-00870042&r=eur
  19. By: Tommaso Agasisti (Politecnico di Milano); Samuele Murtinu (Politecnico di Milano)
    Abstract: In this paper, we estimate the effect of receiving a financial aid for a cohort of students who enrolled at Politecnico di Milano (Italy) in the year 2007/08, through a Propensity Score Matching approach. Using administrative data about these students for four years, we were able to evaluate the impact of the financial aid on several dimensions of academic performance: formative credits obtained after one year, dropout probability in the first and second year, graduation in the legal duration of the course, and graduation after four years. Overall, we find a positive and statistically significant effect of the grant; this finding is stable across several robustness checks. Exploring the heterogeneity of this effect, we demonstrate that this latter is higher for immigrants, Italians who moved from another region for studying, and students attending an Engineering course. We also find evidence that unobservable factors (such as students’ own intrinsic academic motivation) account for an important part of the estimated impact of the financial aid.
    Keywords: Financial aid, propensity score matching
    JEL: H52 I22 I23 I28 C21
    Date: 2013
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ieb:wpaper:2013/6/doc2013-33&r=eur
  20. By: Marie-Laure Nauleau (CIRED - Centre International de Recherche sur l'Environnement et le Développement - Centre de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour le développement [CIRAD] : UMR56 - CNRS : UMR8568 - École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales [EHESS] - École des Ponts ParisTech (ENPC) - AgroParisTech)
    Abstract: This econometric study assesses the efficiency of the tax credit implemented in France in 2005 on dwelling retrofitting investments. A before-after estimation is performed at the extensive and intensive margins on micro data over 2001-2011, focusing on insulation measures (windows, walls, roofs, floor, ceilings). After 2-years of latency with no significant effect, the tax credit has had an increasing significant positive effect at both margins between 2007 and 2010, with a decrease in 2011, in line with the tax credit rate evolutions. Focusing on opaque surfaces insulation, the positive effect only started in 2009, when a reform included labor cost in the tax credit base for these retrofitting measures. The percentage of subsidized households that would have invested even in the absence of the subsidy decreases from 79% in 2007 to 43% in 2010. The annual additional private investment in retrofitting generated by 1€ of public expenses was estimated at 3.4€ on average (standard deviation : 2.4) between 2007 and 2010.
    Date: 2013–09–30
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-00866445&r=eur

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