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on Microeconomic European Issues |
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Issue of 2018‒01‒01
33 papers chosen by Giuseppe Marotta Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia |
| By: | Francesco Fasani (QMUL, CReAM, IZA and CEPR); Tommaso Frattini (University of Milan, LdA, CReAM, IZA and CEPR); Luigi Minale (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, CReAM and IZA) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the labour market performance of refugees vis-à -vis comparable migrants across several EU countries and over time. We use recently released repeated cross–sectional survey data and find that refugees are 13% less likely to have a job and 32% more likely to be unemployed than migrants with similar characteristics. Their performance is relatively weaker also when analysing participation in the labour market, quality of occupation and income. Between 60 and 80% of the “refugee gap†remains unexplained even when conditioning on unobservable factors by means of a rich set of fixed effects for areas of origin, entry cohorts, destination countries as well as their interactions. These gaps are larger for the areas of origin from which most refugees currently arrive and they persist until about ten years after immigration. We also assess the role played by asylum policies. First, we exploit the differential timing of the enactment of dispersal policies across European countries in a difference–in–differences setup and find that refugee cohorts exposed to these polices have persistently worse labour market outcomes. Second, we document how entry cohorts admitted when refugee status’ recognition rates were relatively high integrate better in the host country labour market. |
| Keywords: | Asylum seekers; Assimilation; Refugee gap; Asylum policies |
| JEL: | F22 J61 J15 |
| Date: | 2017–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:1716&r=eur |
| By: | Mense, Andreas; Michelsen, Claus; Cholodilin, Konstantin A. |
| Abstract: | This paper empirically analyzes the effects of a second generation rent control. We make use of an uncommon policy intervention in the German housing market and translate the generated variation into a difference-and-differences setup, augmented with elements of a discontinuity design, to identify the causal impact of rent controls. We exploit the spatial and temporal differences in the regulation, finding significant effects on de facto regulated and unregulated rents and house prices. Our results suggest that the regulation benefits low/medium income households. Further, we provide evidence that rent regulations alter land values and depress maintenance activities. Overall, these results fit the predictions of a standard comparative-static representation of a second-generation rent control, which sheds a more favorable light on housing market interventions. |
| Keywords: | housing policy,rent control,rental housing,Germany |
| JEL: | D2 D4 R31 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:iwqwdp:242017&r=eur |
| By: | Vincenzo Atella (DEF & CEIS, University of Rome "Tor Vergata"); Federico Belotti (DEF & CEIS, University of Rome "Tor Vergata"); Chris Bojke (Centre for Health Economics, University of York); Adriana Castelli (Centre for Health Economics, University of York); Katja Grašic (Centre for Health Economics, University of York); Joanna Kopinska (CEIS, University of Rome "Tor Vergata"); Andrea Piano Mortari (CEIS, University of Rome "Tor Vergata"); Andrew Street (University of York & London School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | We assess the productivity growth of the English and Italian healthcare systems over the period from 2004 to 2011. The English (NHS) and the Italian (SSN) healthcare systems share many similar features, facilitating comparison: basic founding principles, financing, organization, management, and size. We measure productivity growth as the rate of change in outputs over the rate of change in inputs. We find that the overall NHS productivity growth index increased by 10% over the whole period, at an average of 1.39% per year, while SSN productivity increased overall by 5%, at an average of 0.73% per year. Differential growth reflects different policy objectives. In England, the NHS focused on increasing activity, reducing waiting times and improving quality. Italy focused more on cost containment and rationalized provision, in the hope that this would reduce unjustified and inappropriate provision of services. |
| Keywords: | Health system productivity,output growth,input growth |
| JEL: | C43 D24 I11 I18 |
| Date: | 2017–12–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rtv:ceisrp:418&r=eur |
| By: | Avram, Silvia; Canto, Olga |
| Abstract: | Using EU-SILC data for 2005 and 2011, we compare the role of family background on labour outcomes in three EU countries that experienced large swings in unemployment during this period. We use a multidimensional family background indicator that avoids undesirable cohort effects. Our results suggest that family background affects employment prospects and job quality (hourly wages and contract insecurity), and that human capital formation explains a significant part (but not all) of the family background effects. There is significant cross-national variation in the extent to which human capital can explain the effects of family background. Finally, we do not find any evidence that the effect of family background is substantially moderated by the economic cycle in any of our countries. |
