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on Microeconomic European Issues |
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Issue of 2015‒11‒15
23 papers chosen by Giuseppe Marotta Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia |
| By: | Caliendo, Marco (University of Potsdam); Schmidl, Ricarda (University of Mannheim) |
| Abstract: | Since the economic crisis in 2008, European youth unemployment rates have been persistently high at around 20% on average. The majority of European countries spends significant resources each year on active labor market programs (ALMP) with the aim of improving the integration prospects of struggling youths. Among the most common programs used are training courses, job search assistance and monitoring, subsidized employment, and public work programs. For policy makers, it is of upmost importance to know which of these programs work and which are able to achieve the intended goals – may it be the integration into the first labor market or further education. Based on a detailed assessment of the particularities of the youth labor market situation, we discuss the pros and cons of different ALMP types. We then provide a comprehensive survey of the recent evidence on the effectiveness of these ALMP for youth in Europe, highlighting factors that seem to promote or impede their effectiveness in practice. Overall, the findings with respect to employment outcomes are only partly promising. While job search assistance (with and without monitoring) results in overwhelmingly positive effects, we find more mixed effects for training and wage subsidies, whereas the effects for public work programs are clearly negative. The evidence on the impact of ALMP on furthering education participation as well as employment quality is scarce, requiring additional research and allowing only limited conclusions so far. |
| Keywords: | youth unemployment, active labor market policies, evaluation, training, job search |
| JEL: | J13 J68 J64 |
| Date: | 2015–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9488&r=eur |
| By: | Vrh, Nataša |
| Abstract: | The phenomenon of global value chains highlighted the issue of domestic value-added in exports (DVA) and led to the development of alternative trade measures in value-added terms. These, inter alia, enabled an estimation that shows that New EU countries from Central and Eastern Europe (NMS-10) experience an approximately 5 percentage points lower DVA share as compared to old EU countries (EU-15). The lag is on average the highest in knowledge-intensive manufacturing sectors (8 percentage points) and the lowest in knowledge-intensive services (0.3 percentage points). However, this paper follows the assumption that NMS-10 have acquired new knowledge by participating in Global Value Chains (GVCs), and thus gradually started increasing their DVA. Based on the empirical application of the EU trade data, I found that convergence in terms of DVA in exports can be observed in manufacturing, and especially in the services sectors. Additionally, I find that for NMS-10 countries negative relationship between participation in GVCs and DVA in exports is slightly decreasing over time in both sectors. |
| Keywords: | global value chains, international trade, value added in exports |
| JEL: | C67 F02 F14 |
| Date: | 2015–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:67805&r=eur |
| By: | Kurt R. Brekke (Department of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics); Tor Helge Holmäs (Uni Rokkan Centre; and Health Economics Bergen (HEB)); Karin Monstad (Uni Rokkan Centre; and Health Economics Bergen (HEB)); Odd Rune Straume (Universidade do Minho - NIPE) |
| Abstract: | This paper aims at shedding light on the social gradient by studying the relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and provision of health care. Using administrative data on services provided by General Practitioners (GPs) in Norway over a five year period (2008-12), we analyse the quantity, composition and value of services provided by the GPs according to patients' SES measured by education, income or ethnicity. Our data allow us to control for a wide set of patient and GP characteristics. To account for (unobserved) heterogeneity, we limit the sample to patients with a specific disease, diabetes type 2, and estimate a model with GP fixed effects. Our results show that patients with low SES visit the GPs more often, but the value of services provided per visit is lower. The composition of services varies with SES, where patients with low education and African or Asian ethnicity receive more medical tests but shorter consultations, whereas patients with low income receive both shorter consultations and fewer tests. Thus, our results show that GPs differentiate services according to SES, but give no clear evidence for a social gradient in health care provision. |
| Keywords: | Socio-economic status, Primary care; General Practitioners |
| JEL: | I11 I14 I18 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nip:nipewp:5/2015&r=eur |
| By: | Andreas Peichl; Martin Ungerer |
