|
on Microeconomic European Issues |
|
Issue of 2017‒08‒13
twenty-six papers chosen by Giuseppe Marotta Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia |
| By: | Schwärzler, Marion Cornelia; Kronenberg, Tobias |
| Abstract: | The Multiregional Health Account is a satellite account focusing on the economic impact of the health economy in German federal states. It was developed as an enhancement of the existing National Health Account for Germany. In contrast to the subject of matter over here, the calculations of the National Health Account are based on available national supply and use tables. Since there are no according tables available for the German federal states, we developed a methodology, which allows to calculate supply and use tables at the subnational multiregional level. The present paper focusses on the results of the MRHA for the reason of a thorough validation procedure of the developed approach. We evaluate regional direct effects of the health economy by comparing derived characteristics with company data and evaluate the performance of the algorithm in a time series. We find that the elaborated approach shows reasonable results in both dimensions evaluated. |
| Keywords: | national accounts, satellite account, health economy, Germany, regionalization, supply and use tables, SUT-RAS |
| JEL: | C67 E01 I15 R11 R15 |
| Date: | 2017–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:80717&r=eur |
| By: | Cristina Bernini (University of Bologna); Alessandro Tampieri (University of Bologna and CREA, Université du Luxembourg) |
| Abstract: | We analyze the effects of urbanization on the specific components of the happiness function. We exploit the dataset HADL on Italian citizens over the period 2010-2013. A multilevel approach is used to take into account of regional heterogeneity in the happiness’s determinants. We find that, in line with much of the literature, urbanization is negatively related to subjective well-being. However, the impact of urbanization changes depending on the specific happiness spheres: while satisfaction with economic conditions is not affected by urbanization, job and family satisfaction increase with urbanization. Conversely, satisfaction with health, friendship, spare time and environment decrease with urbanization. |
| Keywords: | subjective well-being, happiness function, urbanization, regions, multilevel models |
| JEL: | I31 R10 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:luc:wpaper:17-10&r=eur |
| By: | Margarida Rodrigues (European Commission - JRC); Federico Biagi (European Commission - JRC) |
| Abstract: | The use of digital technologies for learning is high on the policy agenda and is believed to benefit disadvantaged groups of students especially. This study assesses the extent to which the association between learning outcomes and the use of digital technologies differs systematically between students with different socio-economic statuses. We start by summarizing the existing evidence on the causal effects of digital technologies on learning outcomes. We highlight the relative lack of evidence on the pedagogical use of digital technologies on disadvantaged students when compared to the general student population. The overall consensus emerging from the literature is that the causal effect of digital technologies is mixed. While it is unclear whether disadvantaged students are differently affected by them, the available evidence does not suggest that digital technologies contribute to further disparities in students' learning outcomes. Using data from PISA 2015, we document that students from low socio-economic backgrounds start using digital devices later in life, have slightly less access to ICT at home and tend to use ICT less intensively especially in out-of-school activities than their counterparts. In the multivariate analysis, we find a positive association between disadvantaged students' achievement and the use of ICT for some purposes, but only among those students who use ICT less intensively. However, we find no evidence that this association is systematically different from that of students from higher socio-economic backgrounds. The exception is the use of ICT outside of school for general purposes by low-intensity users: in this case, disadvantaged students would particularly benefit from using ICT more intensively. Furthermore, we also find that - among low-intensity users of ICT - the probability of being a resilient student is positively correlated with the use of ICT at school for educational purposes and at home for schoolwork and general purposes. More generally, our research suggests that low-intensity users of ICT are likely to be using ICT sub-optimally, both at home and at school, and would benefit (in terms of PISA scores) from using ICT more intensively. However, the fact that medium and high-intensity users of ICT typically would not gain from additional ICT use is consistent with the hypothesis that the relationship between use of ICT and learning outcomes is inversely U-shaped. |
| Keywords: | Digital technologies, Low socio-economic status, Students' Achievement, PISA |