| Date: | 2017–12–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ese:iserwp:2017-15&r=eur |
| By: | Alexander Ahammer (Department of Economics, Johannes Kepler University Linz); Ivan Zilic (The Institute of Economics, Zagreb) |
| Abstract: | Do physicians respond to financial incentives? We address this question by an- alyzing the prescription behavior of physicians who are allowed to dispense drugs themselves through onsite pharmacies. Using administrative data comprising over 16 million drug prescriptions between 2008 and 2012 in Upper Austria, a naïve com- parison of raw figures reveals that self-dispensing GPs induce 33.2% higher drug expenses than others. Our identification strategy rests on multiple pillars. First, we use an extensive array of covariates along with multi-dimensional fixed effects which account for patient and GP-level heterogeneity as well as sorting of GPs into onsite pharmacies. Second, we use a novel approach that allows us to restrict our sam- ple to randomly allocated patient-GP matches which rules out endogenous sorting as well as principal-agent bargaining over prescriptions between patients and GPs. Contrary to our descriptive analysis, we find evidence that onsite pharmacies have a small negative effect on prescriptions. Although self-dispensing GPs seem to pre- scribe slightly more expensive medication, this effect is absorbed by a much smaller likelihood to prescribe in the first place, causing the overall effect to be negative. |
| Keywords: | physician dispensing, drug expenses, physician agency, moral hazard |
| JEL: | I11 I12 |
| Date: | 2017–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iez:wpaper:1701&r=eur |
| By: | Montmartin, B.; Herrera, M.; Massard, N. |
| Abstract: | Using a unique database containing information on the amount of R&D tax credits and regional, national and European subsidies received by firms in French NUTS3 regions over the period 2001-2011, we provide new evidence on the efficiency of R&D policies taking into account spatial dependency across regions. By estimating a spatial Durbin model with regimes and fixed effects, we show that in a context of yardstick competition between regions, national subsidies are the only instrument that displays total leverage effect. For other instruments internal and external effects balance each other resulting in insignificant total effects. Structural breaks corresponding to tax credit reforms are also revealed. |
| Keywords: | ADDITIONALITY;FRENCH POLICY MIX;R&D INVESTMENT;SPATIAL PANEL;STRUCTURAL BREAK |
| JEL: | H25 O31 O38 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gbl:wpaper:2017-06&r=eur |
| By: | Valeria Costantini; Francesco Crespi; Elena Paglialunga |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the effects of private and public actions for energy efficiency on EU employment dynamics, relying on an econometric analysis on a sector-based panel dataset for 15 EU countries (1995-2009). Results show that after accounting for the sectoral output growth, investment and innovation activities, sectoral energy efficiency gains display a negative effect on employment growth, especially in energy intensive industries. Conversely, public actions towards energy efficiency may produce positive effects on employment dynamics. Indeed, the higher incidence of taxation on energy costs, the energy efficiency gains realized in the public sector industries and the implementation of a comprehensive policy mix at the country level, are factors positively influencing employment growth. This evidence highlights the complexity of the nexus between energy efficiency and employment dynamics, suggesting that superior employment performances can be achieved when complementarity effects between productivity enhancing activities and energy efficiency actions are realized. |
| Keywords: | Energy Efficiency, Public Policies, Employment, Manufacturing Sectors, Eco- Innovation, European Union |
| JEL: | C23 L60 O33 Q52 |
| Date: | 2017–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rtr:wpaper:0227&r=eur |
| By: | Thomas (T.L.P.R.) Peeters (Erasmus School of Economics, ERIM; Tinbergen Institute, The Netherlands); Stefan Szymanski (University of Michigan); Marko Terviö (Aalto University) |
| Abstract: | We study hiring in a labor market where worker ability can only be observed on-the-job, but quickly becomes public information after labor market entry. We show that firms in these markets have a socially inefficient incentive to hire low talented, experienced workers instead of more promising labor market entrants, either when an extremely poor hire may bankrupt the firm, or when workers cannot commit to long-term contracts. In a dataset covering 38 years of hiring in the English labor market for football managers, we find that in around one quarter of all cases, where a firm hires an experienced worker, this experienced worker has an estimated ability below the average ability of recent labor market entrants. We argue this hiring behavior is inefficient, because it has persistently depressed the average ability of the active manager labor force over our sample period. |
| Keywords: | hiring; labor market entrants; worker ability; European football |
| JEL: | M51 J63 J24 |
| Date: | 2017–12–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tin:wpaper:20170116&r=eur |
| By: | Marion Goussé (Département d'Economique, Université Laval - Université Laval); Nicolas Jacquemet (PSE - Paris School of Economics, CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Jean-Marc Robin (ECON - Département d'économie - Sciences Po, Department of Economics, University College London - UCL - University College of London [London]) |
