|
on Microeconomic European Issues |
|
Issue of 2017‒01‒22
24 papers chosen by Giuseppe Marotta Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia |
| By: | Christiansen, Terkel (COHERE); Lauridsen, Jørgen T. (COHERE) |
| Abstract: | Earlier studies of health inequality across European countries have shown intriguing results, in particular with respect to retirement status as one of the determinants of health inequality. A priori, one would expect that inequality in health and income would be associated. Theory suggests that health deteriorates with age, in particular for low income groups. Moreover, as income declines after retirement, elderly people tend to rank lower in the relative income ranking. Consequently, retirement status, and in particular early retirement due to health problems, is expected to contribute to inequalities in income-related inequalities in health. The present paper contributes to previous knowledge by looking further into the contribution by retired Europeans to income-related inequalities in health and the development in this contribution over time. The study is based on data from the first and the fourth waves of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), including individuals born in 1954 or earlier (wave 1) and 1960 or earlier (wave 2) from 10 European countries. Income-related inequality in health is measured using the concentration index. A decomposition of the index into its determinants allows a calculation of the contribution of each determinant’s separate contribution to inequality in health. The results presented here indicate that retirement status contributes substantially to income-related inequality in health across European countries, and that the variation can be explained by income differences as well as health differences, depending on the country considered. Furthermore, it is indicated that the contribution from retirement status falls for certain countries due to improved socioeconomic status as well as improved health of the retired. |
| Keywords: | Health inequality; retirement; SHARE data |
| JEL: | I14 J26 |
| Date: | 2016–10–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:sduhec:2016_008&r=eur |
| By: | Aaron Reeves; Martin McKee; Johan P. Mackenbach; Margaret Whitehead; David Stuckler |
| Abstract: | Background Since the onset of the Great Recession in Europe, unmet need for medical care has been increasing, especially in persons aged 65 or older. It is possible that public pensions buffer access to healthcare in older persons during times of economic crisis, but to our knowledge, this has not been tested empirically in Europe. Methods We integrated panel data on 16 European countries for years 2004–2010 with indicators of public pension, unemployment insurance and sickness insurance entitlement from the Comparative Welfare Entitlements Dataset and unmet need (due to cost) prevalence rates from EuroStat 2014 edition. Using country-level fixed-effects regression models, we evaluate whether greater public pension entitlement, which helps reduce old-age poverty, reduces the prevalence of unmet medical need in older persons and whether it reduces inequalities in unmet medical need across the income distribution. Results We found that each 1-unit increase in public pension entitlement is associated with a 1.11 percentage-point decline in unmet medical need due to cost among over 65s (95% CI −0.55 to −1.66). This association is strongest for the lowest income quintile (1.65 percentage points, 95% CI −1.19 to −2.10). Importantly, we found consistent evidence that out-of-pocket payments were linked with greater unmet needs, but that this association was mitigated by greater public pension entitlement (β=−1.21 percentage points, 95% CI −0.37 to −2.06). Conclusions Greater public pension entitlement plays a crucial role in reducing inequalities in unmet medical need among older persons, especially in healthcare systems which rely heavily on out-of-pocket payments. |
| JEL: | N0 |
| Date: | 2016–12–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:68805&r=eur |
| By: | Caterina Francesca Guidi; Laia Palència; Silvia Ferrini and Davide Malmusi |
| Abstract: | The aim of the research is to assess whether there are inequalities in unmet needs for health care between natives and migrants within Europe. We used cross-sectional data from the European Statistics on Income and Living Conditions 2012. Our dependent variables were perceived unmet needs for medical and dental examination or treatment. Our main independent variable is immigrant status, defined using a combination of country of birth and citizenship (nationals born in the country of residence, reference; European Union-born nationals; non-EU born nationals; EU-born foreigners; non EU-born foreigners). The prevalence ratios of unmet needs according to immigrant status are obtained through sex-stratified robust Poisson regression models, sequentially adjusted by age, health status and socio-economic characteristics.The prevalence of medical unmet needs, adjusted by age and health status, is higher in foreign women, both EU-born and non-EU born, but it is no longer significant after the socioeconomic adjustment. For dental unmet needs, the risk is significantly higher for all foreigners, EU and non EU-born, men and women. Once adjusted for socioeconomic variables significant inequalities persist, although diminished, for both EU-born and non-EU-born foreign men and EU-born foreign women.This study contributes to the discussion of adequate access to healthcare systems and adaptation of services for migrants. While inequalities cannot be detected for naturalised immigrants, the higher risk of unmet need affecting foreigners, even within the EU, deserves further attention. |