| Abstract: | The case of German reunification has been subject to extensive research on earnings inequality and labor market integration. however, little is known about the development of equality of opportunity (EOp) in East and West Germany after 1990.Using German micro data, we empirically analyze how circumstances beyond the sphere of individual control explain inequality in East and West Germany. Our results suggest that equal opportunities in Germany have grown since reunification. Interestingly, EOp is larger in East than in West Germany. |
| Keywords: | Equality of opportunity, earnings inequality, Germany, family background |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp798&r=eur |
| By: | Franziska Holz; Hanna Brauers; Philipp M. Richter; Thorsten Roobeek |
| Abstract: | The Netherlands have been a pivotal supplier in Western European natural gas markets in the last decades. Recent analyses show that the Netherlands would play an important role in replacing Russian supplies in Germany and France in case of Russian export disruption (Richter & Holz, 2015). However, the Netherlands have suffered from regular earthquakes in recent years that are related to the natural gas production in the major Groningen field. Natural gas production rates– that are politically mandated in the Netherlands – have consequently been substantially reduced, with an estimated annual production 30% below the 2013 level. We implement a realistically low production path for the next decades in the Global Gas Model and analyze the geopolitical impacts. We find that the diversification of the European natural gas imports allows spreading the replacement of Dutch gas over many alternative sources, with diverse pipeline and LNG supplies.There will be hardly any price or demand reduction effect. Even if Russia fails to supply Europe, the additional impact of the lower Dutch production is moderate. Again, alternative suppliers from various sources are able to replace the Dutch volumes. Hence, the European consumers need not to worry about the declining Dutch natural gas production and their security of supplies. |
| Keywords: | Natural gas, supply security, Europe, equilibrium modeling |
| JEL: | C69 L71 Q34 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp1516&r=eur |
| By: | Francesco Devicienti; Paolo Naticchioni; Andrea Ricci |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the effect of workplace unionization and product market volatility on firms' propensity to use temporary employment. Using Italian firm level data, we show that unionization and volatility have a positive impact on the share of temporary contracts. However, as volatility increases the union effect becomes negative, suggesting that in a highly volatile economic environment unions may be concerned about the weakening of their bargaining power associated with an extensive use of temporary workers. Furthermore, these effects are at work only for the use of non-training temporary contracts, while training temporary contracts are not affected by unions, volatility and their interplay. We argue that this occurs because non-training temporary contracts can be used by firms as a buffer stock to cope with uncertainty and by unions to protect insiders, while training temporary contracts are more likely to be used as a screening device for future permanent positions. |
| Keywords: | unions, temporary workers, training, product demand volatility, firms |
| JEL: | J51 J23 J24 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cca:wpaper:434&r=eur |
| By: | Warn N. Lekfuangfu (LSE - London School of Economics, Chulalongkorn University (THAILAND) - Chulalongkorn University (THAILAND), CEPR - Center for Economic Policy Research - CEPR); Nattavudh Powdthavee (Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research - Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, CEPR - Center for Economic Policy Research - CEPR, LSE - London School of Economics); Andrew E. Clark (EEP-PSE - Ecole d'Économie de Paris - Paris School of Economics, PSE - Paris-Jourdan Sciences Economiques - CNRS - Institut national de la recherche agronomique (INRA) - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENS Paris - École normale supérieure - Paris - École des Ponts ParisTech (ENPC), CEPR - Center for Economic Policy Research - CEPR); George Ward (LSE - London School of Economics, CEPR - Center for Economic Policy Research - CEPR) |
| Abstract: | We analyse the relationship between early maternal employment and child emotional and behavioural outcomes in early childhood and adolescence. Using rich data from a cohort of children born in the UK in the early 1990s, we find little evidence of a strong statistical relationship between early maternal employment and any of the emotional outcomes. However, there is some evidence that children whose mother is in full-time employment at the 18th month have worse behavioural outcomes at ages 4, 7, and 12. We suggest that these largely insignificant results may in part be explained by mothers who return to full-time work earlier being able to compensate their children: we highlight the role of fathers’ time investment and alternative childcare arrangements in this respect. |
