nep-eur New Economics Papers
on Microeconomic European Issues
Issue of 2014‒06‒22
twenty-one papers chosen by
Giuseppe Marotta
University of Modena and Reggio Emilia

  1. What Happens to the Careers of European Workers when Immigrants "Take their Jobs"? By Cristina Cattaneo; Carlo V. Fiorio; Giovanni Peri
  2. Did post-enlargement labor mobility help the EU to adjust during the Great Recession? The case of Slovakia By Martin Kahanec; Lucia Mýtna Kureková
  3. A lost decade? Decomposing the effect of 2001-11 tax-benefit policy changes on the income distribution in EU countries By John Hills; Alari Paulus; Holly Sutherland; Iva Tasseva
  4. Immigrants' location choice in Belgium By Hubert Jayet; Glenn Rayp; Ilse Ruyssen; Nadiya Ukrayinchuk
  5. Teenage pregnancies and births in Germany: Patterns and developments By Cygan-Rehm, Kamila; Riphahn, Regina
  6. Job Recruitment and Vacany Durations in Germany By Davis, Steven J.; Röttger, Christof; Warning, Anja; Weber, Enzo
  7. Are knowledge flows all alike? Evidence from European regions By F. Quatraro; S. Usai
  8. Evaluating italian university teaching efficiency convergence: a non-parametric frontier approach By Guccio, Calogero; Martorana, Marco; Monaco, Luisa
  9. To be a Mother, or not to be? Career and Wage Ladder in Italy and the UK By Eliane El Badaoui; Eleonora Matteazzi
  10. The determinants of teacher mobility in Sweden By Karbownik, Krzysztof
  11. Undercutting the future? European research spending in times of fiscal consolidation By Reinhilde Veugelers
  12. Spatial disparities in hospital performance By Laurent Gobillon; Carine Milcent
  13. Energy poverty indicators: Conceptual issues. Part I: The ten-percent-rule and double median/mean indicators By Schuessler, Rudolf
  14. Are Regional Systems Greening the Economy? the Role of Environmental Innovations and Agglomeration Forces By Davide Antonioli; Simone Borghesi; Massimiliano Mazzanti
  15. Market Potential and the curse of distance in European regions By Bruna, Fernando; Faíña, Andrés; Lopez-Rodriguez, Jesus
  16. Evaluating the impact of a working time regulation on capital operating time. The French 35-hour work week experience By Fabrice Gilles
  17. Deleveraging in a highly indebted property market: Who does it and are there implications for household consumption? By McCarthy, Yvonne; McQuinn, Kieran
  18. Sensitivity to Shocks and Implicit Employment Protection in Family Firms By Bjuggren, Carl Magnus
  19. Property Taxation, Bounded Rationality and House Prices By Elinder, Mikael; Persson, Lovisa
  20. Closing the Gender Gap: Gender Based Taxation, Wage Subsidies or Basic Income? By Colombino, Ugo; Narazani, Edlira
  21. Income taxation, labour supply and housework: a discrete choice model for French couples By Jan Kabatek; Arthur Van Soest; Elena Stancanelli

  1. By: Cristina Cattaneo (FEEM); Carlo V. Fiorio (University of Milano and Econpubblica); Giovanni Peri (University of California, Davis and NBER)
    Abstract: Following a representative longitudinal sample of native European residents, over the period 1995-2001, we identify the effect of the inflows of immigrants on their career, employment and wages. We use the 1991 distribution of immigrants by nationality across European labor markets to construct an imputed inflow of the foreign-born population that is exogenous to local demand shocks. We also control for .fixed effects that absorb individual, country-year, occupation group-year and occupation group-country heterogeneity and shocks. We find that native European workers are more likely to move to occupations associated with higher skills and status when a larger number of immigrants enter their labor market. As a consequence of this upward mobility their wage income also increases with a 1-2 years lag. We find no evidence of an increase in their probability of becoming unemployed.
    Keywords: Immigrants, Job Upgrading, Mobility, Self-employment, Europe
    JEL: J61 O15
    Date: 2014–05
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2014.54&r=eur
  2. By: Martin Kahanec; Lucia Mýtna Kureková
    Abstract: This paper evaluates the mobility patterns of Slovaks into the rest of the European Union (EU) following Slovakia’s EU accession in 2004 and through the Great Recession. Combining information from various data sources including the Slovak Labor Force Survey and conducting our own statistical analysis of selectivity into migration, we study whether and how migration responded to asymmetric economic shocks at home and abroad. We identify a number of shifts in the directionality and composition of migration flows in terms of the destinations, gender, age, educational attainment and occupation, reflecting changing labor market conditions in receiving countries and Slovakia. We show that besides the standard demographic factors, migration propensity was higher among the unemployed and from the more depressed regions of Slovakia. We conclude that labor migration has served as an important adjustment mechanism in the country and more generally in the EU labor market.