| JEL: | I21 I24 I29 |
| Date: | 2017–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc106999&r=eur |
| By: | Dirk Czarnitzki (KU Leuven, Belgium); Katrin Hussinger (CREA, Université du Luxembourg) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the effects of public R&D subsidies on R&D input and output of German firms. We distinguish between the direct impact of subsidies on R&D investments and the indirect effect on innovation output measured by patent applications. We disentangle the productivity of purely privately financed R&D and additional R&D investment induced by the public incentive scheme. For this, a treatment effect analysis is conducted in a first step. The results are implemented into the estimation of a patent production function in a second step. It turns out that both purely privately financed R&D and publicly induced R&D show a positive effect on patent outcome. |
| Keywords: | R&D, Subsidies, Patents, Treatment Effects |
| JEL: | C14 C30 H23 O31 O38 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:luc:wpaper:17-12&r=eur |
| By: | Brunow, Stephan (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]); Birkeneder, Antonia; Rodriguez-Pose, Andrés |
| Abstract: | "This paper examines the link between the endowment of creative and science based STEM - Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics - workers and the level of the firm and firm- and city-/regional-level innovation in Germany. It also looks into whether the presence of these two groups of workers has greater benefits for larger cities than smaller locations, thus justifying policies to attract these workers in order to make German cities 'smarter'. The empirical analysis is based on a probit estimation, covering 115,000 plant-level observations between 1998 and 2015. The results highlight that firms that employ creative and STEM workers are more innovative than those that do not. However, the positive connection of creative workers to innovation is limited to the boundaries of the firm, whereas that of STEM workers is as associated to the generation of considerable innovation spillovers. Hence, attracting STEM workers is more likely to end up making German cities smarter than focusing exclusively on creative workers." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en)) |
| Date: | 2017–08–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iab:iabdpa:201724&r=eur |
| By: | Olga Lorenz (Institute for Labour Law and Industrial Relations in the European Union) |
| Abstract: | How and why commuting contributes to our well-being is of considerableimportance for transportation policy and planning. This paper analyses the relation between commuting and subjective well-being by considering several cognitive (e.g. satisfaction with family life, leisure, income, work, health) and affective (e.g., happiness, anger, worry, sadness) componentsof subjective well-being. Fixed-effects models are estimated with German Socio-Economic Panel data for the period 2007 – 2013. In contrast to previous papers in the literature, according to which commuting is bad for overall life satisfaction, we find no evidence that commuting in general is associated with a lower life satisfaction. Rather, it appears that longer commutes are only related to lower satisfaction with particular life domains, especially family life and leisure time. Time spent on housework, child care as well as physical and leisure activities mediate the association between commuting and well-being. |
| Keywords: | commuting distance, emotion, satisfaction, time use, well-being |
| JEL: | I10 I31 R40 |
| Date: | 2017–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iaa:dpaper:201707&r=eur |
| By: | Michel beine (CREA, Université du Luxembourg); Marco Delogu (CREA, Université du Luxembourg); Lionel Ragot (Université Paris Nanterre) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the determinants of international students' mobility at the university level, for using specifically on the role of tuition fees. We derive a gravity model from a Random Utility Maximization model of location choice for international students in the presence of capacity constraints of the hosting institutions. The last layer of the model is estimated using new data on student migration flows at the university level for Italy. We control for the potential endogeneity of tuition fees through a classical IV approach based on the status of the university. We obtain evidence for a clear and negative effect of fees on international student mobility and confirm the positive impact of the quality of the education. The estimations also support the important role of additional destination-specific variables such as host capacity, the expected return of education and the cost of living in the vicinity of the university. |
| Keywords: | Foreign students; Tuition fees; Location choice; University Quality |
| JEL: | F22 H52 I23 O15 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:luc:wpaper:17-09&r=eur |
| By: | Addison, John T. (University of South Carolina); Teixeira, Paulino (University of Coimbra) |