| Abstract: | We document changes in labour supply, wage and education by gender and marital status using the British Household Panel Survey, 1991-2008, and seek to disentangle the main channels behind these changes. To this end, we use a version of Goussé, Jacquemet, and Robin (2016)'s search-matching model of the marriage market with labour supply, which does not use information on home production time inputs. We derive conditions under which the model is identified. We estimate different parameters for each year. This allows us to quantify how much of the changes in labour supply, wage and education by gender and marital status depends on changes in the preferences for leisure of men and women and how much depends on changes in homophily. |
| Keywords: | Search-matching, sorting, assortative matching, structural estimation, collective labour supply |
| Date: | 2017–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:cesptp:halshs-01476509&r=eur |
| By: | Heger, Dörte; Korfhage, Thorben |
| Abstract: | The share of the population aged 80 and older will double by 2050. This development spurs a considerable increase in the demand for long-term care. Supporting informal care provision by family members is the most common policy choice in European countries. This form of care is regarded to be less expensive than formal care in nursing homes. New research by RWI on European data shows: Family caregiving has serious lasting effects on the employment probability of the caregiver. Policy makers need to consider these long-term costs when designing interventions to meet the challenges caused by demographic change. |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:rwiimp:171359&r=eur |
| By: | Silvia Bacci (Universita' di Perugia (IT)); Francesco Bartolucci (Universita' di Perugia (IT)); Giulia Bettin (Universita' Politecnica delle Marche and MoFiR (IT)); Claudia Pigini (Universita' Politecnica delle Marche, MoFiR) |
| Abstract: | We propose a bivariate mixture growth model with concomitant variables to study the time profiles of international remittances sent by first-generation migrants in Germany from 1996 to 2012. The latent class approach allows us to identify homogeneous sub-groups of migrants associated with different trajectories for their remitting behavior, which can be interpreted in the light of the theoretical economic background. In addition, the latent class model combined with the concomitant variable approach allows us to uncover whether the assignment of migrants to a specific sub-group can be ascribed to their observable characteristics, namely their return intention, as conjectured by the theoretical models. |
| Keywords: | Bivariate model, Concomitant variables approach, Latent class model, Latent trajectory model, Longitudinal data, Remittances |
| JEL: | C33 C38 F22 F24 |
| Date: | 2017–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:anc:wmofir:145&r=eur |
| By: | Regner, T.; Crosetto, P. |
| Abstract: | Crowdfunding recently emerged as an alternative funding channel for start-ups, creative artists and social endeavors. On specialized web platforms, project creators ask the crowd for support and provide in return a set of rewards, modulated according to the amount of support pledged. Our study investigates the role of self- and social-image enhancing rewards in determining project success. Using data from 346 projects hosted by Startnext, the biggest crowdfunding platform in Germany, we show that providing higher shares of reward levels that let pledgers participate in and experience the project is correlated with project success. |
| Keywords: | CROWDFUNDING;ENTREPRENEURIAL FINANCE;DONATIONS;REWARD LEVELS;IDENTITY;SELF-IMAGE;SOCIAL IMAGE |
| JEL: | L26 D03 G32 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gbl:wpaper:2017-04&r=eur |
| By: | Dunsch, Sophie |
| Abstract: | The unemployment rates, especially youth unemployment rates, increased in various countries of Europe over the last years. This paper examines gender-specific youth unemployment developments in Germany and Poland with Okun's law to test the hypothesis that young male employees are more vulnerable to the business cycle. I estimate gender- and country-specific Okun coefficients for five different age cohorts. The results show that young men are more sensitive to the business cycle, while for women the reaction is less strong. A further examination of the different labour markets regarding genderspecific youth employment results in policy recommendations beyond GDP growth, such as a reduction of the discrepancy in employment protection between permanent and temporary contracts and an approach to maintain youth connected to the labour market. |
| Keywords: | Youth Unemployment,Okun's Law,Poland,Germany |
| JEL: | E24 E32 J64 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:euvwdp:397&r=eur |
| By: | Jonathan Cribb (Institute for Fiscal Studies and Institute for Fiscal Studies); Carl Emmerson (Institute for Fiscal Studies and Institute for Fiscal Studies) |