    Keywords: Adjustment, EU enlargement, labor market, migration, Slovakia
    JEL: F22 J61
    Date: 2014–06–12
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cel:dpaper:23&r=eur
  3. By: John Hills; Alari Paulus; Holly Sutherland; Iva Tasseva
    Abstract: This paper examines the extent to which tax and benefit policy changes introduced in the period 2001-11 had a poverty- or inequality-reducing effect. We assess whether the period was indeed a “missed opportunity” for policy changes to make a difference to poverty reduction since the Lisbon Treaty, given the general lack of improvement shown by poverty indicators. Our analysis uses the tax-benefit model EUROMOD and covers seven diverse EU countries: Belgium, Bulgaria, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Italy and the United Kingdom. We apply the Bargain and Callan (2010) decomposition approach, extending it by separating the effect due to structural policy changes and the indexation effect. We find that the latter was typically more effective in alleviating poverty and inequality than changes to the structure of policies. In fact, most of the structural changes that governments introduced, especially in the 2007-11 crisis-onset period, had poverty and inequality-increasing effects. We find considerable variation between countries in how different policy instruments have been adjusted, and in the effects of these adjustments by income, by age and by household composition, showing the importance of understanding them together, rather than discussing just some in isolation.
    Keywords: tax-benefit policies, European Union, income distribution, income poverty, microsimulation, EUROMOD
    JEL: D31 H23 H53 I32
    Date: 2014–06
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hdl:improv:1403&r=eur
  4. By: Hubert Jayet (EQUIPPE - ECONOMIE QUANTITATIVE, INTEGRATION, POLITIQUES PUBLIQUES ET ECONOMETRIE - Université Lille I - Sciences et technologies - Université Lille II - Droit et santé - Université Lille III - Sciences humaines et sociales - PRES Université Lille Nord de France); Glenn Rayp (Department of Economics and SHERPPA - Ghent University); Ilse Ruyssen (UCL - universite catholique louvain - universite catholique louvain - Université Catholique de Louvain (UCL) - Belgique); Nadiya Ukrayinchuk (EQUIPPE - ECONOMIE QUANTITATIVE, INTEGRATION, POLITIQUES PUBLIQUES ET ECONOMETRIE - Université Lille I - Sciences et technologies - Université Lille II - Droit et santé - Université Lille III - Sciences humaines et sociales - PRES Université Lille Nord de France)
    Abstract: This paper analyses migratory streams to Belgian municipalities between 1994-2007. The Belgian population register constitutes a rich and unique database of yearly migrant inflows and stocks broken down by nationality, which allows us to empirically explain the location choice of immigrants at municipality level. Speci cally, we aim at separating the network ef- fect, captured by the number of previous arrivals, from other location-speci c characteristics such as local labor or housing market conditions and the presence of public amenities. We expect labor and housing market variables to operate at diff erent levels and develop a fixed eff ects nested model of location choice in which an immigrant fi rst chooses a broad area, roughly corresponding to a labor market, and subsequently chooses a municipality within this area. We fi nd that the spatial repartition of immigrants in Belgium is determined by both network eff ects and local characteristics. The determinants of local attractiveness vary by nationality, as expected, but for all nationalities, they seem to dominate the impact of network eff ects.
