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on Microeconomic European Issues |
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Issue of 2015‒08‒07
twelve papers chosen by Giuseppe Marotta Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia |
| By: | Angela Parenti; Cristina Tealdi |
| Abstract: | In this paper we study how the determinants of regional commuting in Italy have evolved in the past fifteen years. Using labour force data from 1992 to 2008 we estimate a model where the probability of commuting is regressed on a wide set of individual, job, firm and regional characteristics. Specifically, we focus on understanding how the increased flexibility of the labour market in the late nineties/early twenties have affected the individual decision to commute across regions. Consistent with the previous literature, we identify specific types of individual working in firms with well-defined features who are more keen to commute. However, even though temporary employ-ees tend to commute more than permanent employees, the increased utilization of temporary contracts did not have a strong impact on the commuting decisions of Italian workers. |
| Keywords: | Migration, Labour Mobility, Labour Flexibility, Italian regions |
| JEL: | C25 J41 J61 R23 |
| Date: | 2015–07–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pie:dsedps:2015/203&r=all |
| By: | Joachim Wagner (Leuphana University Lueneburg, Germany) |
| Abstract: | Crinò and Epifani (2012) report and discuss two empirical regularities they find in a representative sample of Italian manufacturing firms. First, there is a negative correlation between firms’ productivity and their export share to low-income destinations. Second, there is a negative correlation between firms’ innovation activity and their export share to low-income destinations. This note uses recently available comparable high quality firm level data for six European countries (including Italy) and similarly specified empirical models in an attempt to replicate these results. Replication failed completely. The link found between the share of exports to lowincome countries and either productivity or R&D intensity is never in line with the results from Crinò and Epifani (2012). |
| Keywords: | Exports, low-income destinations, productivity, innovation, EFIGE data |
| JEL: | F14 |
| Date: | 2015–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lue:wpaper:344&r=all |
| By: | Cheptea, Angela; Emlinger, Charlotte; Latouche, Karine |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we explore the link between globalization of the retail sector and the export activity of firms from their origin country. In a previous paper (Cheptea et al. (2015)), we showed that exporting firm from countries with internationalized retail companies benefit more from this process than firms from other countries. The underlying assumption of this paper is that the main benefits are grasped by the retailers' domestic suppliers. In other words, firms that sell their products under retailers' brands benefit more from the overseas expansion of retailers than other firms. We employ French firm-level data to evaluate the effect for the two types of firms. We identify retailers' suppliers using the certification of French agri-food firms with the private IFS standard, granting them the right to sell their products under a retailer's brand. Our empirical objective is to estimate whether firms with IFS certification have better export performance on markets where French retail companies have established outlets. We find that certified French firms export more than non-certified firms to markets where IFS retailers established outlets (mainly outside Europe). The difference is statistically significant and robust to the use of firm- and country-specific fixed effects. Results are similar for the extensive and the intensive margin of exports. |
| Keywords: | Multinational retailers, Firm-level exports, Private standards., International Relations/Trade, F12, F14, F23., |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea15:205457&r=all |
| By: | Monica Amici (Bank of Italy); Silvia Giacomelli (Bank of Italy); Francesco Manaresi (Bank of Italy); Marco Tonello (Bank of Italy) |
| Abstract: | We estimate the effects of a simplification in the bureaucratic regulation for doing business on firm demographics in Italy, where a 2011 legislation reform required all municipalities to institute a one-stop shop for doing business. We use data for all Italian firms active in private non-financial industries and exploit the staggered implementation of the policy by municipalities in order to identify its causal effect. The results indicate that the one-stop shop increased entry rates and survival probability at one year. This effect is due essentially to sole proprietorships, which are plausibly those that benefit the most from reductions in red tape. |
| Keywords: | red tape costs, firm entry, one-stop shop |
| JEL: | L11 M13 L51 |
| Date: | 2015–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdi:opques:qef_285_15&r=all |
| By: | Louhichi, Kamel; Ciaian, Pavel; Espinosa, Maria; Colen, Liesbeth; Perni, Angel; Gomez y Paloma, Sergio |
