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on Microeconomic European Issues |
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Issue of 2016‒10‒16
23 papers chosen by Giuseppe Marotta Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia |
| By: | Molina, Jose Alberto; Campaña, Juan Carlos; Ortega, Raquel |
| Abstract: | Internet use reduces the isolation or exclusion of individuals in specific socio-economic groups and, consequently, increases the quality of life, with this being especially the case for the elderly. Knowing that the elderly are becoming particularly active in dedicating time to the Internet, we provide evidence of the time that Spanish individuals aged 65 and older dedicate to two online activities: search and communications. Thus, our work contributes to the central objective of the Digital Agenda for Europa, which sets out to ensure universal broadband coverage across the European Union. We estimate a simultaneous SUR model with data from the 4,036 individuals aged 65 years (inclusive) and older from the Spanish Time Use Survey for 2009-2010. Results indicate that being male has a positive influence on the time devoted to search on the Internet, whereas age has a negative effect. Time devoted to both Internet activities increases with higher levels of education and at the highest level of individual health. By contrast, a greater number of family members has a negative influence on the time spent on search and, more so, on communications. Finally, living in a larger city produces a positive effect on the time dedicated to search. |
| Keywords: | Elderly, Internet, Time use, SUR model, Digital Agenda for Europa |
| JEL: | D12 J14 J22 |
| Date: | 2016–10–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:74419&r=eur |
| By: | Pavel Ciaian; d'Artis Kancs; Julda Kielyte |
| Abstract: | In the age of the knowledge economy and globalisation, the skill mobility is perceived as one of the key factors for fully unlocking the human capital potential. The European Qualifications Framework (EQF) aims at increasing the workers' and learners' mobility among the EU Member States by making national qualifications readable across the EU. The present study analyses the impact of the EQF on education, skills, migration and the economic growth by performing a conceptual analysis and numerical simulations of the high-skill market integration through the EQF with a newly developed macroeconomic model of the European Commission. Whereas education is the main driver of the upward skill mobility, migration drives the spatial skill mobility. Our results suggest that the EQF would facilitate the high-skill labour market integration, which in turn would generate significant welfare gains for the EU. Both the social and macroeconomic effects of the EQF are positive at the aggregate level. However, their distribution across different Member States, regions, economic sectors and skill levels is differentiated. Hence, accompanying policy measures may be required to ensure an inclusive growth arising from the high-skill market integration. |
| Keywords: | Education, skills, employment, labour, migration, wage, human capital, macroeconomic modelling. |
| JEL: | C68 D58 F22 J20 J61 J64 O15 |
| Date: | 2016–01–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eei:rpaper:eeri_rp_2016_19&r=eur |
| By: | Hellwig, Michael; Hüschelrath, Kai |
| Abstract: | We provide a comprehensive quantitative assessment of cartels and the related cartel enforcement process in the European Union (EU) from 2001 to 2015. In a first step, we present a detailed characterization of all cartel cases decided by the European Commission (EC) with respect to various criteria such as the number of involved firm groups, cartel market shares and market share asymmetries, involved industries, affected countries, types of infringement, types of cartel breakdown as well as cartel duration. In a second step, we complement this cartel-based analysis with a quantitative assessment of the public cartel enforcement process in the European Union - subdivided further into its duration, types of cartel detection, the leniency program, the settlement procedure, overall fines imposed, and the conclusive appeals process with the General Court (GC) and the European Court of Justice (ECJ). |
| Keywords: | Competition Policy,Cartels,Collusion,Enforcement,European Union |
| JEL: | K21 L41 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:16063&r=eur |