| Keywords: | Unmet needs, health inequalities, migrant health, Europe |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rsc:rsceui:2016/55&r=eur |
| By: | Angela Greulich (Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne and INED); Aurélien Dasré (Cresppa-GTM Université Paris Nanterre and INED) |
| Abstract: | The European Union Statistics on Income and Living Condition (EU-SILC) database is increasingly used in demographic analysis, due to its large country coverage, the availability of harmonized socioeconomic measures and the possibility to merge partners. However, so far there exists no comprehensive analysis of the representativeness of fertility behavior reported by EU-SILC. This paper quantifies the quality of fertility measures in EU-SILC. We compare several fertility measures obtained with EU-SILC to unbiased measures from the Human Fertility Database (HFD) for several European countries, by applying a longitudinal as well as a cross-sectional perspective. We show that EU-SILC underestimates completed fertility mainly because the questionnaire does not ask about the number of children ever born to a woman/man, and we identify significant socioeconomic differentials in this measurement bias. Measures of periodic fertility behavior are biased downward mainly due to attrition, while births of order one for ages 20-29 are particularly underreported. However, we find no evidence for socio-economic differentials in attrition. Our results suggest that for the majority of European countries, Eu-SILC can be used for demographic analysis when respecting the measures of precaution mentioned in this article. These contain for example applying a retrospective approach and differentiating by rotation groups when calculating aggregate measures of periodic fertility differentiated by socio-economic groups |
| Keywords: | Fertility; EU-SILC; income and living conditions; data quality |
| JEL: | J11 J13 J16 |
| Date: | 2017–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mse:cesdoc:17002&r=eur |
| By: | Juan de Lucio (UNIVERSIDAD NEBRIJA); Raúl Mínguez (UNIVERSIDAD NEBRIJA); Asier Minondo (DEUSTO BUSINESS SCHOOL); Francisco Requena (UNIVERSITY OF VALENCIA) |
| Abstract: | This paper uses transaction-level trade data to analyse the differences in export prices across and within Spanish manufacturing firms in the year 2014. The transactional nature of the database uncovers sizable differences in the price that an exporter charges for the same product and destination. These differences are related to the number of goods covered within each product category, volume discounts and vertically differentiated varieties. Export prices are positively correlated with firms’ productivity, destination markets’ GDP per capita and distance to Spain. These latter results suggest that Spanish exporters compete in quality. |
| Keywords: | export prices, firm-level transaction data, heterogeneous firms, quality, Spain |
| JEL: | F1 F10 F23 |
| Date: | 2016–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bde:wpaper:1634&r=eur |
| By: | Heinz Welsch; Philipp Biermann |
| Abstract: | Previous research has found that subjective well-being (SWB) is lower for individuals classified as being in poverty. Using panel data for 39,239 individuals living in Germany from 2005-2013, we show that people’s SWB is negatively correlated with the state-level poverty ratio while controlling for individual poverty status and poverty intensity. The negative relationship between aggregate poverty and SWB is more salient in the upper segments of the income distribution and is robust to controlling for the rate of unemployment and per capita GDP. The character of poverty as a public bad suggests that poverty alleviation is a matter not only of equity, but of efficiency. |
| Keywords: | poverty; poverty ratio; subjective well-being; public bad; life satisfaction |
| JEL: | I31 I32 D60 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp885&r=eur |
| By: | Gobillon, Laurent; Milcent, Carine |
| Abstract: | We evaluate the effect of a pro-competition reform gradually introduced in France over the 2004-2008 period on hospital quality measured with the mortality of heart-attack patients. Our analysis distinguishes between hospitals depending on their status: public (university or non-teaching), non-profit or for-profit. These hospitals differ in their degree of managerial and financial autonomy as well as their reimbursement systems and incentives for competition before the reform, but they are all under a DRG-based payment system after the reform. For each hospital status, we assess the benefits of local competition in terms of decrease in mortality after the reform. We estimate a duration model for mortality stratified at the hospital level to take into account hospital unobserved heterogeneity and censorship in the duration of stays in a flexible way. Estimations are conducted using an exhaustive dataset at the patient level over the 1999-2011 period. We find that non-profit hospitals, which have managerial autonomy and no incentive for competition before the reform, enjoyed larger declines in mortality in places where there is greater competition than in less competitive markets. |
