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on Microeconomic European Issues |
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Issue of 2015‒05‒02
25 papers chosen by Giuseppe Marotta Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia |
| By: | Caliendo, Marco (University of Potsdam); Gielen, Anne C. (Erasmus University Rotterdam); Mahlstedt, Robert (IZA) |
| Abstract: | Although home-ownership has been shown to restrict geographic labor mobility and to affect job search behavior of unemployed, there is no evidence so far on how it affects their future re-employment outcomes. We use two waves of detailed German survey data of newly unemployed individuals to study the effect of home-ownership on the job search behavior of unemployed and their re-employment outcomes. We show that unemployed who own a home are less willing to move and also less likely to apply for jobs for which one would have to move. However, we do not find any evidence for compensations of their restricted mobility by more intensive (more search channels or applications) or different (more active or informal) search behavior. Furthermore, we find that home-ownership does not seem to harm the employment prospects of the unemployed. Although the re-employment probability in the short-run is slightly lower, we find that after one year home-owning unemployed have found better re-employment jobs, in terms of wages and job satisfaction, than their renting counterparts. |
| Keywords: | job search behavior, home-ownership, search effort, reservation wage, unemployment duration |
| JEL: | J64 J61 |
| Date: | 2015–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8972&r=eur |
| By: | Carlos Carrillo-Tudela (University of Essex, CEPR, CESifo and IZA); Bart Hobijn (Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco); Powen She (University of Essex); Ludo Visschers (University of Edinburgh, Universidad Carlos III and CESifo) |
| Abstract: | Using quarterly data for the U.K. from 1993 through 2012, we document that in economic downturns a smaller fraction of unemployed workers, when starting a new job, start it in a new occupation or industry (a career change, in the parlance of this paper). Moreover, the proportion of total hires that involves a career change for the worker also drops in recessions. Together with a simultaneous drop in overall turnover, this implies that the number of career changes declines during recessions. These results suggest that recessions are times of subdued occupational and industrial reallocation, and do not reflect, or point to, a large role of accelerated and involuntary structural transformation. We investigate this interpretation further, with evidence on who changes careers, which industries and occupations they come from and go to, and at which wage gains. |
| Keywords: | Labour market turnover, occupational and industry mobility, wage growth |
| JEL: | J63 J64 G10 |
| Date: | 2015–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:apc:wpaper:2015-043&r=eur |
| By: | Albanese, Andrea (Ghent University); Cockx, Bart (Ghent University) |
| Abstract: | In several OECD countries age-targeted wage subsidies have been introduced to increase the employment of older workers, but evidence on their effectiveness is scarce. This paper examines the effects of a permanent wage cost subsidy in Belgium on the employment rate, working time and hourly wage. We estimate these effects by integrating Inverse Probability Weighting in a, possibly trend-adjusted, Difference-in-Differences of endogenously sampled repeated cross sections. We find small positive short-run impacts on working time and larger ones on the employment rate, but only for employees at high risk of leaving to early retirement. The wage is not affected. |
| Keywords: | wage cost subsidies, older workers, weighted Difference-in-Differences, endogenous sampling |
| JEL: | J14 C21 J18 J3 |
| Date: | 2015–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8988&r=eur |
| By: | Chevalier, Arnaud (IZA); Marie, Olivier (Maastricht University) |
| Abstract: | After the fall of the Berlin Wall, East Germany experienced an unprecedented temporary drop in fertility driven by economic uncertainty. Using various educational measures, we show that the children born during this nativity slump perform worse from an early age onwards. Consistent with negative selection, mothers who gave birth in that period had worse observed personal characteristics. These children are also less likely to have grown up within stable family environment. Investigating underlying mechanisms reveals that parental educational input and emotional attachment were also lower for these children. Finally, sibling analysis enables us to reject time of birth effects. |
| Keywords: | parental selection, fertility, economic uncertainty, education |
| JEL: | J13 I20 |
| Date: | 2015–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9004&r=eur |