| By: | Elena Bárcena-Martín (Dpto. Estadística y Econometría, University of Málaga.); Maite Blázquez (Universidad Autonoma de Madrid.); Ana I. Moro Egido (Department of Economic Theory and Economic History, University of Granada.) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes to what extent the financial regime of the couple, defined in terms of the level of income pooling and decision-making responsibilities, is associated with different levels of household deprivation and also with specific domains of deprivation, namely economic strain, durables and housing. We conclude that contributing incomes to the household, either totally or partially, reduces deprivation, specifically economic strain. This reduction is even more noticeable in the presence of children. We also find that sharing the responsibility for decision making reduces deprivation. In particular, by areas of decision we find that, first, deprivation is not significantly influenced by which member of the couple, either the man, the woman or both, has most decision-making responsibilities in terms of durables; second, deprivation increases when the female (male) decides on issues related to borrowing (children); third, if the woman decides about everyday shopping, deprivation diminishes and this effect is weaker if she is the one who earns more in the couple; and finally, deprivation decreases if the partner who earns more decides about savings, and even more so in the economic strain domain. All these results give evidence of the need to take into account the standard determinants of deprivation together with variables that capture the ways in which household members make decisions and how they pool incomes in designing policies to reduce deprivation. |
| Keywords: | Deprivation, income pooling, decision-making responsibility, gender, children |
| JEL: | C21 D13 I32 |
| Date: | 2016–10–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gra:wpaper:16/05&r=eur |
| By: | Elena Claudia Meroni (European Commission – JRC); Esperanza Vera-Toscano (European Commission - JRC); Sara Flisi (European Commission - JRC) |
| Abstract: | The main purpose of this technical brief is to investigate the comparability between two early childhood education and care indicators currently used by the European Commission – namely the Barcelona target and the ET 2020 ECEC benchmark – and to identify methodological differences and common traits that may have implications in their use for policy-making. Results show that, despite being potentially similar measures of participation of children in early childhood education and care in the different countries, they are essentially different in their nature as they cover different groups of individuals. Additionally, the fact that they use different datasets, namely administrative data from UOE and survey data from EU-SILC, implies that they follow diverse data collection protocols; in particular, the use of EU-SILC survey data brings the risk of not having a fully representative sample of the children population; and exposes data to respondent and interviewer’s biases, which further contributes to the existing differences between them. Notwithstanding, results provided in the brief suggest that the different age composition of the two indicators could explain a consistent part of the difference in the overall shares; in the majority of countries, for age groups 4 and 5, numbers are quite similar. Thus, while still taking into account all the caveats explained in this document, we could conclude that for these age groups results could be equally used for policy support. Some suggestions for the improvement of the Barcelona target sub-indicator for the ET 2020 ECEC benchmark within the Joint Assessment Framework are also proposed. |
| Keywords: | Indicators, ECEC ET 2020, Barcelona Target, early childhood education and care |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc102774&r=eur |
| By: | Pedro S. Martins |
| Abstract: | According to theory, wage rigidity may increase the scope for employment protection legislation (EPL) to have negative effects on employment. In this paper, we study this issue by analysing the extent to which entry wages respond to EPL. We exploit a recent reform in Portugal, in the midst of a recession, that reduced severance pay for new hires alone. Our main analysis is based on a regression-discontinuity approach using long monthly data on entry wages. We find no evidence of wage adjustments following the change in EPL, even when considering many different specifications and samples. This result highlights the potential of greater flexibility in EPL over the business cycle to reduce employment fluctuations. |
| Keywords: | Employment law, Seasonality, Wage rigidity, Severance |
| JEL: | J65 J31 E24 |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cgs:wpaper:77&r=eur |
| By: | Alexander Gocht (Institute of Farm Economics, Johann Heinrich von Thünen Institute); Pavel Ciaian (European Commission – JRC); Maria Bielza (European Commission – JRC); Jean-Michel Terres (European Commission – JRC); Norbert Röder (Institute of Farm Economics, Johann Heinrich von Thünen Institute); Mihaly Himics (European Commission – JRC); Guna Salputra (European Commission – JRC) |