| Abstract: | The earliest age at which women can receive a state pension in the UK (the ‘state pension age’) has been increasing since 2010. We use a difference-in-differences methodology, exploiting the gradual increase from age 60 in 2010 to age 63 in 2016, to estimate the impact of the reform on women’s incomes, income poverty rates and measures of material deprivation. We find that, on average, increased earnings partially offset the loss of state pension income, leaving affected women’s household incomes on average £32 per week lower due to the reform. Proportionally, the reduction in household income is larger for lower-income women. These reductions in income lead to the absolute income poverty rate of women aged 60–62, who are now under the state pension age, increasing by 6.4 percentage points. However, the increased risk of poverty does not persist after the point at which they reach the state pension age. Moreover, we find no evidence that increasing the state pension age increases the probability of women reporting being deprived of important material items, at least for the items observed in our data. This potentially suggests that they have smoothed their consumption, and avoided increased levels of material deprivation, despite the large reduction in income caused by the reform. Figure. UK state pension age for women under different legislation Figure. UK state pension age for women under different legislation |
| Keywords: | public pensions; income distribution; poverty |
| Date: | 2017–08–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ifs:ifsewp:17/10&r=eur |
| By: | Sylvain Dejean (CEREGE - Centre de Recherche en sciences de Gestion - EA 1722 - La Rochelle - ULR - Université de La Rochelle) |
| Abstract: | Does the distance still matters in a context where digital technologies promised to eliminate distance-related costs? In crowdfunding platforms, the founder of a project and the backers mainly exchange tacit information (trustworthiness and seriousness of the founder, feasibility of a project), challenging the ability of the Internet to abolish the cost of distance. We investigate how the existence of social ties between two geographical areas, by lowering the asymmetry of information, can shape the flow of funding in a given country. We take advantage of a unique database provided by the French leader of reward-based Crowdfunding. With a dataset containing 12887 projects and 452 850 contributions representing a value of 19 million euros over the period 2012/2015, we estimate, for each pair of the 94 French regions, the number and the amount of bilateral funding as well as their determinants in a gravity-like equation model. To account for the existence of social ties between French regions we exploit information of the French national Census of 2013 about regional migration. Our mains results are first that the elasticity of distance is still important (around 0.5) in the context of reward-based crowdfunding platforms. We then show that taking into account the existence of social ties between regions strongly reduces and even annihilates (under some specifications) the impact of distance. This result suggests that if digital technology could have reduced the geographical distance, only social proximity seems able to decrease the information-related costs. |
| Keywords: | Crowdfunding,economic geography,gravity,social networks |
| Date: | 2017–11–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-01645147&r=eur |
| By: | Nicola Cortinovis (Erasmus University Rotterdam); Frank van Oort (ESE EUR, IHS EUR, Utrecht University) |
| Abstract: | Productivity across European regions is related to three types of networks that mediate R&D-related knowledge spillovers: trade, co-patenting and geographical proximity. Both our panel and instrumental variable estimations for European regions suggest that network relations are crucial sources of R&D spillovers, but with potentially different features. While co-patenting relations appear to affect local productivity directly, regions that link up to innovative leader regions via imports gain in productivity only when they have relatively high levels of human capital and absorptive capacity. From a policy perspective, this may frustrate recent European policy initiatives, such as Smart Specialization, that are designed to benefit all regions in Europe. |
| Keywords: | productivity; economic networks; regions; Europe; trade; knowledge |
| JEL: | R11 R12 O33 O47 |
| Date: | 2017–12–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tin:wpaper:20170118&r=eur |
| By: | Emanuele Bracco |
| Abstract: | With data from 1998 to 2015, we find evidence that before elections Italian mayors issue fewer tickets and collect a lower proportion of issued fines. This provides evidence that mayors strategically use both tax setting and collection to affect elections. |
| Keywords: | Political Budget Cycle, parking tickets, tax collection |
| JEL: | D72 H26 H71 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lan:wpaper:209919534&r=eur |
| By: | Richard Blundell (Institute for Fiscal Studies and IFS and UCL); Jack Britton (Institute for Fiscal Studies); Monica Costa Dias (Institute for Fiscal Studies and Institute for Fiscal Studies); Eric French (Institute for Fiscal Studies and IFS and UCL) |
| Abstract: | Estimates of the effect of health on employment differ signi cantly from study to study due to differences in method, data, institutional background and health measure. We assess the importance of these differences using a unifi ed framework to interpret and contrast estimates of the impact of health on employment based on various measures of health and estimation procedures. This is done for the US and England. We fi nd that subjective and objective health measures, as well as subjective measures instrumented by objective measures produce similar estimates if a sufficiently large number of objective measures is used. Reducing the number of objective measures used compromises their ability to capture work capacity and biases estimates downwards. Failure to account for initial conditions leads to an overstatement of the effect of health on employment. We also find that a carefully constructed single index of subjective health yields estimates that are very similar to those obtained with multiple measures. Overall, declines in health can explain between 3% and 15% of the decline in employment between ages 50 and 70. These effects are larger among high-school dropouts and tend to drop with education; they are also larger in the US than in England. Finally, cognition has little added explanatory power once we also control for health, suggesting that cognition is not a key driver of employment at these ages. |