| Keywords: | Competition; heart attack; hospital ownership; policy evaluation |
| JEL: | I11 I18 |
| Date: | 2017–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:11773&r=eur |
| By: | Sortsø, Camilla (COHERE); Lauridsen, Jørgen (COHERE); Emneus, Martha (Institute of Applied Economics and Health Research (ApEHR)); Green, Anders (Odense Patient Data Explorative Network (OPEN)); Jensen, Peter Bjødstrup (Odense Patient Data Explorative Network (OPEN)) |
| Abstract: | Measurement of socioeconomic inequalities in health and health care, and understanding the determinants of such inequalities, are critical for achieving higher equity in health care through targeted health intervention strategies. The aim of the paper is to quantify inequality in diabetes morbidity patterns, survival and health care service usage and understand determinants of these inequalities in relation to socio-demographic and clinical morbidity factors. Further, to compare income level and educational level as proxies for Socio Economic Status (SES). Data on the entire Danish diabetes population in 2011 were applied. Patients’ unique personal identification number enabled individual patient data from several national registers to be linked. Cox survival method and a concentration index decomposition approach are applied. Results indicate that lower socioeconomic status is associated with higher morbidity, mortality and lower survival. Differences in diabetes patients’ morbidity patterns, time of diagnosis and health state at diagnosis as well as health care utilization patterns suggest that despite the Danish universal health care system use of services differ among patients of lower and higher SES. Especially outpatient services, rehabilitation and specialists in primary care show different usage patterns according to SES. Comparison of educational level and income level as proxy for patients’ SES indicate important differences in inequality estimates. This is a result of reversed causality between diabetes morbidity and income as well as income related inequality to a higher extent being explained by morbidity. |
| Keywords: | Health inequality; diabetes; morbidity patterns; health care service usage; decomposition; socio-economic inequality |
| JEL: | I12 I14 I18 |
| Date: | 2016–02–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:sduhec:2016_002&r=eur |
| By: | Di Gialleonardo, Luca; Marè, Mauro; Motroni, Antonello; Porcelli, Francesco |
| Abstract: | This paper provides an empirical analysis of the impact of the financial crisis on households’ saving decisions in private pension schemes. We base our study on an original dataset made up of three sample surveys collected in 2008, in 2012 and in 2015 by Mefop. Each survey has been conducted interviewing by phone more than 10000 people in order to construct a representative sample of roughly 1000 individual for each survey, which includes both members and not members of Italian pension funds. Each wave allows us to map saving decisions and personal characteristics (income, type of occupation, political orientation, financial literacy, etc.) in two distinct moment: before the crisis and after the crisis. Therefore we can identify the impact of the financial turmoil simply introducing a dummy variable. Results shows that the probability to invest in a private pension scheme has been barely touched and in some cases it is also possible to register an increase. |
| Keywords: | financial crisis, saving decision, pension funds, sample survey |
| JEL: | G11 G23 H55 |
| Date: | 2016–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:76066&r=eur |
| By: | Alessandra Ferrario |
| Abstract: | Background Little comparative evidence is available on utilisation of cancer medicines in different countries and its determinants. The aim of this study was to develop a statistical model to test the correlation between utilisation and possible determinants in selected European countries. Methods A sample of 31 medicines for cancer treatment that obtained EU-wide marketing authorisation between 2000 and 2012 was selected. Annual data on medicines’ utilisation covering the in- and out-patient public sectors were obtained from national authorities between 2008 and 2013. Possible determinants of utilisation were extracted from HTA reports and complemented by contacts with key informants. A longitudinal mixed effect model was fitted to test possible determinants of medicines utilisation in Belgium, Scotland and Sweden. Results In the all-country model, the number of indications reimbursed positively correlated with increased consumption of medicines [one indication 2.6, 95% CI (1.8–3.6); two indications 2.4, 95% CI (1.4–4.3); three indications 4.9, 95% CI (2.2–10.9); all P |
| Keywords: | Medicines utilisation Multilevel mixedeffects data models Oncology Managed entry agreements Pharmaceutical policy |
| JEL: | I11 |
| Date: | 2016–12–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:68806&r=eur |
| By: | Piotr Lewandowski; Wojciech Hardy; Aneta Kielczewska |