| Abstract: | In this report we analyse the economic and environmental impacts of CAP greening introduced by the 2013 CAP reform. We use the CAPRI farm-type layer, an extension of CAPRI by farm group module capturing farm heterogeneity across the EU. Its main advantage in the context of our analysis is that it allows the current implementation of the CAP greening measures to be depicted in high detail, while also capturing the environmental effects and the market feedback of the simulated policy changes. The simulated results reveal that the economic impacts (land use, production, price and income changes) of CAP greening are rather small, although some farm types, sectors (fallow land and pulses) or Member States may be affected more significantly. Simulation results show that the CAP greening will lead to a simultaneous small increase in prices and a small decrease in production. The latter impact is due to the greening obligations that require farms to take out of production a small share of land and to the slight reduction in farm productivity driven by the land reallocation effects of greening measures. Farm income slightly increases because the price effects offset the production decline. The results indicate that EFA and grassland measures tend to induce slightly higher economic effects relative to the crop diversification measure, nevertheless some variation across crops and economic indicators is observed. Similarly to economic effects, the environmental impacts of CAP greening are small, although some regions may see greater effects than others. In general, effects at EU level are positive on a per hectare basis, but the increase in UAA can reverse the sign for total impacts. Overall, simulated GHG and ammonia emissions decrease in the EU, while the total N surplus, soil erosion and biodiversity-friendly farming practices indicator slightly increase due to the CAP greening. The crop diversification measure tends to have the lowest environmental impacts, while the grassland measure has mixed (both positive and negative) effects on the reported environmental indicators. The EFA measures have positive impacts on most environmental indicators, except for soil erosion. |
| Keywords: | CAP reform, CAP greening, crop diversification, maintenance of permanent grassland, ecological focus area, EU, economic and environmental impacts, CAPRI, farm types, farm model |
| JEL: | Q11 Q12 Q18 Q51 |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc102519&r=eur |
| By: | Anna Batyra (Bogazici University); David de la Croix (UNIVERSITE CATHOLIQUE DE LOUVAIN, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES)); Olivier Pierrard (Banque centrale du Luxembourg); Henri Sneessens (UNIVERSITE CATHOLIQUE DE LOUVAIN, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES) and Université du Luxembourg, CREA) |
| Abstract: | The rise of early retirement in Europe is typically attributed to the European system of taxes and transfers. Contrary to a purely neoclassical framework, a model with imperfectly competitive labor market also allows to consider the effect of the bargaining power of labor and matching efficiency on preretirement. We find that lower bargaining power of workers and less efficient labor markets characterized by the declining matching efficiency have been an important determinant of early retirement in France and Germany. These structural changes, combined with early-retirement transfers and population ageing, are also consistent with the joint evolution of employment and unemployment rates, the labor share and the seniority premium. |
| Keywords: | Overlapping Generations, Search Unemployment, Labor Force Participation, Aging, Labor Market Policy and Institutions |
| JEL: | E24 H55 J26 J64 |
| Date: | 2016–03–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ctl:louvir:2016022&r=eur |
| By: | Miriam Rehm; Katharina Mader; Alyssa Schneebaum; Katarina Hollan |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:clr:mwugar:157&r=eur |
| By: | Kieron Barclay (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany); Mikko Myrskylä (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany) |
| Abstract: | As parental ages at birth continue to rise, concerns about the effects of fertility postponement on offspring are increasing as well. Advanced maternal and paternal ages have been associated with a range of negative health outcomes for offspring, including decreased longevity. The literature, however, has neglected to examine the benefits of being born at a later date. We analyse mortality among 1.9 million Swedish men and women born in 1938-1960, and use a sibling comparison design that accounts for all time invariant factors shared by the siblings. We show that there are no adverse effects of childbearing at advanced maternal ages, and that offspring mortality declines monotonically with advancing paternal age. This positive effect is attributable to the increase in life expectancy over successive birth cohorts, which dominates over individual-level factors that may have negative effects on offspring longevity, such as reproductive ageing. |
| Keywords: | Sweden, ageing, longevity, mortality, parents, reproduction |
| JEL: | J1 Z0 |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dem:wpaper:wp-2016-011&r=eur |
| By: | Joan Costa-Font; Sergi Jiménez-Martín; Cristina Vilaplana-Prieto |