| Abstract: | Using cross-country data from the European Company Survey, we investigate the relationship between workplace employee representation and five behavioral outcomes: strike incidence, the climate of industrial relations, sickness/absenteeism, employee motivation, and staff retention. The evidence is mixed. From one perspective, the expression of collective voice through works councils may be construed as largely beneficial. However, any such optimistic evaluation is heavily qualified by union organization and in particular workplace unionism. Establishment union density seemingly blunts the performance of employee workplace representation, elevating dissatisfaction at the expense of collaboration. |
| Keywords: | employee representation, works councils, union agency, collective bargaining, strikes, industrial relations quality, employee motivation and retention |
| JEL: | J51 J52 J53 J83 |
| Date: | 2017–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10899&r=eur |
| By: | Fernando Di Nicola (MEF, Department of Finance); Melisso Boschi (Senate of the Republic of Italy, Budget Committee Secretariat); Giorgio Mongelli (MEF, Department of Finance) |
| Abstract: | The personal income tax influences, through marginal and average tax rates, income redistribution, labour supply, and tax evasion. In this paper we present, for the main taxpayer types and income levels the statutory and implicit tax rates generated by the Italian personal income tax-benefit system components (social contributions, personal income tax, income type deductions, family-related deductions, family allowance, local surtaxes, and the "80 euro monthly bonus") along with the effective marginal tax rates deriving from their interaction. These tax rates are computed both for hypothetical taxpayer types (employee, retiree, selfemployed with and without dependent family members) and using a microsimulation model with a representative sample. The results show that the Italian tax-benefit system generates a broad range of effective marginal tax rates, with positive and negative values, determining, in some cases, also a "poverty trap" (that is a marginal tax rate higher than 100 percent). The marginal and average tax rates are also sometimes decreasing with growing taxable income, while at a low level of income we have such high tax rates that a disincentive for labour supply may result. With this evidence, a correction of the Italian tax-benefit system appears desirable both to preserve a more efficient income redistribution as well as labour supply incentives. |
| Keywords: | Personal income tax, effective marginal tax rates, average tax rates, income redistribution, labour supply |
| JEL: | H21 H24 H31 |
| Date: | 2017–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipu:wpaper:62&r=eur |
| By: | Schwärzler, Marion Cornelia; Kronenberg, Tobias |
| Abstract: | Lagging investments in German hospitals have become a serious challenge in recent decades. The responsibility for investment financing lies with the German federal states, the “Bundeslaender”, due to the dualistic financing framework applying for German hospitals. Yet, hospital investments experience a field of tension between the availability of financial resources and necessary investments. A possible solution could be a financial equalization scheme for the health economy incorporating an earmarked fund for hospital investments. The rationale for such a system is that health economies of federal states do not represent single closed systems, but depend on interregional trade flows to supply patient treatment. The respective calculations in this paper are based on our recently compiled Multiregional Health Account for Germany. The model represents a satellite account of the health economy based on national accounts. Consequently, we are able to calculate spillover effects from patient treatment in federal states by conducting input-output analysis. Based on the results, we derive a sketch of a financial equalization scheme in order to ensure needs-based hospital infrastructure in German federal states. |
| Keywords: | Health economy, hospital investments, financial equalization scheme, input-output analysis, multiregional, federal states, Germany |
| JEL: | C67 H51 H75 I11 R15 |
| Date: | 2017–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:80720&r=eur |
| By: | Martins, Luis; Pereira, Manuel C |
| Abstract: | This paper uses a large multi-country database with data from the OECD PISA program to disentangle the effects of birthdate on educational performance. As far as age effects are concerned, we conclude that children are disadvantaged because they are the youngest in class (relative age effect), not because they are young per se. Our findings go against delaying mandatory school entry as a general policy, as there is no gain from a rise in entry age - keeping age differences among students constant - to make up for the shortening of length of schooling. Such an evidence that postponing school entry postpones learning is more marked for children belonging to disadvantaged households. In contrast, the relative age effect does not interact with family background, and remains stable across school entry age cohorts. The size of this effect, measured at the age 15 is not large, but its interaction with early grade retention and tracking may enhance long-term effects. Finally, we do not detect an association between birthdate and achievement originating in unobservable characteristics of students. |