| Abstract: | We study job retention among older workers in Czechia, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia, using EU-LFS data for the 1998-2013 period. We find that, on average, about 30% of workers aged 55-59 were in the same job over five years. Job retention rates were higher among men than among women. Between 2003 and 2013, retention rates increased for both men and women in Poland and for men in Czechia, fluctuated for both men and women in Slovakia, and decreased noticeably for both men and women in Hungary. We estimate bivariate probit models of job retention and non-retirement among 60-64-year-olds. Workers with tertiary education, in high-skilled jobs, in the education and health sectors, and who were living with a working partner were more likely to remain in their job over a five-year period. Changes in retention rates over time were driven more by changes in overall conditions than by changes in job-related and personal characteristics. |
| Keywords: | job retention, retirement, transition to retirement, pension system, bivariate probit |
| JEL: | J21 J26 J63 |
| Date: | 2016–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ibt:wpaper:wp112016&r=eur |
| By: | Jochem de Bresser; Raquel Fonseca; Pierre-Carl Michaud |
| Abstract: | We develop a retirement model featuring various labor market exit routes: unemployment, disability, private and public pensions. The model allows for saving and uncertainty along several dimensions, including health and mortality. Individuals’ preferences are estimated on data from the U.S. and Europe using institutional variation across countries. We analyze the roles of preferences and institutions in explaining international heterogeneity in retirement behavior. Preliminary estimates suggest that a single set of preferences for individuals from the U.S., the Netherlands and Spain does not fit the data well. Were Europeans to have the same preferences as Americans, they would save less than they actually do. Furthermore, the Dutch and Spanish would work more hours than is observed in the data. |
| Keywords: | Retirement; saving; institutions; structural estimation |
| JEL: | D91 J14 J26 H31 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lvl:criacr:1609&r=eur |
| By: | Merkl, Christian; Stüber, Heiko |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the effects of different wage cyclicalities on labor market flow dynamics at the establishment level. We derive a model that allows for heterogeneous wage cyclicalities across firms over the business cycle and confront the theoretical results with the new AWFP dataset, which comprises the entire universe of German establishments. In line with theory, establishments with more procyclical wage movements over the business cycle have a more countercyclical hires rate and employment behavior. This result is robust when we look at certain sectors and states. Wage cyclicalities do not only have the expected qualitative impact on stocks and flows, but the quantitative responses are also in line with the proposed model. More generally, our empirical results provide support for theories that lead to an effect of wage rigidities on labor market flow dynamics. |
| Keywords: | Labor Market Flows,Wages,Administrative Data,Establishment,Matches |
| JEL: | E24 E32 J64 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:iwqwdp:122016&r=eur |
| By: | Steven Bradley; Giuseppe Migali |
| Keywords: | Tuition fee reform, Recession, University Dropouts |
| JEL: | I22 I28 J6 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lan:wpaper:149346773&r=eur |
| By: | Gobillon, Laurent; Wolff, François-Charles |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we investigate the effect on quality, quantity and prices of an innovative fishing gear introduced for a subsample of vessels on a single wholesale fish market in France. Estimations are conducted using transaction data over the 2009-2011 period during which the innovation was introduced. Using a difference-in-differences approach around the discontinuity, we find that for the treated the innovation has a large effect on quality (29.2 percentage points) and prices (23.2 percentage points). A shift in caught fish species is observed and new targeted species are fished very intensively. We also quantify the treatment effect on the treated market from aggregate market data using factor models and a synthetic control approach. We find a sizable effect of the innovation on market quality which is consistent with non-treated vessels adapting their fishing practices to remain competitive. The innovation has no effect on market quantities and prices. |
| Keywords: | difference in differences; discontinuity; factor models; fish; innovation; product prices; product quality; synthetic controls |
| JEL: | L11 Q22 |
| Date: | 2017–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:11757&r=eur |
| By: | Valentina Peruzzi (Università Politecnica delle Marche) |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to investigate whether family control, family management and family ownership concentration affect the investment-cash flow sensitivity of small- and medium-sized enterprises. By analysing a sample of Italian SMEs for the period 2004-2013, I find that family-owned businesses are significantly associated with higher investment-cash flow dependence. This relation, however, is found to be driven by two distinct factors: (i) the presence of a highly concentrated family ownership (ownership concentration channel) and (ii) the active involvement of the family in the business (family management channel). |