| Abstract: | We still know little about what motivates the informal care arrangements provided in old age. The introduction of demand-side subsidies such as unconditional caregiving allowances (cash benefits designed either to incentivize the provision of informal care, or compensate for the loss of employment of informal caregivers) provide us with an opportunity to gain a further understanding of the matter. In this paper we exploit a quasi-natural experiment to identify the effects of the inception in 2007 (and its reduction in 2012) of a universal caregiving allowance on both the supply of informal care, and subsequent intergenerational transfer flows. We find evidence of a 30% rise in informal caregiving after the subsidy, and an increase (reduction) in downstream (upstream) intergenerational transfers of 29% (and 15%). Estimates were heterogeneous by income and wealth quantiles. Consistently, the effects were attenuated by a subsequent policy intervention; the reduction of the subsidy amidst austerity cuts in 2012. |
| Keywords: | caregiving, intergenerational transfers, difference-in-differences, long-term care, family transfers, exchange motivation, caregiving allowances, demand-side subsidies. |
| JEL: | I18 D14 G22 |
| Date: | 2016–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:upf:upfgen:1537&r=eur |
| By: | Carine Milcent (PSE - Paris School of Economics, PSE - Paris-Jourdan Sciences Economiques - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENS Paris - École normale supérieure - Paris - École des Ponts ParisTech (ENPC), CEPREMAP - Centre pour la recherche économique et ses applications) |
| Abstract: | How has this administrative change affcted the healthcare providers behaviour? Using a unique longitudinal database with 145 million stays, I study the dependence of the severity classification associated with hospital stays on a financial incentive, as well as the resulting budgetary reallocations. The classification of diagnosis-related groups (DRGs) in France changed in 2009. The number of groups was multiplied by 4. Controlling for pathology indicators and hospital fixed e↵ects, I unambiguously demonstrate that a finer classification led to an “upcoding” of stays. Because of a fixed annual budget at the national level, these results directly imply that the upcoding led to a budget reallocation which increased the share of health spending that went to for-profit hospitals, at the expense of public nonresearch hospitals. This budget reallocation did not correspond to any change in the actual production of care. |
| Keywords: | Hospital stays,Diagnosis-related groups (DRGs),Upcoding,heterogeneity in responses |
| Date: | 2016–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-01340557&r=eur |
| By: | David-Jan Jansen |
| Abstract: | This paper discusses research that uses Dutch household survey data to study housing and mortgage dynamics. After introducing broad developments and summarizing related work on heterogeneity, this paper focuses on the role of loan-to-value ratios. Household survey data suggests that the increase of loan-to-value ratios for first-time buyers in the housing market has come to a halt. Using ordered logit regressions, we find that house characteristics and demographic variables can explain heterogeneity in LTV ratios. |
| Keywords: | housing; mortgages; loan-to-value; financial literacy; survey |
| JEL: | E51 R31 R38 |
| Date: | 2016–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dnb:dnbwpp:522&r=eur |
| By: | Jing Xiao; Ron Boschma; Martin Andersson |
| Abstract: | There is increasing interest in the drivers of industrial diversification, and how these depend on economic and industry structures. This paper contributes to this line of inquiry by analyzing the role of relatedness in explaining variations in industry diversification, measured as the entry of new industry specializations, across 173 European regions during the period 2004-2012. There are significant differences across regions in Europe in terms of industrial diversification. Relatedness has a robust positive influence on the probability that new industry specialization develops in a region. A novel finding is that the influence of relatedness on the probability of new industrial specializations depends on innovation capacity. We find that relatedness is a more important driver of diversification in regions with a weaker innovation capacity. The effect of relatedness appears to decrease monotonically as the innovation capacity of a local economy increases. This is consistent with the argument that high innovation capacity allows an economy to ‘break from its past’ and to develop, for the economy, truly new industry specializations. We infer from this that innovation capacity is a critical factor for economic resilience. |
| Keywords: | industrial diversification, related diversification, evolutionary economic geography, unrelated diversification, European regions, resilience |
| JEL: | B52 L16 O14 O18 R11 |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:1627&r=eur |
| By: | Baptista, Rafa (Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford); Farmer, J. Doyne (Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford); Hinterschweiger, Marc (Bank of England); Low, Katie (Bank of England); Tang, Daniel (Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford); Uluc, Arzu (Bank of England) |