| Keywords: | birthdate and attainment, school entry age |
| JEL: | I21 I28 J24 |
| Date: | 2017–04–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:80607&r=eur |
| By: | Glitz, Albrecht (Universitat Pompeu Fabra); Wissmann, Daniel (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we study the development and underlying drivers of skill premiums in Germany between 1980 and 2008. We show that the significant increase in the medium to low skill wage premiums since the late 1980s was almost exclusively concentrated among the group of workers aged 30 or below. Using a nested CES production function framework which allows for imperfect substitutability between young and old workers, we investigate whether changes in relative labor supplies could explain these patterns. Our model predicts the observed differential evolution of skill premiums very well. The estimates imply an elasticity of substitution between young and old workers of about 8, between medium- and low-skilled workers of 4 and between high-skilled and medium/low-skilled workers of 1.6. Using a cohort level analysis based on Microcensus data, we find that long-term demographic changes in the educational attainment of the native (West-)German population – in particular of the post baby boomer cohorts born after 1965 – are responsible for the surprising decline in the relative supply of medium-skilled workers which caused wage inequality at the lower part of the distribution to increase in recent decades. We further show that the role of (low-skilled) migration is limited in explaining the long-term changes in relative labor supplies. |
| Keywords: | cohorts, baby boom, labor supply, labor demand, skill-biased technological change, wage distribution, wage differentials |
| JEL: | J11 J21 J22 J31 |
| Date: | 2017–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10901&r=eur |
| By: | Shire, Karen A.; Schnell, Rainer; Noack, Marcel |
| Abstract: | Women in conservative welfare states continue to do more unpaid domestic labour than their partners. Many European countries subsidize the outsourcing of routine housework and care labor to market services through tax credits and other measures, with the aim of reducing women's unpaid work. Most research on the determinants of outsourcing replicate gendered exchange-bargaining models, and neglect market factors relevant to explaining the substitution of unpaid labour. The neglect of market factors however, is mainly due to data limitations. Drawing on a new data set in the German Socio-Economic Panel Innovation Study (SOEP-IS) develop models, which include market as well as resource factors in examining the determinants of outsourcing domestic labour. The analyses confirm previous research findings, that households with more resources are more likely to outsource. Thus, the availability of tax credits for household purchases does not seem to encourage households with lower incomes to shift unpaid domestic labour to the market. In contrast to previous research findings based on exchange-bargaining theory, relative resources of women are neither predictors of more or of less outsourcing. Models explaining the gendered division of labour are not necessarily transferable to the study of outsourcing unpaid labour to the market. Previous research in Germany finds that partners revert to traditional gendered divisions of labour when they become parents. We find that the presence of young children increases the probability of outsourcing, suggesting that buying-in services may be a way in which re-traditionalization is averted. Overall, market factors have a strong impact on whether households outsource or not, especially demand for eldercare and the availability of services. Yet most labour available to German households is not supplied by the service sector, but from the black market. The article concludes that future research needs to address the interaction of demand and supply side factors, ideally in cross-national household-level analyses. |
| Keywords: | domestic labour,gender,eldercare,informal employment,migrant domestic labour |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:udesoz:201704&r=eur |
| By: | Stephen Gibbons; Henry Overman; Matti Sarvimäki |
| Abstract: | We study the local economic impacts of a major regeneration programme aimed at enhancing the quality of life of local people in deprived neighbourhoods in the UK. The analysis is based on a panel of firm and area level data available at small spatial scales. Our identification strategies involve: a) exploiting the fine spatial scale of our data to study how effects vary with distance to the intervention area; and b) comparing places close to treatment in early rounds of the programme with places close to treatment in future rounds. We consider the long run impact of schemes funded between 1995 and 1997 on outcomes up to 2009. Our estimates suggest that the programme increased workplace employment in the intervention area but this had no impact on the employment rates of local residents. |