| Keywords: | Health, cognition, labor supply, retirement |
| JEL: | I10 J26 E24 |
| Date: | 2017–08–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ifs:ifsewp:17/18&r=eur |
| By: | Georges Vivien Houngbonon (LGI - Laboratoire de Genie Industriel - CentraleSupélec); Julienne Liang (France Télécom) |
| Abstract: | Policy makers are aiming for a large coverage of high-speed broadband Internet. However , there is still a lack of evidence about its effects on income distribution. In this paper, we investigate the effects of fixed broadband Internet on mean income and income inequality using a unique town-level data on broadband adoption and quality in France. We find that broadband adoption and quality raise mean income and lower income inequality. These results are robust to initial conditions, and yield policy implications for the deployment of faster broadband Internet. |
| Keywords: | Broadband Internet,Income Inequality,Telecommunications |
| Date: | 2017–12–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-01653815&r=eur |
| By: | Rueda-Cantuche, Jose Manuel (JRC); Sousa, Nuno (DG Trade) |
| Abstract: | This analysis sheds new light on the gender-balance of the employment opportunities supported by extra-EU exports. This is done using a Multi-Regional Input-Output (MRIO) model with the information provided by the WIOD-World Input-Output Database (Timmer et al., 2015) and the EXIOBASE-3 database (Stadler et al., 2017). On that basis we show that in 2011 almost 12 million women in the EU had jobs thanks to the exports of goods and services to the rest of the world. However the data also reveals that a gender gap to the disadvantage of women persisted as these jobs represented only 38% of the total employment in the EU supported by exports to the rest of the world. The analysis suggests that such gender gap is largely due to the concentration of female employment in the less export-oriented sectors, notably in services. |
| Keywords: | International trade; gender; Multi-Regional Input-Output tables |
| JEL: | F19 |
| Date: | 2017–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:dgtcen:2017_003&r=eur |
| By: | Iferd, Younes; Schubert, Torben |
| Abstract: | The existing literature shows that interdepartmental collaboration within companies en-hances innovativeness due to easier access to and integration of knowledge spread over dispersed actors. As companies are well aware of these benefits they also use competi-tion between innovation projects to organize their innovation projects. Such competitive mechanisms have often been regarded as problematic because of their adverse effects on collaboration and knowledge sharing. At the same time, they have the power to expe-dite innovation processes. Based on German CIS data, we use a stochastic frontier ap-proach to show that competition across innovation projects tends to increase innovation efficiency for firms faced by predatory product market competition, while interdepartmental collaboration is efficiency increasing when competition is low. Furthermore, we were also able to show that with increasing innovation radicalness interdepartmental collaboration enhances the innovation process and that with increasing innovation incrementality com-petition across innovation projects becomes beneficial. |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:fisidp:56&r=eur |
| By: | Marcelo Arbex (Department of Economics, University of Windsor); Flavia Chein (São Paulo School of Economics, Getulio Vargas Foundation); Isabela Furtado (São Paulo School of Economics, Getulio Vargas Foundation); Enlinson Mattos (São Paulo School of Economics, Getulio Vargas Foundation) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we investigate how households time allocations decisions between formal and informal sectors are related to publicly provided goods with and without market substitutes. A simple static public provision model motivates our analysis. Households consume a normal private good and a quasi-private (education) good. Household needs some public utility services to consume the private good and supply labor to formal and informal sectors. Using data from the PNAD (National Household Sample Survey) for the period 2007-2015 we construct indexes of access to three groups of publicly provided goods: (I) basic infrastructure or public utility services, (II) basic education and (III) higher education. Our logit results show a positive effect of access to public education (basic and higher) on the probability of evasion. Differently from public utility services, that affect negatively the probability of evasion, the consumption of these goods present substitute in the private sector. We observe a stronger effect of access to publicly provided basic education comparing with higher education. This result may be related to the different quality of publicly provision of higher and basic education. Tobit results suggest a positive and significant effect only in the case of publicly provided education, i.e., an increase in the access or use of publicly provided education increases the supply of informal labor hours. |