| Abstract: | This paper develops an agent-based model of the UK housing market to study the impact of macroprudential policies on key housing market indicators. This approach enables us to tackle the heterogeneity in this market by modelling the individual behaviour and interactions of first-time buyers, home owners, buy-to-let investors, and renters from the bottom up, and observe the resulting aggregate dynamics in the property and credit markets. The model is calibrated using a large selection of micro-data, mostly from household surveys and housing market data sources. We perform a series of comparative statics exercises to investigate the impact of the size of the rental/buy-to-let sector and different types of buy-to-let investors on housing booms and busts. The results suggest that an increase in the size of the buy-to-let sector may amplify house price cycles and increase house price volatility. Furthermore, in order to illustrate the effects of macroprudential policies on several housing market indicators, we implement a loan-to-income portfolio limit. We find that this policy attenuates the house price cycle. |
| Keywords: | Agent-based mode; housing market; macroprudential policy; buy-to-let sector |
| JEL: | D31 E58 R21 R31 |
| Date: | 2016–10–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:boe:boeewp:0619&r=eur |
| By: | Joan Costa-Font; Sergi Jiménez-Martín; Cristina Vilaplana |
| Abstract: | The expansion of long-term care (LTC) coverage may improve health system efficiency by reducing hospitalisations (bed-blocking), and pave the way for the implementation of health and social care coordination plans. We draw upon the quasi-experimental evidence from the main expansion of long term care increase subsidisation in Spain in 2007 to examine the causal effect of the expansion of LTC subsidisation and coordination on hospitalisations (both on the internal and external margin) and the hospital length of stay. In addition, we examine the 2012 austerity budget cuts that reduced the subsidy. We find robust evidence of a reduction in hospitalisations and the length of stay after the expansion of LTC subsidisation. However, the reduction in hospitalisations is heterogeneous to the existence of health and social care coordination plans and type of subsidy. Overall, we estimate savings related to hospitalisations of up to 11% of total hospital costs. Consistently, subsidy reduction is found to attenuate bed-blocking gains. |
| Keywords: | hospitalisation, long-term care reform, Spain, bed-blocking, hurdle Poisson model. |
| JEL: | I18 J14 H53 |
| Date: | 2016–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:upf:upfgen:1535&r=eur |
| By: | Garloff, Alfred (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]) |
| Abstract: | "In Germany, decreasing collective bargaining coverage and rising wage inequality led to the introduction of a new statutory minimum wage of EURO 8.50 per hour of work. We analyze the relationship between the bite of the minimum wage and employment/ unemployment growth using regional data of the Federal Employment Agency for prime age individuals. We use difference-in-differences type of specifications using a panel of region-age-sex cells. The results do not provide evidence in favor of a reduced employment growth for the analysed groups, nor do they provide evidence for an increase in unemployment growth due to the minimum wage. However, we find an increase in growth of regular employment at the expense of marginal employment." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en)) |
| JEL: | C23 J38 R10 |
| Date: | 2016–10–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iab:iabdpa:201631&r=eur |
| By: | Alpek B., Levente; Tésits, Róbert; Bokor, László |
| Abstract: | The study aims to examine the commuting opportunities of the most disadvantaged job seeker groups living in Hungary's most disadvantaged regions, as well as Hungary’s spatial and group-specific boundary conditions. The study also aims to develop and present an indexation process (fMFÁ model), allowing the measurement of the mobility degree of different territorial units (in this case, the municipalities) and effects of certain factors determining commuting (transport subsidies, individual choices and options). The index measures the degree of mobility by considering individual and several types of public transport, expenses and expected time of commuting. The present document defines mobility for territorial units, separating its objective and subjective types. The group-specific analysis of boundary conditions is implemented through a questionnaire survey and logical models, the aim of which is twofold. On one hand, the model specifies the maximum commuting distance, which would be accepted rationally for the most disadvantaged job seekers. On the other hand, it presents a decision-making dilemma, namely the choice between commuting to work and local employment. Thus, the study provides insights into the specific features of labour market mobility of the target group. The Average Mobility Level Model and the Adjusted Mobility Index also evaluate the regional structure of the group-specific features of commuting. Through all these, the present study may promote a more efficient spatial allocation of employment policy measures. Strengthening of local employment in areas where group-specific mobility degrees are lower and support to improve commuting opportunities and employment centres where the mobility degrees are appropriate can contribute to the decrease of unemployment. |