| Keywords: | Child outcomes,Maternal employment,Well-being,Conduct,ALSPAC |
| Date: | 2015–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:psewpa:halshs-01223336&r=eur |
| By: | Andersson Joona, Pernilla (SOFI, Stockholm University); Lanninger, Alma W. (SOFI, Stockholm University); Sundström, Marianne (SOFI, Stockholm University) |
| Abstract: | This paper is an early evaluation of the Swedish Establishment Reform which was enacted in 2010 with the goal of facilitating and speeding up the integration of refugees and their family into the labor market and the society. From December 1, 2010 the reform transferred the responsibility for the integration of newly-arrived refugees from the municipalities to the government funded Public Employment Service through which those eligible would get an establishment plan and a coach. The reform was motived by concern over the low employment level and slow integration of refugees. Our approach is to compare the outcomes of the treatment group, which took part in establishment activities and arrived between December 1, 2010 and December 31, 2011, to those of the comparison group, which arrived in the eleven months preceding the Reform and participated in municipal introduction programs, controlling for a rich set of observables, including country of birth and date of residence permit. Outcomes are measured in terms of employment and earnings in 2012 for the treatment group and in 2011 for the comparison group. Our data comes from registers held by Statistics Sweden and the Public Employment Service and covers all immigrants. Although there are good reasons to expect positive effects of the Reform we find no significant difference in employment or earnings between the treatment group and the comparison group. |
| Keywords: | integration, refugees, labor market policy, treatment effect, employment, earnings, caseworkers |
| JEL: | J15 J61 J68 |
| Date: | 2015–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9496&r=eur |
| By: | Norén, Anna (Department of Economics, Uppsala University) |
| Abstract: | Despite several policies aimed at increasing fathers’ participation in the caring of children, Swedish mothers still use the bulk of the paid parental leave which may have several negative consequences for the family e.g. in terms of weaker labor market attachment for the mother. Division of parental leave is likely affected by how parents value the costs associated with parental leave. I investigate whether a reduction in the care burden, or a decreased non-monetary cost, of parental leave through the availability of childcare for older siblings affects how the leave is divided. The effect of access to childcare is evaluated by utilizing the regional heterogeneity of the implementation of a childcare reform in Sweden in 2002 that gave children of parents on parental leave with a younger sibling the right to stay in childcare. Results suggest that availability of childcare for an older sibling during parental leave does not impact the division of parental leave between mothers and fathers. |
| Keywords: | Childcare; Parental leave; Gender equality |
| JEL: | H31 J13 J16 |
| Date: | 2015–11–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2015_024&r=eur |
| By: | Frensch, Richard; Hanousek, Jan; Kocenda, Evzen |
| Abstract: | Using the factor-proportion based gravity framework we identify driving forces for trade in parts and components. We test our model empirically by using a detailed and large data set of European trade in parts and components of capital goods and show that such trade between East and West Europe is driven by relative supply-side country differences, compatible with models of incomplete specialization and trade. We take our results as evidence for the existence of international East-West production networks in Europe, driven by trade-offs between wages and coordination costs. Our results also reveal that in response to stronger relative wage differences trade in parts and components across Europe is predominantly realized along the extensive margin. |
| Keywords: | European Union; gravity model; international trade; panel data; production networks |
| JEL: | C23 F14 F23 |
| Date: | 2015–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:10932&r=eur |
| By: | Carolina Castagnetti (Department of Economics and Management, University of Pavia) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the gender wage gap in the Italian public sector for the years 2005 - 2010. We find a consistent level of gender wage gaps and an increasing path along the wage distribution. We use quantile regression methods to estimate and decompose the wage gap. The decomposition analysis supports the idea of a glass ceiling mechanism in action. However, the results change dramatically when we take into account the unobserved individual-specific heterogeneity by means of quantile technique for panel data. The evidence of a glass ceilings vanishes and the significant unexplained GWG is almost stable across the distribution. |
| Keywords: | Gender wage gap, quantile regression for panel, public-private wage differential |
| JEL: | J3 J45 |