| Abstract: | This paper presents the first EU-wide individual farm-level model (IFM-CAP) intending to assess the impacts of CAP towards 2020 on farm economic and environmental performances across Europe. IFM-CAP is a static positive programming model applied to each EU-FADN individual farm -around 60500 farms- to guarantee the highest representativeness of the EU agricultural sector and to capture the full heterogeneity across EU farms in terms of policy representation and impacts. The model is used to assess the effects of the crop diversification measure, given that it is one of the most challenging aspects of the EU greening policy in terms of modelling and because of the farm-specificity of its implementation and impact. Results show that most non-compliant farms (80 %) chose to reduce their level of non-compliance following the introduction of the diversification measure owing to the sizable subsidy reduction imposed in case of non-compliance. However, the overall impact on farm income is rather limited: farm income decreases by less than 1 % at EU level, and only 5 % of the farm population will be negatively affected. Nevertheless, for a small number of farms, the income effect could be more substantial (more than –10 %). |
| Keywords: | Common Agricultural Policy, Greening, Crop Diversification, Farm-level Model, Positive Programming Model, EU, Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, C55, Q12, Q18, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea15:205309&r=all |
| By: | Slavo Radosevic (University College London); Katerina Ciampi Stancova (European Commission – JRC - IPTS) |
| Abstract: | The paper explores the issues of trans-regional and transnational collaboration in the context of smart specialisation in regions with the less developed research and development and innovation (R&D&I) systems, identified as the 13 countries (EU-13) that joined the European Union (EU) after 2004. The paper proposes a systematic methodological approach to trans-regional and transnational cooperation and discusses how this can be utilized to build innovation capacities and enhance innovation potential in selected regions. Specifically, paper addresses following questions: what is conceptual approach to trans-regional cooperation within the context of Smart Specialisation? What is the role of regional governments/national authorities? How regional authorities can deal with analysis of trans-regional opportunities, potential competitors and collaborators? Based on the analysis, what steps can policy-makers take to improve trans-regional cooperation? Our discussion is grounded in the key ’stylized facts’ related to EU-13 R&D&I activities, and the complex link between innovation and internationalization. Innovation systems in the EU-13 are fragmented and based on largely public R&D systems and innovation systems based on predominantly production oriented foreign direct investment (FDI). This structural weakness calls for stronger support for innovation oriented activities and for the integration of global value chains (GVCs) and FDI into local innovation systems. We distinguish and discuss the main obstacles to the internationalization of smart specialisation and discuss ways to overcome them. We highlight the policy action areas related to providing support for technology upgrading in relation to the internationalization of smart specialisation. The Paper concludes by offering a discussion of policies to improve trans-regional cooperation in less developed R&I systems in short and long term. |
| Keywords: | Inter-regional collaboration, smart specialisation, innovation policy, transnational collaboration, (global) value chains, regional development |
| Date: | 2015–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc96030&r=all |
| By: | Asako Ohinata; Matteo Picchio |
| Abstract: | We analyse how the financial support for long-term elderly care affects the level of household savings. Using a difference-in-differences estimator, we investigate the 2002 Scottish reform, which introduced free formal personal care for all the elderly aged 65 and above residing in Scotland. Our semiparametric estimation technique allows the policy effects to be flexibly estimated across age groups. We find that the Scottish policy reduced the average household saving by about £7,200. Moreover, the estimated effects are heterogeneous across age groups of the head of household: these effects are particularly strong among those aged between 40 and 60. The largest effect is observed at age 49 with the reduction in the average household saving by £12,764. |
| Keywords: | Long-term elderly care; ageing; means tested financial support; saving; wealth; difference-in-differences. |
| JEL: | C21 D14 I18 J14 |
| Date: | 2015–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lec:leecon:15/17&r=all |
| By: | Lewis, Karen E.; Grebitus, Carola; Colson, Greg; Hu, Wuyang |
| Abstract: | In the European Union (EU), country of origin labeling (COOL) became mandatory in 2002 in response to the United Kingdom’s bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) crisis. Although the EU has enacted one of the most information rich COOL policies for beef globally, little research has focused on origin labeling in the EU. Therefore, we determined how German and British consumers’ food safety concerns moderated their willingness to pay (WTP) for foreign (country of origin labeled) beef. Additional attributes, such as hormone-free labeling, quality assurance seals and promotional gourmet labeling were also analyzed. Random parameter logit model results indicated that British and German consumers’ WTP for foreign beef is moderated by their specific food safety concerns. For example, as German consumers are increasingly concerned about BSE, their WTP for beef from Great Britain was most negative. When controlling for consumers’ food safety concern in general, British consumers had the lowest WTP for beef from France, and German consumers had the lowest WTP for beef from the U.S. German and British consumers’ had the highest WTP for hormone-free beef. These results are informational to the international trade of beef. |