    Keywords: Migration ; Location choice ; Network e ffects, Nested logit ; Immigrants ; Belgium
    Date: 2014–06–16
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-01006864&r=eur
  5. By: Cygan-Rehm, Kamila; Riphahn, Regina
    Abstract: We study the development of teenage fertility in East and West Germany using data from the German Socioeconomic Panel (SOEP) and from the German Mikrozensus. Following the international literature we derive hypotheses on the patterns of teenage fertility and test whether they are relevant in the German case. We find that teenage fertility is associated with teenage age and education, with the income of the teenager's family, with migration status, residence in East Germany, and aggregate unemployment. Our evidence supports countercyclical teenage fertility. --
    Keywords: teenage fertility,abortion,unemployment,East and West Germany,population economics
    JEL: J13 Z18 I00
    Date: 2014
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:iwqwdp:052014&r=eur
  6. By: Davis, Steven J.; Röttger, Christof; Warning, Anja; Weber, Enzo
    Abstract: We develop new evidence on job recruitments and vacancy durations using a rich source of data on individual hires. Our core data set contains 55,000 recruitments into vacant job positions for stratified random samples of German employers from 2000 to 2010. We have information about the employer, the job position and the newly hired worker for all recruitments – including firm size, occupation, qualification requirements, previous labour market status of the new hire, and whether the job is a new position. We measure recruitment duration and the lag from recruitment to first day of work (start lag), which sum to the full vacancy duration. In addition, we link our micro data on recruitments and new hires to additional data on contemporaneous labour market conditions at the regional, occupation and industry levels. Our analysis finds a mean recruitment duration of 49 calendar days or 34 working days and a mean start lag of 27 calendar days and 19 working days, for a total vacancy duration of 76 calendar days and 53 working days, strongly varying between occupations. Hazard functions fit to micro data reveal longer recruitment durations in Eastern Germany and in larger firms and shorter recruitment durations under slack labour market conditions. Highly relevant for the length of the start lag is whether the hiring process goes as planned: If the recruitment duration is longer than the intended total vacancy duration, the start lag is significantly shorter, reflecting the specific efforts of employers in this case to fill the position as soon as possible. The use of Public Employment Services and the hiring of a person previously unemployed show significant effects on the start lag.
    Keywords: Recruitment; Vacancy; Duration; Germany
    JEL: J23 J63
    Date: 2014–06
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bay:rdwiwi:29914&r=eur
  7. By: F. Quatraro; S. Usai
    Abstract: The paper investigates the impact of distance, contiguity and technological proximity on cross- regional knowledge flows, by comparing the evidence concerning co-inventorship, applicant-inventor relationships and citation flows. We find evidence of significant differences across these diverse kinds of knowledge flows for what concerns the role of distance, and the moderating role of contiguity and technological proximity. Moreover, we show that border effects may prove crucial in a twofold sense. On the one hand we show that contiguity between regions belonging to two different countries still plays a moderating role, although weaker as compared to that of within-country contiguity. On the other hand, regions sharing a frontier with a foreign country are more likely to exchange knowledge with this foreign country than other regions which are far away from the border.
    Keywords: regional competitiveness, Patents, knowledge flows, gravity, europe, Border regions
    JEL: R11 O33
    Date: 2014
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cns:cnscwp:201405&r=eur
  8. By: Guccio, Calogero; Martorana, Marco; Monaco, Luisa
    Abstract: The Bologna Process promoted a wide-ranging reform of High Education systems in order to improve teaching activities throughout Europe. This paper evaluates the effect of these reforms on teaching efficiency of the Italian universities in the period 2000-2010. We employ the bootstrapped Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) algorithm to evaluate efficiency and then examine convergence using several panel data estimators. We find evidence of convergence but technical efficiency increased mainly in the first period of implemented reform. Moreover, we find strong evidences of persistence of gaps both between regions and universities.
    Keywords: HEI, Bologna process, teaching efficiency, β-convergence, DEA.
    JEL: D24 I23
    Date: 2013–10
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:56673&r=eur
  9. By: Eliane El Badaoui; Eleonora Matteazzi
    Abstract: This paper examines the extent to which motherhood affects women's career accomplishments and wages in Italy and the UK. Using the EU-SILC 2009 data, a decomposition of the motherhood wage gap is implemented after accounting for double selection in labor market participation and motherhood. We find evidence of a negative correlation between labor market and fertility decisions. The results show that motherhood has no adverse effects on women's career path in Italy, and that job segregation explains most of the motherhood wage gap in the UK. Empirical findings suggest that the timing of motherhood and job continuity affect significantly the female wage profile.
    Keywords: Motherhood, Labor market participation, Wage gap, Career.
    JEL: C34 J21 J24 J31
    Date: 2014
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:drm:wpaper:2014-30&r=eur
  10. By: Karbownik, Krzysztof (Institute for Policy Research, Northwestern University)
    Abstract: This paper examines the determinants of teacher turnover using matched employee-employer panel data from Swedish lower and upper secondary schools in a market-oriented institutional environment with a growing private sector and individually negotiated wages. I find statistically significant and robust negative correlations between mobility and monetary compensations. Unlike previous research, I do not find robust evidence that the share of minorities correlates positively with turnover. The positive association exists; however, in the case of private and upper secondary institutions. Finally, private institutions experience higher turnover.