| By: | Maurizio Baussola; Jamie Jenkins; Chiara Mussida; Matthew Penfold (-) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the unemployment gender gap by using a three-state labour market model (Employment, Unemployment, Inactivity) which enables us to determine the equilibrium (steady-state) unemployment rate and the contribution that a single transition probability from each state makes to the unemployment differentials between males and females. This investigation falls within a comparative framework, in that we apply our methodology to the Italian and the UK labour markets. This comparison is relevant in that it considers two diversified institutional contexts, one typical of the so called Anglo-Saxon model, characterised by more flexible labour market legislations, and the continental model, which in contrast involves tighter legislative controls and more restrictive institutions. The analysis draws on the Italian and the UK Labour Force Surveys for the period 2006-2013. In addition, we propose an econometric model which enables us to estimate the determinants of the unemployment gender gaps, in order to pinpoint the relative role of individual characteristics (age, human capital) and other structural factors in determining such a gap. |
| Keywords: | unemployment gender gap, differentials, multinomial models, transition probability matrix. |
| JEL: | C21 C41 J16 J31 J71 |
| Date: | 2015–03–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crj:dpaper:5_2015&r=eur |
| By: | Albiol Sanchez, Judit (Universitat Rovira i Virgili); Diaz-Serrano, Luis (Universitat Rovira i Virgili); Teruel, Graciela (National Council for the Evaluation of Social Development Policy (CONEVAL)) |
| Abstract: | During the last two decades, skill mismatches have become one of the most important issues of policy concern in the EU (European Commission, 2008). Hence, the literature has stressed the necessity to reduce skill mismatches. We contribute to this literature by analyzing the impact of the transition from salaried employment to self-employment on self-reported skill mismatches. To do so, we resort to the European Community Household Panel (ECHP) covering the period 1994-2001. Using panel data, we track individuals over time and measure their self-reported skill mismatch before and after the transition. Our empirical findings indicate not only that the average self-employee is less likely to declare being skill-mismatched but also that those individuals who transit from salaried employment to self-employment reduce their probability of skill mismatches after the transition. |
| Keywords: | self-employment, skill mismatches, salaried employment |
| JEL: | L26 J24 B23 |
| Date: | 2015–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9008&r=eur |
| By: | Zapf, Ines (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]) |
| Abstract: | "In Germany, overtime work is a well-established instrument for varying working hours of employees and is of great importance for establishments as a measure of internal flexibility. However, not all employees are affected to the same degree by a variation of the work effort through overtime work. Besides socio-demographic factors, workplace-specific factors that provide information about the position of employees in the establishment play an important role, too. So far, we do not know enough how these workplace-specific factors are associated with overtime work. This question is at the centre of this study. In the analysis, women and part-time employees are taken into account, while previous studies mostly focused on fulltime employees and/or male workers. On the basis of the data of the German Socio- Economic Panel (SOEP), the results show a significant negative correlation between women and paid overtime and between part-time employees and unpaid overtime. If the employees performance is regularly assessed by a superior, paid overtime is less likely, while unpaid overtime becomes more likely. In executive positions, there is a significant positive correlation with paid and unpaid overtime work. Unpaid overtime is more likely with a growing autonomy in the employees' workplace, whereas paid overtime becomes less likely. However, the length of the training period on the job as well as job related burdens due to a job at risk and a limited employment contract seem to have no association with paid or unpaid overtime." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en)) |
| Keywords: | Überstunden - Determinanten, unbezahlte Überstunden - Determinanten, Frauen, Männer, Vollzeitarbeit, Teilzeitarbeit, Führungskräfte, befristeter Arbeitsvertrag, Arbeitsbelastung, Einarbeitung, Handlungsspielraum, Sozioökonomisches Panel, Arbeitszeitflexibilität |
| JEL: | J21 J24 J81 |
| Date: | 2015–04–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iab:iabdpa:201515&r=eur |