| Keywords: | family firms, investment-cash flow sensitivity, financing constraints, family CEO, ownership concentration. |
| JEL: | G31 G32 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lsa:wpaper:wpc16&r=eur |
| By: | Juan Francisco Jimeno (Banco de España); Aitor Lacuesta (Banco de España); Marta Martínez-Matute (Banco de España); Ernesto Villanueva (Banco de España) |
| Abstract: | We study how formal education and experience in the labour market correlate with measures of human capital available in thirteen countries participating in the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competences (PIAAC), an international study assessing adults’ proficiency in numeracy and literacy. Two findings are consistent with the notion that, in producing human capital, work experience is a substitute for formal education for respondents with compulsory schooling. Firstly, the number of years of working experience correlates with performance in PIAAC mostly among low-educated individuals. Secondly, individual fixed-effect models suggest that workers in jobs intensive in numerical tasks – relative to reading tasks – perform relatively better in the numeracy section of the PIAAC test than in the reading part. The results are driven by young individuals with low levels of schooling and hold mainly for simple tasks, suggesting that our findings are not fully generated by the sorting of workers across jobs. A back-of-the-envelope estimate suggests that the contribution of on-the-job learning to skill formation is a quarter of that of compulsory schooling in the countries we analyse. |
| Keywords: | human capital, tasks, education, working experience, cognitive skills |
| JEL: | J24 J31 I20 |
| Date: | 2016–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bde:wpaper:1635&r=eur |
| By: | Frias, Zoraida; Pérez Martínez, Jorge |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the effects of Virtual Unbundled Local Access (VULA) –or its absence- on the deployment of Fibre-To-The-Home (FTTH) networks in Spain in a retrospective way. First, we assess the impact of former wholesale broadband markets' regulation on FTTH investment and on the market structure evolution. Further on, based on coverage data from 2013, we provide an assessment of how would have NGA coverage looked like if the recently approved regulation for FTTH unbundling would have come into force in 2013 instead. We conclude that if a VULA had been available earlier, the amount of households with no access to any NGA infrastructure would have been up to 50% higher than it actually is. In return, full NGA facility-based competition would have been reinforced. |
| Keywords: | FTTH,New Generation Access,local loop unbundling,VULA |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:itse16:148669&r=eur |
| By: | Tommy ANDERSSON; Lars EHLERS |
| Abstract: | The member states of the European Union received 1.2 million first time asylum applications in 2015 (a doubling compared to 2014). Even if asylum will be granted for many of the refugees that made the journey to Europe, several obstacles for successful integration remain. This paper focuses on one of these obstacles, namely the problem of finding housing for refugees once they have been granted asylum. In particular, the focus is restricted to the situation in Sweden during 2015–2016 and it is demonstrated that market design can play an important role in a partial solution to the problem. More specifically, because almost all accommodation options are exhausted in Sweden, the paper investigates a matching system, closely related to the system adopted by the European NGO “Refugees Welcome”, and proposes an easy-to-implement algorithm that finds a stable maximum matching. Such matching guarantees that housing is provided to a maximum number of refugees and that no refugee prefers some landlord to their current match when, at the same time, that specific landlord prefers that refugee to his current match. |
| Keywords: | refugees, private landlords, forced migration, market design, stable maximum matchings |
| JEL: | C71 C78 D71 D78 F22 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mtl:montec:13-2016&r=eur |
| By: | Dauth, Wolfgang; Findeisen, Sebastian; Südekum, Jens |
| Abstract: | The German economy exhibits rising service and declining manufacturing employment. But this decline is much sharper in import-competing than in export-oriented branches. We first document the individual-level job transitions behind those trends. They are not driven by manufacturing workers who smoothly switch to services. The observed shifts are entirely due to young entrants and returnees from non-employment. We then investigate if rising trade with China and Eastern Europe causally affected those labor flows. Exploiting variation across industries and regions, we find that globalization did not speed up the manufacturing decline in Germany. It even retained those jobs in the economy. |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:dicedp:242&r=eur |