| Keywords: | single regeneration budget, regeneration, employment, neighbourhoods, urban policy |
| JEL: | R11 J08 H50 |
| Date: | 2017–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:sercdp:0218&r=eur |
| By: | Scheller, Friedrich |
| Abstract: | The paper analyses the role of the relative regional group size for the labor market integration of three different ethnic groups in Germany. The analysis addresses the question of whether there is a consistent group size effect, or if group size functions differently for different immigrant groups and for different indicators of labor market integration in Germany. Using data provided by the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP) multilevel cross-classification models are fitted. The final dataset contains 10,970 observations from Turkish, Greek, and Italian immigrants, and their offspring. Results generally show no effect of relative regional group size on the risk of unemployment, but a significant effect on job status. The effect is nonlinear, and manifests differently for each ethnic group. It becomes apparent that findings on the relationship between group size and labor market integration found for one immigrant group cannot readily be extended to other origin groups. |
| Keywords: | group size,labor market integration,migration,cross-classification,Gruppengröße,Arbeitsmarktintegration,Migration,Kreuzklassifizierung |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:udesoz:201703&r=eur |
| By: | Gabriele Galati; Federica Teppa |
| Abstract: | We study the extent to which house price dynamics differ across market segments and possible drivers of this heterogeneity. We construct a data set for individual houses and mortgages, based on a survey of about 500 Dutch households conducted over the period 2003-2016. We estimate a dynamic panel data model of house price dynamics by means of the Arellano-Bond estimator. Three main empirical results emerge. First, we generally find that house price dynamics imply a convergence towards their long-run equilibrium value, as indicated by a low serial correlation coefficient and a positive estimated mean reversion coefficient. Second, there is evidence that the housing market in the Netherlands is inefficient. Third, there is important heterogeneity across different market segments, with some markets being more "cyclical" than others. In particular, the speed of convergence of house price dynamics and the efficiency of housing markets depends on the geographical location, the degree of urbanization, and the type and year of construction of a house. We do not find evidence of significant heterogeneity across different types of mortgage financing and households' income. |
| Keywords: | Housing market dynamics; house prices; heterogeneity; survey data; panel analysis |
| JEL: | D14 G12 R32 |
| Date: | 2017–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dnb:dnbwpp:564&r=eur |
| By: | Brixy, Udo (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]); Brunow, Stephan (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]); D''Ambrosio, Anna |
| Abstract: | "The study analyses the impact of different ethnic compositions of start-ups in Germany on the innovativeness of the new businesses. We are able to distinguish between the ethnicity of the founders and that of the early employees following new results that demonstrate the importance of including all new firms' stakeholders for the firm's success. We make use of a measure introduced by Ruef (2002) and Ruef et al. (2003) which not only takes into account the number of different ethnicities involved, but also includes the unusualness of the ethnic compositions. Our results first reveal that foreigners are an important source of both entrepreneurs and employers. Second, we can show that only really rare combinations, of the founders and employees together, lead to more innovative businesses whereas the more common minorities are even found to have a negative impact on firms' innovativeness." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en)) |
| JEL: | J15 J21 L26 M13 M14 |
| Date: | 2017–08–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iab:iabdpa:201725&r=eur |
| By: | Berton, Fabio (University of Turin); Devicienti, Francesco (University of Turin); Grubanov-Boskovic, Sara (European Commission, Joint Research Centre) |
| Abstract: | Liberalization of temporary contracts has been a hallmark of labor market reforms during the last decades. More recently, factors like the sovereign debt crisis pushed the most indebted countries to unprecedented reductions of employment protection legislation (EPL) also on open-ended contracts. These policies are justified under the assumption that EPL harms the allocation of workers on the jobs where they are most productive. How EPL affects the quality of job matches is nonetheless an underexplored issue. In this paper, we provide new evidence that exploits exactly one of these recent reforms, the so-called Fornero Law, introduced in Italy in 2012 in the background of austerity reforms. Results show that good matches have increased. Further, the reduction in EP favored labor reallocation. Eventually, it was also followed by an increase in productivity, albeit small. While the results are consistent with the economic theory that informed deregulation, we highlight caveats and limitations. |