    Keywords: Teacher turnover; non-pecuniary factors; pecuniary factors
    JEL: I21 J44
    Date: 2014–06–06
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2014_013&r=eur
  11. By: Reinhilde Veugelers
    Abstract: Are R&D budgets being smartly used to address growth? How is the crisis affecting public Research & Development budgets across the EU? The crisis seems to have widened the gap between EU countries in public R&I expenditure. Even though the EU budget serves as mechanism to somewhat ease the growing public R&I divide in Europe - EU funds are relatively more significant for innovation-lagging countries with low national R&I budgets - it is crucial to assess whether the effectiveness of these R&I programmes. Understanding the degree to which public R&I budgets in the EU have been used â??smartlyâ?? during the crisis and whether the EU has made â??smartâ?? recommendations on public R&I in the European Semester requires an assessment of the long-term impact on growth. Smart consolidation featuring R&I investment needs to take a long-term perspective and to have sound evaluation frameworks in place to assess whether the potential for high growth returns from public R&I are indeed being realised. Evaluating the effectiveness of public R&I budgets should go beyond assessing short-term additionality impacts. Smart fiscal consolidation by EU member states should include assessments of the longer-term social rates of return.
    Date: 2014–06
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bre:polcon:829&r=eur
  12. By: Laurent Gobillon (CEPR - Center for Economic Policy Research - CEPR, PSE - Paris-Jourdan Sciences Economiques - CNRS : UMR8545 - École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) - École des Ponts ParisTech (ENPC) - École normale supérieure [ENS] - Paris - Institut national de la recherche agronomique (INRA), EEP-PSE - Ecole d'Économie de Paris - Paris School of Economics - Ecole d'Économie de Paris, INED - Institut National d'Etudes Démographiques Paris - INED); Carine Milcent (PSE - Paris-Jourdan Sciences Economiques - CNRS : UMR8545 - École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) - École des Ponts ParisTech (ENPC) - École normale supérieure [ENS] - Paris - Institut national de la recherche agronomique (INRA), EEP-PSE - Ecole d'Économie de Paris - Paris School of Economics - Ecole d'Économie de Paris, CEPREMAP - Centre pour la recherche économique et ses applications - Centre pour la recherche économique et ses applications)
    Abstract: Using a French exhaustive dataset, this article studies the determinants of regional disparities in mortality for patients admitted to hospitals for a heart attack. These disparities are large, with an 80% difference in the propensity to die within 15 days between extreme regions. They may reflect spatial differences in patient characteristics, treatments, hospital characteristics and local healthcare market structure. To distinguish between these factors, we estimate a flexible duration model. The estimated model is aggregated at the regional level and a spatial variance analysis is conducted. We find that spatial differences in the use of innovative treatments play a major role whereas the local composition of hospitals by ownership does not have any noticeable effect. Moreover, the higher the local concentration of patients in a few large hospitals rather than many small ones, the lower the mortality. Regional unobserved effects account for around 20% of spatial disparities.
    Keywords: Spatial health disparities ; Economic geography ; Stratified duration model
    Date: 2013–09
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:pseose:halshs-00879787&r=eur
  13. By: Schuessler, Rudolf
    Abstract: Energy poverty, long considered a problem limited to developing countries only, is now widely acknowledged as a challenge for advanced OECD countries as well. How energy poverty is perceived depends on the conceptualization and assessment of the underlying phenomena: inappropriately high costs for the provision of adequate energy services and/or a resulting push into poverty. In Europe, the UK has spearheaded the definition and measurement of such phenomena. The most common way to measure energy poverty is to set a 10 percent threshold of energy-related expenditure relative to net income. At the time this indicator was being developed, it equaled double the median share of energy expenditure relative to the income of all residents. This paper discusses approaches to measuring energy poverty and argues that the double median share threshold endorsed by British researchers is ill-suited for determining energy poverty. A fixed percentage threshold may be more suitable, provided it is empirically confirmed, adequately modified, and regularly updated. --
    Keywords: energy poverty,indicators,social justice
    JEL: I32
    Date: 2014
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:14037&r=eur
  14. By: Davide Antonioli (University of Ferrara); Simone Borghesi (University of Siena); Massimiliano Mazzanti (University of Ferrara)
    Abstract: The adoption and diffusion of environmental innovations (EIs) is crucial to greening the economy and achieving win-win environmental – economic gains. A large and increasing literature has focused on the levers underlying EIs that are external to the firm, such as stakeholders’ pressure and policy pressure. Little attention, however, has been devoted so far to the possible role of local spatial spillovers which are one of the factors affecting sector/geographical specialisations. We analyse a rich dataset that covers the innovative activities and economic performances of firms in the Emilia-Romagna region in Italy, an area rich of manufacturing districts. We analyse EIs drivers and effects on firms’ performances through a two-step procedure. First, we look at the relevance of spatial levers, namely whether the agglomeration of EIs induces EIs in a given firm. Second, we test whether EIs are significantly related to firms’ economic performances. As to the importance of spatial levers, the role of agglomeration turns out to be fairly local in nature: we find that spillovers are significantly inducing innovation within municipal boundaries. Regarding economic performances, firms' productivity is positively related to EI adoption; in particular, firms that jointly adopt EIs and organizational changes show a better economic performance.