| Keywords: | commuting, unemployment, disadvantaged groups, disadvantaged areas, regional mobility, Adjusted Mobility Index |
| JEL: | R10 R11 R12 |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:74499&r=eur |
| By: | Matej Bajgar; Chiara Criscuolo |
| Abstract: | This review summarises existing studies evaluating the impact of apprenticeships on individuals and firms and provides a brief overview of relevant evaluations in three related policy areas: education; active labour market programmes; and private on-the-job training. Based on the reviewed literature, it draws a number of lessons that are relevant for evaluating apprenticeship programmes in OECD member countries, such as the Modern Apprenticeships in Scotland. First, rigorous evaluation depends on the existence of suitable, high-quality data. Second, the measured effects of apprenticeships depend on the time elapsed since the end of the training period. Third, the outcomes most commonly examined in the existing literature are wages and the probability of employment. Fourth, it is important to employ methods that take into account not only observed but also unobserved individual characteristics. Finally, comparing apprentices to different “control groups” might provide different and complementary evidence on the impact of apprenticeships. |
| Keywords: | impact, training, apprenticeships, evaluation, return to schooling |
| JEL: | I26 J24 M53 |
| Date: | 2016–10–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:stiaaa:2016/6-en&r=eur |
| By: | Emanuela Todeva (BCNED - Business Clusters, Networks and Economic Development); Ruslan Rakhmatullin (European Commission - JRC) |
| Abstract: | This paper is a paper in a series of work on Global Value Chains (GVCs), developed under the auspices of the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission. It builds upon the theoretical discussion presented in the first two papers and offers a new methodological approach for mapping GVCs, using a bespoke dataset of the most innovative biopharma MNEs. The paper takes the example of the global biopharma value chain and describes the step-by-step procedure for mapping interconnected capabilities at a global scale, the concentration of biopharma capabilities in Europe, and two cases of regional and national specialisation in this sector. The proposed methodological approach contains two distinctive methodologies – for top-down global value chain mapping of an established industry sector (such as biopharma), and for a bottom-up mapping of capabilities within the GVC that operate at specific locations. Both methodologies can be applied to emerging sectors and segments driven by key enabling technologies, such as photonics, advanced materials, 3D printing, or renewable energy, or any other cross-sectoral value chains. The paper includes two cases of application of this methodology at regional and national level. These are the cases of Bulgaria and the Greater South East of England in the UK. The novel methodology and methods for data collection and visualisation demonstrate the linkages across segments of the biopharmaceutical GVC and the position of firms at the cross-section of biotechnology discovery and pharmaceutical drug development and manufacturing activities, managing a complex network of outsourcing, insourcing and supply relationships, through a vast empire of subsidiaries around the world. Capturing and representing the value-chain within biopharma MNEs enables policy makers to understand the complexity of industry organisation across multiple locations around the world and the global knowledge and resource linkages that drive further growth in the sector. |
| Keywords: | regional policy, value chains, GVCs, case study, BioPharma, regional level, smart specialisation |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc102803&r=eur |
| By: | João Laitão; Helena Alves; Dina Pereira |
