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on Microeconomic European Issues |
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Issue of 2018‒01‒22
25 papers chosen by Giuseppe Marotta Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia |
| By: | SOLOGON Denisa; VAN KERM Philippe; LI Jinjing; O'DONOGHUE Cathal |
| Abstract: | This paper proposes a framework for studying international differences in the distribution of household income. Integrating micro-econometric and micro-simulation approaches in a decomposition analysis it quantifies the role of tax-benefit systems, employment and occupational structures, labour prices and market returns, and demographic composition in accounting for differences in income inequality across countries. Building upon EUROMOD (the European tax-benefit calculator) and its harmonized datasets, the model is portable and can be implemented for any cross-country comparisons within the EU. An application to the UK and Ireland?two countries that have much in common while displaying different levels of inequality?shows that differences in tax-benefit rules between the two countries account for roughly half of the observed difference in disposable household income inequality. Demographic differences play negligible roles. The Irish tax-benefit system is more redistributive than UK?s due to a higher tax progressivity and higher average transfer rates. These are largely attributable to policy parameter differences, but also to differences in pre-tax, pre-transfer income distributions. |
| Keywords: | income inequality; decompositions; cross-national comparisons; microsimulation; tax and transfer policy |
| JEL: | D31 |
| Date: | 2018–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:irs:cepswp:2018-01&r=eur |
| By: | Elise Coudin (Institute for Fiscal Studies); Sophie Maillard (Institute for Fiscal Studies); Maxime To (Institute for Fiscal Studies) |
| Abstract: | In France, in 2014, women’s hourly wages were on average 14.4 % lower than men’s. Beyond differentials in observed characteristics, is this gap explained by segregation of women in low-wage firms, or by gender inequality within a given firm? To answer that question, we apply the approach of Card, Cardoso, and Kline (2016) on French data to disentangle the role of between-firm (sorting) and within-firm heterogeneity (bargaining) on the gender wage gap. We use a two-way fixed effect wage model, in which firm fixed effects differ between male and female employees to account for within-firm gender differences in bargaining power and wage policy. We estimate this model with linked employer-employee data covering French private sector from 1995 to 2014. The sorting effect accounts for almost 11% of the gender wage gap, whereas the bargaining effect is close to zero. This last result could be related to the protective role of the high French minimum wage level. We have access to very rich administrative data that allow us to recover information on family events. Hence, we can analyze sorting and bargaining effects all along the family life cycle. Our analysis shows that firm effect gap appears clearly around the first childbirth and deepens over the life cycle: in addition to the direct effects of childbirth on wages, mothers also experience wage losses associated to sorting into low-paying firms. |
| Keywords: | gender wage gap, gender inequalities, linked employer-employee data, two-way fixed effect models, discrimination |
| JEL: | J31 J71 J16 |
| Date: | 2018–01–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ifs:ifsewp:18/01&r=eur |
| By: | Sa, Filipa |
| Abstract: | I use newly-released administrative data on properties owned by overseas companies to study the effect of foreign investment on the housing market in England and Wales. To estimate the causal e§ect, I construct an instrument for foreign investment based on economic shocks abroad. Foreign investment is found to have a positive e§ect on house price growth. This e§ect is present at di§erent percentiles of the distribution of house prices and is stronger in local authorities where housing supply is less elastic. Foreign investment is also found to reduce the rate of home ownership. There is no evidence of an e§ect on the housing stock or the share of vacant homes |
| Keywords: | foreign investors; house prices |
| JEL: | F21 R21 |
| Date: | 2016–11–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:86173&r=eur |
| By: | FitzRoy, Felix (University of St. Andrews); Nolan, Michael A. (University of Hull) |
| Abstract: | Using panel data from the BHPS and its Understanding Society extension, we study life satisfaction (LS) and income over nearly two decades, for samples split by education, and age – to our knowledge for the first time. The highly educated went from lowest to highest LS, though their average income was always higher. In spite of rapid income growth up to 2008/09, the less educated showed no rise in LS, while highly educated LS rose after the crash despite declining real income. In panel LS regressions with individual fixed effects, none of the income variables was significant for the highly educated. |
| Keywords: | education, income, economic growth, life satisfaction, Easterlin Paradox |
| JEL: | I31 O47 |
| Date: | 2017–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11185&r=eur |
| By: | Thomas Crossley (Institute for Fiscal Studies and Institute for Fiscal Studies, University of Essex); Federico Zilio (Institute for Fiscal Studies and Institute for Social & Economic Research) |
| Abstract: | Each year the UK records 25,000 or more excess winter deaths, primarily among the elderly. A key policy response is the “Winter Fuel Payment” (WFP), a labelled but unconditional cash transfer to households with a member above the Female State Pension Age. The WFP has been shown to raise fuel spending among eligible households. We examine the causal effect of the WFP on health outcomes, including self-reports of chest infection, measured hypertension and biomarkers of infection and inflammation. We find a robust and statistically significant six percentage point reduction in the incidence of high levels of serum fibrinogen. Reductions in other disease markers point to health benefits, but the estimated effects are not robustly statistically significant. |
| Keywords: | benefits, health, biomarkers, heating, regression discontinuity |
| JEL: | H51 I12 |
| Date: | 2017–10–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ifs:ifsewp:17/23&r=eur |
| By: | Liwiński, Jacek (University of Warsaw); Pastore, Francesco (Università della Campania Luigi Vanvitelli) |
| Abstract: | We test for the signalling hypothesis versus human capital theory using the Wiles test (1974) in a country which has experienced a dramatic increase in the supply of skills. For this purpose, we construct a job match index based on the usefulness of the school-provided skills and the relevance of the job performed to the field of study. Then we regress the first earnings of graduates on this index using OLS and Heckit to control for omitted heterogeneity of the employed. The data we use come from a representative tracer survey of Poles who left secondary schools or graduated from HEIs over the period of 1998-2005. We find that only the HEI graduates obtain a wage premium from skills acquired in the course of formal education. This finding is robust to a large number of robustness checks with different indicators of the educational mismatch and instrumental variables. |