| Keywords: | employment protection legislation, turnover, mismatch, productivity, Fornero Law, difference-in-differences |
| JEL: | J24 J63 |
| Date: | 2017–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10904&r=eur |
| By: | Tjaden, Jasper Dag; Schwemmer, Carsten; Khadjavi, Menusch |
| Abstract: | We study ethnic discrimination in Europe's largest carpooling marketplace. Using a unique dataset with more than 17,000 rides, we estimate the effects of drivers' perceived name origins on the demand for rides. Carpooling is a novel application for studying ethnic discrimination where consumer choice entails social interaction with the service provider (i.e. driver). We find large discrimination effects for drivers with Arab, Turkish or Persian sounding names. Further analyses support assumptions consistent with statistical discrimination. Our findings broaden the perspective of ethnic discrimination by shedding light on subtle, everyday forms of discrimination in social markets and fuel ongoing discussions about anti-discrimination efforts in an era in which markets increasingly move online. |
| Keywords: | ethnic discrimination,statistical discrimination,taste-based discrimination,online markets,computational social science |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ifwkwp:2087&r=eur |
| By: | Gabriel Jiménez; José-Luis Peydró; Rafael Repullo; Jesús Saurina |
| Abstract: | We analyze new lending to firms by a state-owned bank in crisis times, the potential adverse selection faced by the bank, and the causal real effects associated to its lending. For identification, we exploit: (i) a new credit facility set up in Spain by its state-owned bank during the credit crunch of 2010-2012; (ii) the bank’s continuous scoring system, together with firms’ individual credit scores and the threshold for granting vs. rejecting loan applications; (iii) the rich credit register matched with firm- and bank-level data. We show that, compared to privately-owned banks, the state-owned bank faces a worse pool of applicants, is tighter (softer) in lending to firms with observable (unobservable) riskier characteristics, and has substantial higher loan defaults. Using a regression discontinuity approach around the threshold, we show that the supply of credit causes large positive real effects on firm survival, employment, investment, total assets, sales, and productivity, as well as crowding-in of new credit by private banks. |
| Keywords: | adverse selection, real effects of credit supply, crowding-in, state-owned, banks, credit crunch, credit scoring, loan defaults, countercyclical policies |
| JEL: | E44 G01 G21 G28 H81 |
| Date: | 2017–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bge:wpaper:984&r=eur |
| By: | González-Val, Rafael; Marcén, Miriam |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we examine whether the business cycle plays a role in marriage and divorce. We use data on Spain, since the differences between recession and expansion periods across regions are quite pronounced in that country. We find that the unemployment rate is negatively associated with the marriage rate, pointing to a pro-cyclical evolution of marriage; however the response of the divorce rate to the business cycle is mixed. Results show the existence of different patterns, depending on geography: divorce rates in coastal regions are pro-cyclical, while in inland regions divorces react to unemployment in a counter-cyclical way. |
| Keywords: | Divorce, marriage, divorce law, unemployment, business cycle, geography |
| JEL: | J12 |
| Date: | 2017–08–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:80644&r=eur |
| By: | Tavassoli, Sam (RMIT University); Karlsson, Charlie (KTH) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the role of regional context on innovation persistency of firms. Using five waves of the Community Innovation Survey in Sweden, we have traced firms’ innovative behaviour from 2002 to 2012, in terms of four Schumpeterian types of innovation: product, process, organizational, and marketing. Employing transition probability matrix and dynamic Probit model and controlling for an extensive set of firm-level characteristics, we find that certain regional characteristics matter for innovation persistency of firms. In particular, those firms located in regions with (i) thicker labour market or (ii) higher extent of knowledge spillover exhibit higher probability of being persistent innovators up to 14 percentage points. Such higher persistency is mostly pronounced for product innovators. |
| Keywords: | location; innovation; persistence; product innovations; process innovations; market innovations; organizational innovations; firms; Community Inno¬vation Survey |