| By: | Collewet, Marion (Maastricht University); de Grip, Andries (ROA, Maastricht University); de Koning, Jaap (Erasmus University Rotterdam) |
| Abstract: | This paper uncovers 'conspicuous work' as a new form of status seeking that can explain social interactions in labour supply. We analyse how peer working time relates to both labour supply and happiness for Dutch male workers. Using a unique measure of peer weekly working time, we find that men's working time increases with that of their peers and that peer working time is negatively related to men's happiness. These findings are consistent with a 'conspicuous work' model, in which individuals derive status from working time. |
| Keywords: | well-being, social norms, working hours |
| JEL: | J22 I31 D62 |
| Date: | 2015–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9011&r=eur |
| By: | Gerdes, Christer (SOFI, Stockholm University) |
| Abstract: | One of the services provided at the Swedish Public Employment Services is job coaching. Since 2012, that service has been organized according to a voucher-based choice system. In 2013, a performance indicator of job coaching providers was made available at an online website. This study examines to what extent such information affected job coaches' ability to attract participants, as well as how the use of provider ratings varied across different groups of participants. The results indicate that the performance indicator strengthened the positive link between "quality" of services and the number of new participants that signed up with a provider. At the same time, there is evidence showing that more vulnerable groups, such as the less educated and those born outside Europe, do not use the rating values to the same extent as others. It appears that there is a tradeoff as to efficiency and inequality with respect to services that are contracted to private companies in a system based on consumer choice. |
| Keywords: | public sector, private providers, ALMP, rating, efficiency, equality |
| JEL: | H41 J64 J68 J78 |
| Date: | 2015–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8992&r=eur |
| By: | Lane Kenworthy |
| Abstract: | Cash transfers and tax credits to people in paid work but with low earnings are increasingly prominent in affluent countries. How effective are these programs at reducing poverty and increasing employment? The US and UK experience suggests that, in an economy with weak unions and limited labor market regulations, an employment-conditional earnings subsidy increases employment among persons at the low end of the labor market but reduces low-end wage levels somewhat. Overall, it appears to boost the absolute incomes of low-end households. Even so, cross-country comparison offers little support for a conclusion that the institutional configuration in these countries, including the employment-conditional earnings subsidy, is especially effective at generating high and rising employment, high and rising incomes among low-end households, or low and decreasing relative poverty rates. Quite a few other affluent nations have done as well as or better than the UK and the US in recent decades. In rich countries with stronger collective bargaining, employment-conditional earnings subsidies tend to be small, sector-specific, or temporary and so are unlikely to have sizeable effects on aggregate employment or incomes. Germany and Sweden have implemented larger versions. Germany's appears to have increased employment but reduced wage levels and low-end households incomes. Sweden's is too new to permit assessment of its impact. |
| Keywords: | employment-conditional earnings subsidy, in-work benefit, earned income tax credit, social policy, employment, poverty |
| JEL: | I38 I32 H24 |
| Date: | 2015–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hdl:improv:1510&r=eur |
| By: | Hanna Wielandt; ; ; |
| Abstract: | Building on the task-based approach of technological change, this paper discusses the interaction between occupational polarization (e.g. a gradual increase of native employment in the lowest and highest-paying jobs) and employment opportunities of immigrant workers. Using high quality administrative data for Germany, I first show that technological change is positively related to employment growth of natives in low-paying occupations that are also typically held by immigrant workers. In a second step, I show that labor markets in which native employment in those low-paying occupations grew more also experienced a larger decline in immigrant employment rates. The findings are consistent with the idea that the reallocation of natives towards low paying occupations induces stronger competition in the low-skill labor market, a segment in which foreign workers are typically employed. The results suggest that this relationship is more relevant for recent immigrants who have been in Germany for less than 5 years, and that approximately one third of the decline in employment rates could be associated with occupational polarization of native employment. |