    Keywords: Environmental Innovations, Firm Economic Performances, Local Spillovers, Manufacturing, Agglomeration.
    JEL: Q5 Q55
    Date: 2014–04
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2014.42&r=eur
  15. By: Bruna, Fernando; Faíña, Andrés; Lopez-Rodriguez, Jesus
    Abstract: In the context of the New Economic Geography (NEG) wage equation, the ‘curse of distance’ is the tendency of peripheral regions to have lower income because of being far from the main markets, as captured by a variable Market Potential. This pattern is consistent with the core-periphery spatial distribution of the European regional economic activity. Nevertheless, during the last decades, the European Union has been implemented active transport and regional policies, which should mitigate the consequences of peripherality. This paper analyzes the changes of the cross-sectional effects of Market Potential on the European regional income per capita during the sample period 1995-2008. The paper finds evidence that the cross-sectional elasticity of per capita income to Market Po-tential has been decreasing over the sample period. However, some results are sensitive to changes in the specification of the wage equation or the estimation method.
    Keywords: NEG, wage equation, distance, core-periphery, regional policy, European regions
    JEL: C21 F12 R11 R12
    Date: 2014–06
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:56747&r=eur
  16. By: Fabrice Gilles (EQUIPPE - ECONOMIE QUANTITATIVE, INTEGRATION, POLITIQUES PUBLIQUES ET ECONOMETRIE - Université Lille I - Sciences et technologies - Université Lille II - Droit et santé - Université Lille III - Sciences humaines et sociales - PRES Université Lille Nord de France, TEPP - Travail, Emploi et Politiques Publiques - CNRS : FR3435 - Université Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée (UPEMLV))
    Abstract: According to the literature on work-sharing, productivity gains on capital equipment may increase employment while diminishing weekly working hours. In this article, we evaluate the impact of the French 35-hour working week on capital operating time. We merge the French survey on Capital Operating Time (COT, Banque de France, Central Bank of France; 1989-2004) and administrative Working Time Reduction agreements files (WTR,DARES, French Ministry of Labour; May 2003). We construct shift-work-based capital operating time indicators. Using differences-in-differences econometric models, we show that the implementation of the 35-h our work week did not induce any reduction in COT. Hence, firms increase shift-work to compensate for the decrease in working hours.
    Keywords: working time regulation ; capital operating time ; causal effect ; differences-in-differences models.
    Date: 2014
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-01006765&r=eur
  17. By: McCarthy, Yvonne (Central Bank of Ireland); McQuinn, Kieran (Central Bank of Ireland)
    Abstract: A distinguishing feature of the period preceding the 2007/08 financial crisis was the sizeable increase in private sector debt observed across many countries. A key component of household liabilities is mortgage debt and with many countries experiencing persistent increases in house prices from the mid-1990s onwards, a marked increase in this aspect of household leverage was observed. While aggregate statistics across countries confirm reductions in personal debt levels in recent years, relatively few sources of micro data are available to examine the nature of the deleveraging process at the household level. In this paper, using a unique combination of regulatory and survey data, we examine deleveraging amongst a representative sample of mortgaged Irish households. In particular, we examine the characteristics of households presently reducing their debt levels and empirically assess whether the subsequent balance sheet adjustments have implications for key economic decisions. Our analysis suggests that, typically, it is those households who can deleverage, who do, and furthermore the decision to deleverage has negative implications for household consumption.
    Keywords: Deleveraging, Debt, House Prices, Consumption.