| Date: | 2015–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pav:demwpp:demwp0109&r=eur |
| By: | Julien Berthoumieu (Larefi - Laboratoire d'analyse et de recherche en économie et finance internationales - Université Montesquieu - Bordeaux 4) |
| Abstract: | This paper aims to study the impact of potential determinants for technology diffusion via patent collaborations between emerging and developed countries in Europe by implementing an econometric estimation with panel data. First, we use the probability of patent collaborations as the explained variable under LOGIT estimations. Then, we use the intensity of collaborations under both OLS/GLS and Poisson estimations. We especially study the impact of the European Union integration of Eastern Europe countries on such technological collaborations with European Western countries. We also analyze the impact of further explanatory variables such as common borders, geographic distance, Gross Domestic Products, populations, income inequalities, Research and Development expenditures, technological gap, technological distance public expenditures in education, bilateral trade and Foreign Direct Investments. The results show that the European integration of emerging countries does not significantly increase the probability of patent collaborations. But it does significantly increase the intensity of patent collaborations. Emerging countries’ exports to developed countries is the main determinant for both the probability and the number of patent collaborations. The impact is significant and positive. |
| Keywords: | Technology Diffusion, Patent Collaborations, Econometric Estimation, European Union Integration. |
| Date: | 2015–11–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-01224761&r=eur |
| By: | Mark Thatcher |
| Abstract: | The article examines the European Commission's use of its legal powers over mergers. It discusses and tests two views. One is that the 'neoliberal' Commission has ended previous industrial policies of aiding 'national champion' firms to grow through mergers and instead pursues a 'merger-constraining' policy of vigorously using its legal powers to block mergers. The other is that the Commission follows an 'integrationist policy' of seeking the development of larger European firms to deepen economic integration. It examines Commission decisions under the 1989 EC Merger Regulation between 1990 and 2009. It selects three major sectors that are 'likely' for the 'merger-constraining' view - banking, energy and telecommunications - and analyses a dataset of almost 600 Commission decisions and then individual merger cases. It finds that the Commission has approved almost all mergers, including by former 'national champion' firms. There have been only two prohibitions over 20 years in the three sectors and the outcome has been the creation of larger European firms through mergers. It explains how the Commission can pursue an integrationist policy through the application of competition processes and criteria. The wider implication is that the Commission can combine competition policy with achieving the 'industrial policy' aim of aiding the development of larger European firms. |
| Keywords: | European Commission; mergers; national champions; neoliberalism |
| JEL: | F00 |
| Date: | 2014–11–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:54743&r=eur |
| By: | Dimitris Christelis; Raquel Fonseca Benito |
| Abstract: | We study transitions in and out of self-employment of older individuals using internationally comparable survey data from 13 OECD countries. We compute selfemployment transitions as conditional probabilities arising from a discrete choice panel data model. We examine the influence on self-employment transitions of labor market policies and institutional factors (employment protection legislation, spending on employment and early retirement incentives, unemployment benefits, strength of the rule of law), as well as individual characteristics like physical and mental health. Selfemployment is strongly affected by government policies: larger expenditures on employment incentives impact it positively, while the opposite is true for expenditures on early retirement and unemployment benefits. |
| Keywords: | self-employment, transitions, ageing, labor policies, panel, |
| JEL: | J21 J24 C4 |
| Date: | 2015–11–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cir:cirwor:2015s-50&r=eur |
| By: | Paolo Buonanno; Matteo M. Galizzi |
| Abstract: | We explore the causality relationship between litigation rates and the number of lawyers, drawing on an original panel dataset for the 169 Italian first-instance courts of justice between 2000 and 2007. In this time period, both the number of lawyers and the civil litigation rate sharply increased, and a mandatory minimum fee was in place for lawyers’ services. We first document that the number of lawyers is positively correlated with different measures of the litigation rate. Then, using an instrumental variables strategy, we find that a 10% increase in lawyers over population is associated with an increase between 1.6 and 6% in civil litigation rates. Our empirical analysis supports the supplier-induced demand (SID) hypothesis for Italian lawyers: following a sharp increase in the number of lawyers, and in the impossibility of competing on price because of the minimum fee regulation, some lawyers may have opportunistically used their informational advantage to induce their clients to bring lawsuits into court more often than would have been optimal if they were acting in the exclusive interest of their clients. |