| Keywords: | Job Tasks, Polarization, Technological Change, Immigration |
| JEL: | J24 J31 J62 O33 R23 |
| Date: | 2015–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hum:wpaper:sfb649dp2015-025&r=eur |
| By: | Braunerhjelm, Pontus (CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies, Royal Institute of Technology); Ding, Ding (CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies, Royal Institute of Technology); Thulin, Per (CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies, Royal Institute of Technology) |
| Abstract: | By utilising a Swedish unique, matched employer-employee dataset that has been pooled with firm-level patent application data, we provide new evidence that knowledge workers’ mobility has a positive and strongly significant impact on firm innovation output, as measured by firm patent applications. The effect is particularly strong for knowledge workers that have previously worked in a patenting firm (the learning-by-hiring effect), but firms losing a knowledge worker are also shown to benefit (the diaspora effect), albeit more weakly. Finally, the effect is more pronounced when the joining worker originates in another region. |
| Keywords: | Labour mobility; knowledge diffusion; innovation; social networks |
| JEL: | J24 O31 R23 |
| Date: | 2015–04–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:cesisp:0403&r=eur |
| By: | Osuna, Victoria |
| Abstract: | This paper uses the job creation and destruction model of the search and matching type proposed by García-Pérez and Osuna (2014) to study the effectiveness of subsidizing permanent job creation as a strategy to reduce labour market segmentation between permanent and temporary contracts. The 2006 and 2012 Spanish labour market reforms are used as a benchmark to compare the effects of subsidizing permanent job creation with that of reducing the severance cost gap between permanent and temporary contracts. The change in the degree of duality is measured in terms of the changes in job destruction rates and the tenure distribution. The steady-state results show that, from a fiscal point of view, reducing the severance cost gap between these two type of contracts may be more effective than subsidizing permanent job creation, provided dismissals for objective reasons are effectively made easier to justify and firms make use of that option instead of agreeing to an indemnity closer to the amount paid for unfair dismissals. The model also points to the relevance of designing appropriate penalties for those firms that do not comply with the obligations that subsidies involve. Finally, the sensitivity analysis reveals the importance of the magnitude of training costs and the relative differences in productivity between temporary and permanent workers for the effectiveness of policies involving subsidies for permanent job creation. |
| Keywords: | Subsidies,Severance Costs gap,Permanent and Temporary Contracts,Duality,Unemployment,Tenure Distribution,Job Destruction |
| JEL: | J23 J32 J63 J64 J65 J68 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ifwedp:201521&r=eur |
| By: | Pasqualino Montanaro (Bank of Italy); Paolo Sestito (Bank of Italy) |
| Abstract: | PISA 2012 included an optional computer-based assessment (CBA) focusing on mathematics, reading skills and problem solving. Italian students performed better in the CBA than in the paper-based assessment (PBA). This was not due to any specific features of the student samples in Italy and in the other countries included in the comparison. One of the reasons seems to be that Italian students are less determined in their approach to paper-based tests, during which they often fail to read all the questions and have trouble in finishing in the allotted time. Furthermore, this study finds that students’ competencies as revealed by the CBA are, other things being equal, strongly correlated with those in the paper-based tests, especially in mathematics, and that the pattern of results is almost the same for both kinds of test. Competencies in problem solving are in turn positively associated with a greater familiarity with digital tests. Nevertheless, being excellent in the PBA is not strictly necessary to obtain an excellent result in the CBA as well, since the latter test probably shows talents which are not revealed in paper-based tests, more similar to traditional school exams. |
| Keywords: | school, surveys of students’ proficiency, digital skills JEL Classification: I20, I21 |
| Date: | 2015–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdi:opques:qef_267_15&r=eur |
| By: | Daniel Avdic (CINCH – Health Economics Research Center) |