| Keywords: | Education; Public Utility Services; Tax Evasion; Public Provision. |
| JEL: | J22 H26 H42 |
| Date: | 2017–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wis:wpaper:1710&r=eur |
| By: | Yasmine Essafi (DRM - Dauphine Recherches en Management - Université Paris-Dauphine - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Raphaël Languillon (EVS - Environnement Ville Société - ENS Lyon - École normale supérieure - Lyon - UL2 - Université Lumière - Lyon 2 - Université Jean Moulin - Lyon III - UJM - Université Jean Monnet [Saint-Étienne] - ENTPE - École Nationale des Travaux Publics de l'État - Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Saint-Etienne - ENSAL - École nationale supérieure d'architecture de Lyon - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Arnaud Simon (DRM - Dauphine Recherches en Management - Université Paris-Dauphine - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | Using the link between demography and house prices in a life-cycle economy perspective, this article documents the ongoing spatial reshaping of wealth in France due to the elder-boom breaking point. This modification in the wealth circulation across generations is also a spatial modification that carries consequences for the local territories. While the wealth losses are amplified for some departments, others benefit from the reorganization. Metropolization is insurance against important wealth losses, whereas for the nonmetropolitan departments, a combination of second-order factors is required to limit or reverse the negative trend. Our results suggest that these evolutions are mainly structural and that the economic variables are of secondary importance. There is no case of compensation for structural decline by a positive cyclical trend. Gentrification also appears to be a direct and emblematic avatar of this change, in which various macrostructural inequalities are reinforced. As for the unemployment rate, this indicator poorly reflects the shift and can be misleading. |
| Keywords: | Ageing,Life-cycle,Spatial reshaping,Territories,Metropolization |
| Date: | 2017–12–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-01654445&r=eur |
| By: | Walter Beckert (Institute for Fiscal Studies and Birkbeck, University of London); Elaine Kelly (Institute for Fiscal Studies and Institute for Fiscal Studies) |
| Abstract: | A common reform used to increase consumer choice and competition in public services has been to allow private providers to compete with public incumbents. However, there remains a concern that not all consumers are able to bene fit equally from wider choice. We consider the case of publicly funded elective surgery in England, where reforms in the 2000s enabled privately owned hospitals to enter the market. We show that, post-reform, poor and ethnic minority patients were much less likely to choose private hospitals; and that dominant drivers of sorting between public and private providers are health based criteria for treatment by private providers and the geographic distribution of hospitals. Counterfactual simulations suggest differences in health explain 18% of the difference in the use of private providers between rich and poor patients, while the geographic distribution of hospitals explains 61% once other sorting mechanisms - ethnicity, patient preferences, physician referral patterns - are accounted for. Although much of the observed sorting does not appear to be the result of market frictions, limited variation in payments made to hospitals according to patient health means that sorting is estimated to cost public hospitals in excess of $426,426 ($625,000) per year. |
| Keywords: | Patient choice, demand for healthcare, healthcare reform, inequality |
| JEL: | D03 D80 G02 C91 D81 |
| Date: | 2017–08–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ifs:ifsewp:17/15&r=eur |
| By: | Stuart Adam (Institute for Fiscal Studies and Institute for Fiscal Studies); James Browne (Institute for Fiscal Studies and Institute for Fiscal Studies); David Phillips (Institute for Fiscal Studies and Institute for Fiscal Studies); Barra Roantree (Institute for Fiscal Studies and Institute for Fiscal Studies) |
| Abstract: | We investigate bunching at personal tax thresholds in the UK over a 40-year period. At kinks, where the marginal tax rate rises, we find bunching among company owner-managers and the self-employed, but not those with only employment income. Notches, where the average rate rises, provide compelling evidence that this is because most employees face substantial frictions: fewer than a quarter bunch even where doing so would increase consumption and leisure. We develop a new approach for identifying selection in who responds and for decomposing responses into hours and wage components. We find that employees who bunch at notches are higher-hours, lower-wage, part-time workers. |
| Keywords: | Behavioural response, income tax, social security con- tributions, optimisation frictions, elasticity of taxable income |
| JEL: | H20 H24 J22 |
| Date: | 2017–08–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ifs:ifsewp:17/14&r=eur |
| By: | Langer, Sebastian; Korzhenevych, Artem |