| Keywords: | lawyers; litigation rates; credence goods |
| JEL: | H41 J44 K41 |
| Date: | 2014–11–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:60800&r=eur |
| By: | Mathieu Bunel; Elisabeth Tovar |
| Abstract: | Using the unanticipated creation of a new agency in the French region of Lyon as a quasinatural experiment, we question whether distance to local public employment agencies (LPEAs) is a new channel for spatial mismatch. Contrary to past evidence based on aggregated data and consistent with the spatial mismatch literature, we find no evidence of a worker/agency spatial mismatch, which supports a resizing of the French LPEA network. However, echoing the literature on the institutional determinants of the local public employment agencies’ efficiency, we do find detrimental institutional transitory effects. |
| Keywords: | spatial mismatch, unemployment, public employment service, quasi-experiment. |
| JEL: | J58 R53 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:drm:wpaper:2015-32&r=eur |
| By: | Aoki, Yu (University of Aberdeen); Santiago, Lualhati (Office for National Statistics, UK) |
| Abstract: | This paper aims to identify the causal effect of English language skills on education, health and fertility outcomes of immigrants in England and Wales. We construct an instrument for language skills using age at arrival in the United Kingdom, exploiting the fact that young children learn languages more easily than older children and adults. Using a unique individual-level dataset that links 2011 census data to life event records for the population living in England and Wales, we find that better English language skills significantly lower the probability of having no qualifications and raise that of obtaining academic degrees, but do not affect child health and self-reported adult health. The impact of language on fertility outcomes is also considerable: Better English skills significantly delay the age at which a woman has her first child, lower the likelihood of becoming a teenage mother, and decrease fertility. |
| Keywords: | language skills, education, health, fertility |
| JEL: | I10 I20 J13 |
| Date: | 2015–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9498&r=eur |
| By: | Anna Wieber; Elke Holst |
| Abstract: | This paper aims to verify results of the innovative study on gender identity for the USA by Bertrand et al. (2015) for Germany. They found that women who would earn more than their husbands distort their labor market outcome in order not to violate traditional gender identity norms. Using data from the German Socio-economic Panel Study (SOEP) we also find that the distribution of the share of income earned by the wife exhibits a sharp drop to the right of the half, where the wife’s income exceeds the husband’s income. The results of the fixed effects regression confirm that gender identity has an impact on the labor supply of full time working women, but only in Western Germany. We also show that gender identity affects the supply of housework but in contrast to the US where women increase their contribution to non-market work when they actually have a higher income than their husbands, we find for Germany that women only barely reduce their weekly hours of non-market work once their income exceeds that of their husbands. |
| Keywords: | gender roles, gender gap, female labor supply, non-market work, SOEP |
| JEL: | D10 J12 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp1517&r=eur |
| By: | Kounetas, Kostas; Napolitano, Oreste |
| Abstract: | Although European Single Market (ESM) has been widely perceived as a model for regional integration, there continues to be considerable debate about the impact of this integration on the EU regions. Studies in this field have mainly investigated the convergence-divergence issue, while the effect of ESM on regional performance has attracted few empirical studies. The non-parametric metafrontier framework used in this study, as a first stage of analysis, is exploited to account for the heterogeneity between the Italian regions in the whole period and in two distinct time periods before and after EMU implementation. In a second stage, using a partial least squares model, the technology gaps estimated for each period have been regressed, investigating possible factors that may have affected regional performance. Our findings reveal a significant improvement for the Italian regions since ESM implementation, a paradoxically unchanged behavior for efficiency performance in the Centre-North regions, and clear identification of specifically which regions performed better in terms of the technology gap. The inclusion of variables related to regional trade performance in the model indicates that trade balance is of major importance. |