| Abstract: | The article analyzes to which extent residential proximity from an emergency hospital affects the probability of surviving an acute myocardial infarction (AMI). The critical time aspect in AMI treatment provides an ideal application for evaluating this proximity outcome hypothesis. Previous studies have encountered empirical difficulties relating to potential endogenous health-based spatial sorting of involved agents and data limitations on out-of-hospital mortality. Using policyinduced variation in hospital distance arising from plausibly exogenous emergency hospital closures in the highly regulated Swedish health care sector, and data on all AMI deaths in Sweden over two decades, estimation results show a clear, robust and gradually declining probability of surviving an AMI of about two percentage points (three percent) per additional ten kilometers distance from a hospital. Results further show that spatial sorting and sample selection from outof-hospital mortality are likely to significantly attenuate the distance effect unless accounted for. |
| Keywords: | myocardial infarction, geographical access, hospital closures, health policy, spatial sorting, self-selection, out-of-hospital mortality, causal effect |
| JEL: | C23 I14 I18 R41 |
| Date: | 2015–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:duh:wpaper:1501&r=eur |
| By: | Ylenia Brilli (European University Institute); Marco Tonello (Bank of Italy) |
| Abstract: | We estimate the contemporaneous effect of education on adolescent crime by exploiting the variation in crime rates between different cohorts and at different ages that followed a reform that raised the school-leaving age in Italy. A 1 percentage-point increase of the enrollment rate reduces adolescent crime by 1.3 per cent in the North of Italy but increases it by 3.9 per cent in the South. The crime-reducing effect depends mainly on incapacitation (i.e. adolescents stay in school instead of on the street); the crime-increasing effect is consistent with a channel of criminal capital accumulation, operating through social interactions and organized-crime networks. |
| Keywords: | adolescent crime, school enrollment, incapacitation, human capital |
| JEL: | I20 I28 J13 K42 |
| Date: | 2015–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdi:wptemi:td_1008_15&r=eur |
| By: | Gałecka-Burdziak, Ewa (Warsaw School of Economics); Góra, Marek (Warsaw School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | Given human longevity, fertility, health and social developments, workers become inactive relatively early throughout Europe. This partially stems from older workers being pushed out of the labour market and from personal motivation to prefer benefits to wages. We focus on this latter effect and analyse whether workers would have stayed active had they not been tempted by the availability of the old-age benefits. We focus on Poland, a country severely experiencing the problem of population ageing. In 2013 persons 50+ accounted for 37% of the total population. Although they enjoy a relatively low unemployment rate, their participation and employment rates are very low: 34% and 32%, respectively. We analyse whether this is due to the discouraged worker effect. We identify the cyclical properties of activity and discouraged worker rates, and estimate a set of logistic regressions to identify the determinants of the exits from the labour market. Cyclical analysis indicates that the added worker effect prevails over the discouraged worker effect. The discouraged worker effect appears with a delay of a few quarters. The process is asymmetric for females. Workers often permanently leave the market. The availability of old-age benefits increases the probability of outflow from unemployment to inactivity, as do unemployment rate changes. If old-age benefits become the main source of income for the worker within the 1 year interval, they are 8 to 20 times more likely to leave the workforce compared to those who receive either unemployment benefits or social welfare benefits. |
| Keywords: | discouraged workers, discouraged worker effect, exits from the labour market, unemployment outflow, inflow to inactivity, old-age benefits |
| JEL: | J14 J22 |
| Date: | 2015–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9014&r=eur |
| By: | Corinna GHIRELLI (UNIVERSITE CATHOLIQUE DE LOUVAIN, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES)) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates whether the early experience of non-employment has a causal impact on workers' subsequent career. The analysis is based on a sample of low educated youth graduating between 1994 and 2002 in Flanders (Belgium), i.e. a rigid labour market. To correct for selective incidence of non-employment, we instrument early non-employment by the provincial unemployment rate at graduation. Since the instrument is clustered at the province-graduation year level and the number of clusters is small, inference is based on wild bootstrap methods. We find that one percentage point increase in the proportion of time spent in non-employment during the first two and a half years of the career decreases six years after graduation annual earnings from salaried employment by 10% and annual hours worked by 7% (unconditional effects). |