| Abstract: | This paper aims to quantify the municipal tax revenue effects of built-up area increases. The assumed existence of these effects is one of the key reasons for ongoing land consumption on the side of the municipalities. Some previous case studies however suggested that these effects might be not large enough especially in rural municipalities and would thus make land development not profitable. We estimate the effect of built-up industrial and commercial (BIC) area change on the business tax revenues in cross-sectional instrumental variable (IV) estimations. Based on detailed data for Bavaria, we find a significant and positive tax revenue effect of an increase in municipal BIC area. There exist strong differences in the size of this effect between urban and rural municipalities. The largest effects are generated by the BIC area in the large cities and become substantially smaller when these are dropped from the sample. Based on these findings, we reflect on the tradable planning permits (TPP) scheme recently discussed in the land use literature in the context of policies aiming to limit land consumption. Furthermore, we relate our estimates to the average municipal costs for land development and execute a number of robustness checks. |
| Keywords: | tax revenues,municipal taxes,land consumption,instrumental variable regression |
| JEL: | H21 H25 H70 H71 R14 R52 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:tudcep:1817&r=eur |
| By: | Naomitsu Yashiro; Konstantins Benkovskis; Jaan Masso; Olegs Tkacevs; Priit Vahter |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the effect of export entry on productivity, employment and wages of Latvian and Estonian firms in the context of global value chain (GVC). Like in many countries, exporting firms in Latvia and Estonia are more productive, larger, pay higher wages and are more capital intensive than non-exporting firms. While this is partly because firms that are originally more productive and have better performances are more likely to enter export, Latvian and Estonian firms also realise more than 23% and 14% higher labour productivity level as the result of export entry. Export entry also increases employment and average wages. Gains in productivity and employment are particularly large when firms enter exports that are related to participation in knowledge-intensive activities found in the upstream of GVC. For instance, Latvian firms that start exporting intermediate goods or non-transport services (which include knowledge intensive services) enjoy significantly higher productivity gains than those starting to export final goods or transport services. These findings underscore the importance of innovation policies that strengthen firms’ capabilities to supply highly differentiated knowledge-intensive goods and services to GVC. |
| Keywords: | estonia, export, global value chain, latvia, productivity |
| JEL: | F12 F14 O19 O57 |
| Date: | 2017–12–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:1448-en&r=eur |
| By: | Islam, Nizamul; Colombino, Ugo |
| Abstract: | We present an exercise in empirical optimal taxation for European countries from three areas: Southern, Central and Northern Europe. For each country, we estimate a microeconometric model of labour supply for both couples and singles. A procedure that simulates the households’ choices under given tax-transfer rules is then embedded in a constrained optimization program in order to identify optimal rules under the public budget constraint. The optimality criterion is the class of Kolm’s social welfare function. The tax-transfer rules considered as candidates are members of a class that includes as special cases various versions of the Negative Income Tax: Conditional Basic Income, Unconditional Basic Income, In-Work Benefits and General Negative Income Tax, combined with a Flat Tax above the exemption level. The analysis show that the General Negative Income Tax strictly dominates the other rules, including the current ones. In most cases the Unconditional Basic Income policy is better than the Conditional Basic Income policy. Conditional Basic Income policy may lead to a significant reduction in labour supply and poverty-trap effects. In-Work-Benefit policy in most cases is strictly dominated by the General Negative Income Tax and Unconditional Basic Income. |
| Date: | 2017–12–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ese:emodwp:em18-17&r=eur |
| By: | Chris Belfield (Institute for Fiscal Studies and Institute for Fiscal Studies); Claire Crawford (Institute for Fiscal Studies); Ellen Greaves (Institute for Fiscal Studies and Institute for Fiscal Studies); Paul Gregg (Institute for Fiscal Studies); Lindsey Macmillan (Institute for Fiscal Studies) |
| Abstract: | There is substantial evidence of a significant relationship between parents’ income and sons’ earnings in the UK, and that this relationship has strengthened over time. We extend this by exploring a broader measure of net family income as an outcome. In doing so, we uncover three additional trends in social mobility. Partnership, and the level of earnings from any partner, are increasingly related to family background. The progressive direct tax and benefit system in the UK acts to offset intergenerational income persistence and has a stronger effect for the later cohort. Finally, men from higher-income backgrounds are significantly more likely than those from lower-income backgrounds to be in paid work and hence have higher incomes. Including out-of-work men in the analysis increases the estimates of intergenerational income persistence. |
| Keywords: | income, inequality, intergenerational |
| Date: | 2017–08–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ifs:ifsewp:17/11&r=eur |
| By: | Argaw, Bethlehem A.; Puhani, Patrick A. |