| JEL: | D22 L20 O31 O32 |
| Date: | 2017–08–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:lucirc:2017_011&r=eur |
| By: | Braeseman, Fabian; Stephany, Fabian |
| Abstract: | Aiming to explain the European divide with respect to social and political values, scholars in the past have relied on a simplified four- (or even two-) dimensional regime model which tranches the continent according to the social capacities of its inhabitants. This „cartography“ of „Social Europe“ proves to be outdated by the presented findings. In this work, we apply a factor analysis model to the most commonly used approximations of social capital on the European Social Survey. The analysis shows that three distinct dimensions of social capital measures are important in Europe: additionally to generalised social capital, which is usually approximated by generalised trust, there is one dimension of civic engagement and one of communitarian values. This distinction leads to a new social landscape of Europe, which highlights the relevance of considering regional and cross-border clusters in all relevant social capital dimensions. A hierarchical multi-level model that controls for individual and regional characteristics emphasises the importance of the spatial clustering in Europe with respect to social capital. In addition, we explore, as a novelty in social capital literature, a classification tree to model generalized trust. The results of the non-parametric model reveal that Protestantism and education are good benchmarks to classify trust on an individual level. Based on these findings we argue for the necessity of policies with a regional focus that take the different sub-national structures of social capacity in Europe into account. |
| Keywords: | classification trees,factor analysis,social capital,multi-level modeling |
| JEL: | C33 C38 D70 Z13 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:agawps:07&r=eur |
| By: | Palali, Ali; van Ours, Jan C. |
| Abstract: | Our paper investigates the effect of tobacco control policies on smoking initiation in eleven European countries. We analyze longitudinal data of individuals by using information about their age of onset of smoking. We apply hazard rate models to study smoking initiation. Thus, we are able to take into account observed and unobserved personal characteristics as well as the effect of the introduction of a variety of tobacco control policies including bans on tobacco advertisements, smoke-free air regulation, health warnings on packages of cigarettes and treatment programs to help smokers quitting. We find that none of these tobacco control policies influence smoking initiation. |
| Date: | 2017–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:12201&r=eur |
| By: | Marcella Corsi; Carlo D’Ippoliti; Giulia Zacchia |
| Abstract: | Following an international trend, Italy has reformed its university system, especially concerning methods and tools for research evaluation, which are increasingly focused on a number of bibliometric indexes. To study the impact of these changes, we analyse the changing profiles of economists who have won competitions for full professorship in the last few decades in Italy. We concentrate on individual characteristics and mainly on scientific production. We show that the identification of a univocal and standardized concept of “research quality” within the new research assessments has progressively imposed a strategy of “homologation”, especially for women. We find that women economists are at a higher risk of discrimination than their male colleagues and thus they are more likely to conform their research activities to the standardized profile imposed by the gender-blind application of biased bibliometric methods. |
| Keywords: | Discrimination; Pluralism; Diversity; Women Economists; Italy |
| JEL: | J16 J70 A14 |
| Date: | 2017–08–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sol:wpaper:2013/256291&r=eur |
| By: | Kantorowicz, Jarosław; Köppl-Turyna, Monika |
| Abstract: | We apply the difference-in-discontinuities design to disentangle the fiscal effects of the governance system conditional on electoral systems. We take advantage of a natural experiment, which involves two institutional reforms at the local level in Poland. The first reform introduced two electoral rules, which change along an exogenous population threshold: smaller municipalities use majoritarian elections, larger municipalities use proportional elections. The second reform changed the governance system in Polish municipalities from “parliamentary” to “presidential”. Our results indicate that a change from parliamentary to presidential form led to lower vertical fiscal imbalance predominantly in the jurisdictions with majoritarian elections and to a lesser extent in municipalities governed by proportional elections. This therefore confirms an interaction effect between the forms of government and electoral rules. |
| Keywords: | electoral rules,vertical fiscal imbalance,constitutions |
| JEL: | D72 D78 H72 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:agawps:06&r=eur |