| Keywords: | youth unemployment, scars, instrumental variable, wild bootstrap |
| JEL: | J31 J64 |
| Date: | 2015–04–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ctl:louvir:2015008&r=eur |
| By: | Paolo Emilio Mistrulli (Bank of Italy); Valerio Vacca (Bank of Italy) |
| Abstract: | Social capital is a key factor affecting the functioning of financial markets (Guiso, Sapienza and Zingales, 2004). However, the estimation of the effect of social capital on credit markets is notoriously difficult. In this paper we exploit the recent Lehman Brothers crisis and a rich dataset to investigate whether social capital shields firms from the tightening of credit conditions. We mainly focus on lending to small Italian firms that rely almost exclusively on banks’ credit and we compare the level of loan interest rates before (June 2008) and after (June 2010) Lehman’s default for a balanced sample of bank-firm relationships. We find that for firms headquartered in provinces where social capital is higher, the rise in the loan spreads following Lehman’s default was milder compared to firms located in low-social capital communities. The benefits were larger for small firms borrowing from more than one bank and for uncollateralised credit but did not extend to larger firms. Moreover, different measures of social capital provide slightly different results, suggesting a more ambiguous role for particularistic networking (e.g. having a wide network of friends) than for altruistic behaviour rooted in universalistic ethics. Finally, the propensity of a community to cooperate in the credit market, a kind of credit-specific measure of networking, did not always have an impact comparable to that for more general measures of social capital. |
| Keywords: | social capital, trust, SME finance, credit cooperation, financial crises |
| JEL: | A13 G01 G2 |
| Date: | 2015–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdi:wptemi:td_1009_15&r=eur |
| By: | Francesco Pastore; Luca Giuliani (-) |
| Abstract: | The school-to-work transition represents a long dark tunnel for too many young people all over the world. Nonetheless, cross-country differences are striking: in Germany, young people fare no worse than their adult counterparts, while in the South- and Eastern-European Union countries young people fare from 3 to 4 times worse than their adult counterparts. This essay points to the youth experience gap as a key concept: countries dramatically differ in their strategies to cover the youth experience gap, which remains high even in a time of ever increasing education attainment. Five different country groups are detected whose outcomes in terms of youth unemployment are dramatically different: a) the North-European; b) the Continental European; c) the Anglo-Saxon; d) the South-European; e) the New Member States. For the first time, this essay provides evidence based on panel data analysis. Our final specification is a dynamic model with control for endogenous variables to explain the role that different educational systems vis-à-vis labor market institutions have in affecting the youth absolute and relative disadvantage. We find that the European Continental and the Anglo-Saxon system perform much better also after controlling for per capita GDP level and growth, as well as for labor market and educational institutions. |
| Keywords: | Youth Unemployment, Youth Experience Gap, School-to-Work Transition Regimes, Dynamic Panel Data Analysis; System GMM. |
| JEL: | H31 H52 I2 J13 J24 J68 |
| Date: | 2015–03–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crj:dpaper:2_2015&r=eur |
| By: | Fernanda Mazzotta; Lavinia Parisi (-) |
| Abstract: | The paper examines simultaneously the leaving home and the employment decision of young Italians (aged 18-34). Stylized facts and previous studies have shown that when studying leaving home decision in Italy the probability of finding a job should also be analysed. The sample consists of young Italians (aged 18-34) drawn from European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) for the period 2004-2011, thus the time span gives us the possibility to look at individuals before and after the economic crisis. Moreover, the paper analyses the association between the economic status of the family of origin and the nest-leaving decision. We have estimated a bivariate probit model for the probability of leaving home and being employed allowing the error terms to be correlated. Results have shown that employment is a key factor to escape from parental home. According to the existing literature, individuals from richer family have higher probability of leaving home. As expected, after 2008 young Italians are less likely to leave parental home and to be employed. |