| Abstract: | We use administrative panel data on about a quarter of a million students in the German state of Hesse to estimate the causal effect of class size on school tracking outcomes after elementary school. Our identification strategy relies on the quasi-random assignment of students to different class sizes based on maximum class size rules. In Germany, students are tracked into more or less academic middle school types at about age ten based, to a large extent, on academic achievement in elementary school. We mostly find no or small effects of class size in elementary school on receiving a recommendation or on the actual choice to attend the more academic middle school type. For male students, we find that an increase in class size by 10 students would reduce their chance of attending the higher school track - which more than 40 percent of students attend - by 3 percentage points. |
| Keywords: | Class size, panel, administrative data, education production |
| JEL: | I21 I28 |
| Date: | 2017–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:usg:econwp:2017:21&r=eur |
| By: | Germana Corrado (DEF, University of Rome "Tor Vergata"); Luisa Corrado (CEIS & DEF, University of Rome "Tor Vergata"); Giuseppe De Michele (Italian Ministry of Economics and Finance); Francesco Salustri (DEF, University of Rome "Tor Vergata") |
| Abstract: | Some criticism has been raised on the actual capability of corruption perception-based indices to gauge the essence of concepts they aim to measure. One can argue that perceptions about corruption are not matching reality and could be the re?ection of distorted truth. Based on this evidence we provide a theoretical ground for the corruption decision-making process (objective corruption) and the corruption perception-making process (subjective corruption) which accounts for the role of media attention. From the theoretical model we are able to derive testable implications for the empirical analysis, i.e. whether socio and cultural norms can explain the gap between the two measures of corruption across Europe. We employ a generalised setting of the structural equation models to build latent indices of objective and subjective corruption from our microdata exploiting the information on various economic, geographic and socio-demographic factors that can a¤ect the perception and the experience of corruption practices. The resulting indices allow us to define country rankings for both types of corruption and draw a geopolitical picture of the phenomenon across Europe. We also show that countries where the quality of media is higher are associated with lower di¤erences between perceived and real corruption. |
| Keywords: | Perceived and experienced corruption, Latent variables, Latent multi-dimensional index, Multiple indicators multiple causes models, Generalized SEM MIMIC. |
| JEL: | C43 C83 D73 H11 R50 |
| Date: | 2017–12–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rtv:ceisrp:420&r=eur |
| By: | Schleich, Joachim; Faure, Corinne; Gassmann, Xavier |
| Abstract: | Using a representative sample of more than 11,000 households from eight Eu-ropean countries, this paper empirically studies the factors related to household electricity contract switching by distinguishing between households that switched contracts but stayed with the same supplier (internal switching) from those that switched to a new supplier (external switching). The econometric analysis includes a wide range of individual preferences, structural factors, and socio-demographic characteristics; in particular, it is the first paper to explicitly explore the role of time and risk preferences on switching behaviors. The main results suggest that internal and external switching are not related to the same factors, that risk and time preferences affect switching behaviors, and that renters are less likely to switch than homeowners. |
| Keywords: | electricity supplier switching,inertia,liberalization,time preferences,risk preferences |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:fisisi:s142017&r=eur |
| By: | Erik Ansink (Tinbergen Institute, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam); Mark Koetse (Institute for Environmental Studies, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam); Jetske Bouma (Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL) and Institute for Environmental Studies, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam); Dominic Hauck (Institute for Environmental Studies, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam); Daan van Soest (Department of Economics and CentER, Tilburg University) |
| Abstract: | We assess the impact of different crowdfunding designs on the success of crowdfunded public goods using a lab-in-the-field experiment. Our design treatments aim to increase the efficiency of crowdfunding campaigns by raising aggregate contributions and decreasing possible coordination problems that may occur when potential donors are faced with a multitude of projects seeking contributions. Amongst others, we explore the potential of seed money and the impact of the attraction effect. Using a four-day time window we implement our crowdfunding experiment using a web-based user interface with multiple threshold public goods, similar in style to conventional crowdfunding websites. We find that such alternative crowdfunding designs affect efficiency via improving coordination, and not so much via affecting total contributions. These results are confirmed in a follow-up framed field experiment with actual nature conservation projects. |
| Keywords: | Crowdfunding; lab-in-the-field experiment; threshold public goods; charitable giving; nature conservation |
| JEL: | C93 H41 L31 Q57 |
| Date: | 2017–12–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tin:wpaper:20170119&r=eur |