| By: | Jean Dusart (European Commission - JRC); Alexander Kotsev (European Commission - JRC); Robin Smith (European Commission - JRC); Vlado Cetl (European Commission - JRC); Brooke Tapsall (European Commission - JRC); Dragan Divjak (European Commission - JRC) |
| Abstract: | The European Union Strategy for the Danube Region (EUSDR) aims to address the challenges and priorities of the region in an integrated manner, leading to concrete results and a better future for the region and its citizens. This requires that existing data and associated knowledge are readily available and easy to use by policy makers and citizens. In response to this challenge, the Danube Reference Data and Services Infrastructure (DRDSI) pilot project facilitates the exchange of open, harmonised (at the macro-region level) and well-documented data to support integrated policy-making needs. The DRDSI, as part of the JRC Scientific support to the EU Strategy for the Danube Region) builds on (i) the recent investments made and lessons learned from the implementation of the INSPIRE Directive, and (ii) involves the active collaboration of international and national stakeholders. The project also builds data sharing capacity by involving communities in collaborative and interdisciplinary networks, pilots and online tools. This JRC Science for Policy report provides information on how to establish a macro-regional data infrastructure based on the experiences of the JRC and stakeholders from the Danube region. This includes the identification of appropriate technologies as key components, and explaining the flows between existing datasets and research outputs. The report also documents experiences and provides recommendations as to how policy and technical issues could be addressed on a macro-regional scale. From that perspective the report would be of use to a broad range of stakeholders, involved in policy making, data provision and support to decision making on different levels (regional, national and international). |
| Keywords: | Danube; Open data; INSPIRE; macro-regions; ICT; innovation; policy; research |
| Date: | 2016–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc104140&r=eur |
| By: | Seeliger, Martin; Wagner, Ines |
| Abstract: | In the course of European integration, national trade unions in Europe founded the umbrella organization of the European Trade Union Confederation in order to establish common political positions. Drawing on the case of supranational politics of services regulation, this study shows how cleavages within the EU's multi-level system of labor regulation make the development of such positions a difficult task. Whereas most research on cleavages at the supranational level focuses either on party groups or national origin, findings indicate a vertical line of conflict within the multi-level system of European trade unionism. |
| Keywords: | posting of workers,European trade unionism,integrationism,European Trade Union Confederation,Arbeitnehmerentsendung,europäische Gewerkschaften,Integrationismus,europäischer Gewerkschaftsbund |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:mpifgd:1616&r=eur |
| By: | Hans R.A. Koster (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Netherlands); Jos van Ommeren (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Netherlands) |
| Abstract: | We study the economic effects of place-based policies in the housing market taking into account search frictions. Theory indicates that beneficial policies increase house prices, but temporarily reduce sales times of owner-occupied properties. We investigate both effects for a place-based programme that improved public housing in 83 impoverished neighbourhoods throughout the Netherlands. We combine a first-difference approach with a fuzzy regression-discontinuity design to address the fundamental issue that these neighbourhoods are endogenously treated. Place-based policies increase house prices with 3.5 percent and, in line with theory, temporarily reduce sales times with 20 percent. The sales time effect dissipates within 7.5 years. The programme’s welfare benefits to homeowners are sizeable and at least half of the value of investments in public housing. |
| Keywords: | amenities; housing market; search frictions; house price; sales time; place-based policies. |
| JEL: | R30 R33 R38 |
| Date: | 2017–01–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tin:wpaper:20170008&r=eur |
| By: | Beestermöller, Matthias |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the effect of the largest rail strikes in German history in 2014-2015 on long-distance buses – a newly liberalized market. Using a novel dataset of detailed bus ticket sales and rail cancellations, I find that the primary channel that drives ticket sales during the strike is whether the absolute bus travel time was sufficiently short. In a difference-indifferences framework, I exploit this variation to identify any demand persistence. Although the common trend assumption does not seem to be completely tenable in the given context, my results point to a persistent effect on the ticket sales for inter-city buses on the affected routes. |
| Keywords: | Transportation; Long-Run Demand Effects; Intermodal Substitution; Strike |
| JEL: | L92 R41 C81 |
| Date: | 2017–01–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lmu:muenec:31768&r=eur |