| Keywords: | Nest-leaving, Employment, Family Background, Italy |
| JEL: | E24 J12 I20 |
| Date: | 2015–03–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crj:dpaper:8_2015&r=eur |
| By: | Görlitz, Katja; Gravert, Christina |
| Abstract: | This paper evaluates the effects of a high school curriculum reform on students´ probability to enroll at university and to choose Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics (STEM) as college major. The reform that was introduced in one German state increased the degree of difficulty to graduate from high school by increasing the mandatory instruction time in the core subjects German, a foreign language, mathematics and natural sciences and by raising the graduation requirements. Based on administrative data covering all students, the empirical analysis is carried out by applying a difference-in-differences model. The results show that the reform increased university enrollment rates for both gender. With regard to choosing STEM as college major, we only find a robust positive effect for males. |
| Keywords: | high school curriculum,university educational decisions,the choice of college major,STEM,reform evaluation |
| JEL: | I21 I23 I28 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:fubsbe:201513&r=eur |
| By: | Torry, Malcolm |
| Abstract: | A Citizen’s Income – an unconditional and nonwithdrawable income for every individual – would offer many advantages, but because the UK’s current benefits and tax systems are complex, transition to a benefits system based on a Citizen’s Income could be difficult to achieve. This paper builds on the results contained in a previous EUROMOD working paper 2 by proposing two financially feasible ways of implementing a Citizen’s Income. The first method would be an ‘all at once’ method. That is, it would establish a small Citizen’s Income for every citizen of the UK, of whatever age. This paper shows that a strictly revenue neutral scheme is available that could be paid for by raising Income Tax rates by 3%, by abolishing Income Tax Personal Allowances, and by making adjustments to National Insurance Contributions. This scheme would impose almost no household disposable income losses on low income households at the point of implementation, and manageable losses on households in general. A second method – a ‘one step at a time’ method - would turn Child Benefit into a Child Citizen’s Income, then establish a Young adult Citizen’s Income, and then enable those in receipt of the Young adult Citizen’s Income to keep their Citizen’s Incomes as they grow older. This method of implementation would impose almost no losses in household disposable income at the point of implementation. The paper concludes that both ‘all at once’ and ‘one step at a time’ methods would be financially feasible. |
| Date: | 2015–04–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ese:emodwp:em6-15&r=eur |
| By: | Nicole Jonker; Mirjam Plooij; Johan Verburg |
| Abstract: | Do consumers change their payment behaviour after being exposed to a public campaign that encourages them to use their debit cards more often? We analyse the impact of such a campaign that started in 2007, using weekly debit card transaction data between 2005 and 2013. The overall results show positive effects of a national campaign to promote debit card usage, both in the short and in the long run. Debit card usage increased by 2%. The effects are the most significant at the early stages of the campaign, while appearing to wear off after a few years of interventions. The results suggest that high campaign intensity had a positive impact, as did a focus on certain large retail chains. |
| Keywords: | debit cards; payment behaviour; social marketing; cost efficiency; safety |
| JEL: | D24 E42 G21 M31 M37 |
| Date: | 2015–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dnb:dnbwpp:470&r=eur |
| By: | Sauer, Robert M. (Royal Holloway, University of London); Wilson, Tanya (Royal Holloway, University of London) |
| Abstract: | Small business activity and female entrepreneurship have become increasingly important features of the UK economy since the start of the Great Recession. In this paper, we re-examine the impact of liquidity constraints on new business formation in an instrumental variables framework, using a previously unexplored data set from the UK. The new results indicate that it is primarily single women that drive the well-established empirical relationship between personal wealth and business start-ups. Therefore, public policies specifically targeted at relieving the liquidity constraints of women could help further accelerate the rise of female entrepreneurship. |
| Keywords: | entrepreneurship, liquidity constraints |
| JEL: | J23 L26 M13 |
| Date: | 2015–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8981&r=eur |