    JEL: D12 D14 E21
    Date: 2014–03
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cbi:wpaper:05/rt/14&r=eur
  18. By: Bjuggren, Carl Magnus (Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN))
    Abstract: In this study I present empirical evidence that employment in family firms is less sensitive to performance and product market fluctuations, both at the industry and at the firm level. This supports the idea that family firms are able to offer their employees implicit employment protection. Family firms are believed to have longer time horizons, and are as owners more easily identified with their company and its actions. These are features that could make family firms more cautious in terms of adjusting their employment. I confirm previous findings that family firms are less sensitive to sales fluctuations at the industry level and I show that this also holds for fluctuations in value added. I extend the analysis to show that family firms are less sensitive to unanticipated industry shocks by filtering out the trend component. When investigating idiosyncratic shocks to the firm, I find that family firms are less anxious to translate temporary shocks in performance into changes in employment. By using full population data from tax registers, I am able to identify all family firms, both listed and non-listed. This has previously not been feasible.
    Keywords: Family Firms; Risk Sharing; Employment Protection; Shocks
    JEL: D22 G32 J21 J23 L25
    Date: 2014–06–10
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:1028&r=eur
  19. By: Elinder, Mikael (Department of Economics, Uppsala University); Persson, Lovisa (Department of Economics, Uppsala University)
    Abstract: In 2008, the Swedish property tax was reformed and a cap on yearly tax liabilities was introduced. A large fraction of owner occupied houses was subject to a substantial decrease in the tax. When the reform was announced, most analysts projected – in line with tax capitalization theory – that the tax decrease would lead to significant increases in house prices. We estimate price responses and capitalization degrees, using various DID strategies, in which the price dynamics of houses that were subject to a generous tax reduction are compared to the price dynamics of houses with a more modest reduction. Our results are largely inconsistent with capitalization theory. For the majority of properties, we find no evidence that the tax cut led to increases inhouse prices. However, we find evidence of partial capitalization in sub-markets with highly valued properties, highly educated citizens and were it is especially difficult to increase supply. We argue that theories of bounded rationality can help explain why house buyers may fail to take a tax decrease into account in the valuation of houses.
    Keywords: Announcement effects; Capitalization; Financial literacy; Housing market; Inattention; Saliency
    JEL: D01 D03 D04 D12 H22 H24 R21 R38
    Date: 2014–06–19
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:1029&r=eur
  20. By: Colombino, Ugo; Narazani, Edlira (University of Turin)
    Abstract: TGender based taxation (GBT) has been recently proposed as a promising policy in order to close the gender gap, i.e. promote gender equality and improve women’s status in the labour market and within the family. We use a microeconometric model of household labour supply in order to evaluate, with Italian data, the behavioural and welfare effects of GBT as compared to other policies based on different optimal taxation principles. The comparison is interesting because GBT, although technically correct, might face implementation difficulties not shared by other policies that in turn might produce comparable benefits. Our results support to some extent the expectations of GBT’s proponents. However, it is not an unquestionable success. GBT induces a modest increase of women’s employment, but similar effects can be attained by universal subsidies on low wages. When the policies are evaluated in terms of welfare, GBT ranks first among single women but among couples and in the whole population the best policies are unconditional transfers and/or subsidies on low wages.
    Date: 2014–06
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uto:dipeco:201412&r=eur
  21. By: Jan Kabatek (Tilburg University [Tilburg] - Netspar); Arthur Van Soest (Tilburg University [Tilburg] - Netspar); Elena Stancanelli (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Paris I - Panthéon-Sorbonne, EEP-PSE - Ecole d'Économie de Paris - Paris School of Economics - Ecole d'Économie de Paris)
    Abstract: Earlier studies suggest that income taxation may affect not only labour supply but also domestic work. Here we investigate the impact of income taxation on partners' labour supply and housework, using data for France that taxes incomes of married couples jointly. We estimate a household utility model in which the marginal utilities of leisure and housework of both partners are modelled as random coefficients, depending on observed and unobserved characteristics. We conclude that both partners' market and housework hours are responsive to changes in the tax system. A policy simulation suggests that replacing joint taxation of married spouses' incomes with separate taxation would increase the husband's housework hours by 1.3% and reduce his labour supply by 0.8%. The wife's market hours would increase by 3.7%, and her housework hours would fall by 2.0%.
    Keywords: Time use; Taxation; Discrete choice models
    Date: 2014–04
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:pseose:hal-00966801&r=eur

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