| Abstract: | The new paradigm for public administration is founded on different meanings for distinct dimensions of open innovative governance. Thus, "open" may mean: open governance; open data; open information; and open innovation; which stand for new types of open relationships between citizens, firms and municipalities. In the context of citizens’ rights, open innovative governance is approached as the right to participate in the innovation process of agenda-setting and decision-making. The chapter discusses the effects of open innovative governance and municipalities’ transparency on citizens’ quality of life. To do so, we test different specifications of probit models, by taking as a reference a population of 308 Portuguese municipalities and using the data collected through the Local Authority site, integrated in the Local Government Integrity for Portugal initiative, in the period 2013-2014. To assess the effects on quality of life, a proxy for citizens’ well-being is considered, taking into account the positive variation of the citizens’ purchasing power index. The main results reveal a positive and significant influence of open innovative governance on citizens’ quality of life, regarding two dimensions: Plans and planning; and Taxes, fees, prices and regulations. Moreover, a positive and significant association between higher education institutions and citizens’ quality of life is revealed, although this could be counterbalanced by the negative effects associated with the condition of being a low density municipality and variation in purchasing power. |
| Keywords: | Open Governance; Public Innovation; Quality of Life; Transparency. |
| JEL: | R1 R12 |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gov:wpregi:1606&r=eur |
| By: | Petr Jansky (Institute of Economic Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University in Prague, Smetanovo nabrezi 6, 111 01 Prague 1, Czech Republic; CERGE-EI, a joint workplace of Charles University and the Economics Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Politickych veznu 7, 111 21 Prague, Czech Republic); Tomas Krehlik (Institute of Economic Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University in Prague, Smetanovo nabrezi 6, 111 01 Prague 1, Czech Republic; CERGE-EI, a joint workplace of Charles University and the Economics Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Politickych veznu 7, 111 21 Prague, Czech Republic); Jiri Skuhrovec (Institute of Economic Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University in Prague, Smetanovo nabrezi 6, 111 01 Prague 1, Czech Republic; CERGE-EI, a joint workplace of Charles University and the Economics Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Politickych veznu 7, 111 21 Prague, Czech Republic) |
| Abstract: | European Union funds flowing into budgets of public sector organisations of its member states should be additional to their nationally funded expenditures. To investigate this additionality principle systematically, we develop a new empirical method. Our main hypothesis is that some of the EU-funded projects are crowding out national public expenditures. Not being able to reject the hypothesis would be consistent with violating the additionality principle. To test the hypothesis we examine how EU funding translates into actual spending of relatively comparable municipalities of the Czech Republic. We innovatively match the municipal authorities’ budgetary data on EU-funded expenditure projects with their other, nationally funded, expenditures. We find no systemic crowding out of national public expenditures by EU funds at the level of operational programmes in the Czech municipalities’ data, which is consistent with no evidence of violating the additionality principle. Nonetheless, going down to the municipal level enable us to show how the results can pinpoint individual cases of EU fund’s potential mismanagement in Czech municipalities. Overall, we provide the first evaluation of the additionality principle at the level of individual recipients of EU funds and in doing so we develop a methodological approach potentially applicable to other fund recipients. |
| Keywords: | European Union, EU Cohesion policy; EU funds; crowding out; additionality; municipalities |
| Date: | 2016–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fau:wpaper:wp2016_18&r=eur |
| By: | Philippe Adair (University Paris-Est Créteil (UPEC)); Oksana Nezhyvenko (National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy (NaUKMA).) |
| Abstract: | Prostitution regimes in the EU-28 include prohibition, regulation and abolition; economics literature tackles this typology from the perspective of both free sex work and forced labour trafficking. We review the data sources on the demand-side and the supply-side in order to gauge how large is the sex market and informal employment for sex workers. We calculate Estimates 1A and 1B from miscellaneous sources, whereas HIV prevalence among sex workers from World Health Organisation provides Estimates 2A and 2B. We calculate Estimate 3 from victims of sexual exploitation trafficking according to data collected by the UNODC and Eurostat. We design an OLS model to test the five Estimates of prostitution in EU-28 according to GDP per capita, legislation, supply-side and demand-side variables. Last, we assess which might be the most likely Estimates as regards GDP enhancement in 2010, with respect to National Accounts adjustment for illegal production and consumption expenditure. Hence, we come up with a lower bound Estimate that may be used as a benchmark for macroeconomic policy. |
| Keywords: | EU-28; informal employment; National Accounts; Non Observed Economy; prostitution; sex work; sexual exploitation trafficking. |
| JEL: | E26 J46 O17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sek:iefpro:4206791&r=eur |