| Keywords: | European Union, Beef, Food Safety, Country of Origin Labeling, Great Britain, Germany, Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, International Relations/Trade, Livestock Production/Industries, Q13, Q18, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea15:205301&r=all |
| By: | Michele Rainato (Sapienza University of Rome); Francesco Vona (OFCE) |
| Abstract: | This paper shows that returns to parental background increase along the sons' distribution in four EU countries. Although this indicates a common mechanism, substantial differences in returns’ steepness question the one-model-fits-all story. |
| Keywords: | Intergenerational inequality,; international comparison; unconditional quantile regressions |
| JEL: | J31 J62 D31 C21 |
| Date: | 2015–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/40f5jv61a38nob8n540ho53vpu&r=all |
| By: | Stranieri, S.; Cavaliere, A.; Banterle, A. |
| Abstract: | Over the past decades increasing consumers’ concerns due to repeated food scares has lead firms and policy makers to adopt mandatory and voluntary normative instruments in order to reduce consumers loss of confidence towards food products. Traceability is one of the most important interventions aimed at assuring the safety and quality characteristics of food products. Firms can use such tool to reduce the risk of food safety non-compliance, to impact on consumer behaviour through the labelling of traced quality attributes, and to reinforce vertical relationships within the food supply chain through a system aimed at guaranteeing a more transparent management of transactions. The EU mandatory legal framework on traceability is based on general food law (Regulation 178/2002) and on Regulations 1760/2000 and 1825/2000 for the meat supply chain. The strategic role played by traceability standards has been recently strengthened by Regulation (EU) 1337/2013 that has extended the European legal framework on traceability to most of meat products. This Regulation has highlighted the important role of fine traceability in assuring specific safety and quality attributes connected to the supply chain. |
| Keywords: | Agribusiness, |
| Date: | 2015–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iefi15:206213&r=all |
| By: | Kehlbacher, Ariane; Arnoult, Matthieu; Srinivasan, Chittur; McCloy, Rachel; Tiffin, Richard |
| Abstract: | Levels of obesity and overweight in the UK are high with certain groups within the population particularly affected. The customary approach is to identify at risk groups based on their socio-demographics or their observed unhealthy food choices. This approach fails to acknowledge that households with similar socio-economic background may behave very differently and that households make unhealthy food choices for very different reasons. In this study we segment households according to their underlying food preference using an Almost Ideal Demand System (AIDS) mixture model. We identify five household segments that are similar in their food preferences and therefore in how they would respond to policy interventions. The food purchasing patterns of households in each of the five segments tend to be similar but households differ in terms of socio-demographics. This information needs to be taken into account when designing a targeting mechanism for policy interventions to improve diets. |
| Keywords: | household food consumption, segmentation, finite mixture model, Almost Ideal Demand System, Agricultural and Food Policy, Consumer/Household Economics, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea15:205461&r=all |
| By: | Pierre-Philippe Combes (Departement d'Economie de Sciences Po); Bruno Decreuse (Groupement de Recherche en Économie Quantitative d'Aix-Marseille); Benoît, Department Of Economics) Schmutz (2441/vcs597o2o8tpqsfunpbgvptj7); Alain Trannoy (Aix-Marseille School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | This paper describes a novel concept of customer discrimination in the housing market, neighbor discrimination. We build up a matching model with ethnic externalities where landlords differ in the number of apartments they own within the same building. Larger landlords discriminate more often only if some tenants are prejudiced against the minority group. Testing the null hypothesis whereby minority tenants are equally likely to have a large landlord provides a natural test for the existence of neighbor discrimination. In an empirical application, we show that this null hypothesis is rejected for African immigrants in the French private rental market. We then show that the local proportion of large landlords is positively correlated with African tenants’ probability of living in public housing, whereas this is not the case of other demographic groups. |
| Keywords: | Customer Discrimination; Housing Market; Matching Frictions; Neighborhood Externalities |
| JEL: | J71 R21 |
| Date: | 2015–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/6tj1d1vl8a8goacd5b3ogpmn8j&r=all |