| Keywords: | Regional performance, Metafrontier, Technology gap, Partial least squares, ESM, EMU |
| JEL: | D24 D29 R59 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:67600&r=eur |
| By: | Kotiranta, Annu; Widgrén, Joona |
| Abstract: | The aim of this report has been to produce an analysis of the state of the social enterprises in Finland. Based on a comprehensive survey, there are roughly 19 000 social enterprises in Finland that employ around 125 000 persons. These estimates produced in this report multiply the views on the magnitude of the phenomenon. Self-identified Finnish social enterprises produce social value though their products or services and mostly in the field of social services and welfare. The main hindrances on the way of the growth of the sector are the lack of an unambiguous definition of a social enterprise and the shortages in measuring the most important outcome, social impact. Measuring and valuing the impact is a key element in attracting funding for social enterprises. New means of impact investment attract not only attention but also capital that seeks for targets, especially in Europe. This additional funding is a much needed in the sector that attracts it’s outside financing currently mostly from public sector and struggles to find financing critical for future growth. |
| Keywords: | social enterprises, impact investment |
| JEL: | L38 L26 N34 P13 G23 G24 M14 G11 G14 |
| Date: | 2015–10–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rif:report:46&r=eur |
| By: | Bloemen, Hans (VU University Amsterdam); Hochguertel, Stefan (VU University Amsterdam); Zweerink, Jochem (VU University Amsterdam) |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates the effect of job loss on mortality for older male workers with strong labor force attachment. Using Dutch administrative data, we find that job loss due to sudden firm closure increased the probability to die within five years by a sizable 0.60 percentage points. Importantly, this effect is estimated using a model that controls for firm‐level worker characteristics, such as firm‐level average mortality rates for mortality during the four years prior to the year of observation. On the mechanism driving the effect of job loss on mortality, we provide evidence for an effect running through stress and changes in life style. |
| Keywords: | job loss, mortality, treatment effect |
| JEL: | C21 I10 J63 |
| Date: | 2015–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9483&r=eur |
| By: | Kurt R. Brekke (Department of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics); Chiara Canta (Department of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics); Odd Rune StraumeAuthor-Email: o.r.straume@eeg.uminho.p (Universidade do Minho - NIPE) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we study the impact of reference pricing (RP) on entry of generic firms in the pharmaceutical market. For given prices, RP increases generic firms' expected profit, but since RP also stimulates price competition, the impact on generic entry is theoretically ambiguous. In order to empirically test the effects of RP, we exploit a policy reform in Norway in 2005 that exposed a subset of drugs to RP. Having detailed product-level data for a wide set of substances from 2003 to 2013, we find that RP increased the number of generic drugs. We also find that RP increased market shares of generic drugs, reduced the prices of both branded and generic drugs, and led to a (weakly significant) decrease in total drug expenditures. The reduction in total expenditures was relatively smaller than the reduction in average prices, reflecting the fact that lower prices stimulated total demand. |
| Keywords: | Pharmaceuticals; Reference pricing; Generic entry |
| JEL: | I11 I18 L13 L65 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nip:nipewp:6/2015&r=eur |
| By: | Picchio, Matteo (Università Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona); van Ours, Jan C. (Tilburg University) |
| Abstract: | Using employees' longitudinal data, we study the effect of working hours on the propensity of firms to sponsor training of their employees. We show that, whereas male part-time workers are less likely to receive training than male full-timers, part-time working women are as likely to receive training as full-time working women. Although we cannot rule out gender-working time specific monopsony power, we speculate that the gender-specific effect of working hours on training has to do with gender-specific stereotyping. In the Netherlands, for women it is common to work part-time. More than half of the prime age female employees work part-time. Therefore, because of social norms, men working part-time could send a different signal to their employer than women working part-time. This might generate a different propensity of firms to sponsor training of male part-timers than female part-timers. |
| Keywords: | part-time employment, working hours, firm-sponsored training, gender, human capital |
| JEL: | C33 C35 J24 M51 M53 |
| Date: | 2015–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9470&r=eur |