| Keywords: | education, skills, signalling, job matching, wages, Heckman correction |
| JEL: | J24 J31 |
| Date: | 2017–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11165&r=eur |
| By: | Jirjahn, Uwe (University of Trier) |
| Abstract: | From a theoretical viewpoint the relationship between foreign ownership and unionization is ambiguous. On the one hand, foreign owners have better opportunities to undermine workers' unionization. On the other hand, workers of foreign-owned firms have an increased demand for the protection provided by unions. Which of the two opposing influences dominates can vary according to moderating circumstances. This study shows that firm size and industry-level bargaining play a moderating role. The relationship between foreign ownership and unionization is negative in larger firms whereas it is positive in smaller firms. Coverage by industry-level collective bargaining makes a positive relationship both stronger and more likely. |
| Keywords: | corporate globalization, foreign direct investment, union membership, firm size, centralized collective bargaining |
| JEL: | F23 J51 J52 |
| Date: | 2017–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11154&r=eur |
| By: | Ramos, Xavier (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona); Van de gaer, Dirk (Ghent University) |
| Abstract: | Recent literature has suggested many ways of measuring equality of opportunity. We analyze in a systematic manner the various approaches put forth in the literature to show whether and to what extent different choices matter empirically. We use EU-SILC data for most European countries for 2005 and 2011. The choice between ex-ante and ex-post approaches is crucial and has a substantial influence on inequality of opportunity country orderings. Growth regressions also illustrate the relevance of conceptual choices. We only find significant negative effects for some direct parametric ex-ante measures. |
| Keywords: | equality of opportunity, measurement, ex-ante, ex-post, direct approach, indirect approach, responsibility, effort, income, EU-SILC |
| JEL: | D3 D63 |
| Date: | 2017–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11157&r=eur |
| By: | Bijlsma, Michiel; Boone, Jan; Douven, Rudy; Remmerswaal, Minke |
| Abstract: | Since 2006, the Dutch population has faced two different cost-sharing schemes in health insurance for curative care: a mandatory rebate of 255 euros in 2006 and 2007, and since 2008 a mandatory deductible. Using administrative data for the entire Dutch population, we compare the effect of both cost-sharing schemes on healthcare consumption between 2006 and 2013. We use a regression discontinuity design which exploits the fact that persons younger than eighteen years old neither face a rebate nor a deductible. Our fixed effect estimate shows that for individuals around the age of eighteen, a one euro increase of the deductible reduces healthcare expenditures 18 eurocents more than a euro increase of the rebate. These results demonstrate that differences in the design of a cost-sharing scheme can lead to substantial different effects on total healthcare expenditure. |
| Keywords: | cost-sharing; deductible; healthcare consumption; panel data; rebate; regression discontinuity design |
| Date: | 2017–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:12507&r=eur |
| By: | Guillemette De Larquier (EconomiX - UPN - Université Paris Nanterre - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Emmanuelle Marchal (CSO - Centre de sociologie des organisations - Sciences Po - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | This article addresses the formalisation of hiring processes and its impact on the type of the employee hired. Using the French OFER survey on the hiring practices of 3,584 firms in 2005, we investigate how firms organise the selection of job applicants and analyse the outcome of this selection with regard to the profiles of successful applicants. The data analysis reveals four types of screening processes: an informal process (streamlined) and three formalised processes (written-based, testing, and professionalised). The use of a type of screening process depends on the constraints and resources of the firm and on the expected type of match. Finally, logit regressions show that informal recruitment methods tend to penalise women and formal testing screening processes seem to favour unemployed or inactive people, whereas the formalised screening processes are likely to penalise individuals without diplomas. |
| Keywords: | hiring process,screening methods,recruitment channels,diversity |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-01597719&r=eur |
| By: | Spyridon Lazarakis (University of Glasgow); James Malley (University of Glasgow and CESifo); Konstantinos Angelopoulos (University of Glasgow) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the relationship between idiosyncratic earnings, employment and wage risk and fluctuations in aggregate labour market quantities for Great Britain. We use data from the British Household Panel Survey(BHPS) for 1991-2008 and from the BHPS sub-sample of Understanding Society for 2010-2014. We measure idiosyncratic risk by the relevant moments of the distribution of earnings, employment and wage shocks across individuals. Our main finding is that each of these measures of idiosyncratic labour income risk responds symmetrically to fluctuations in the labour market aggregates. Furthermore, we find evidence of insurance, both within the household and in the form of public insurance. However, household disposable income risk still increases with negative changes in mean earnings, implying that private and public of insurance do not eliminate the increase in risk. |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:red:sed017:1314&r=eur |
| By: | Hämäläinen, Ulla (Ministry of Finance, Finland); Koerselman, Kristian (University of Jyväskylä); Uusitalo, Roope (University of Jyväskylä) |
| Abstract: | We evaluate a Finnish student financing reform which created substantial financial incentives for on-time graduation, and had the side effect of turning expected nominal interest rates on student loans strongly negative. We find that both the timing of graduation and the take-up of loans remained unaffected by the reform. This is consistent with earlier findings in the literature that students do not seem to process financial incentives well when framed as a loan. |
| Keywords: | incentives, student finance, higher education, pace of studies, student loans |
| JEL: | I22 |
| Date: | 2017–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11142&r=eur |
| By: | Sarah Cattan (Institute for Fiscal Studies and Institute for Fiscal Studies); Daniel A. Kamhöfer (Institute for Fiscal Studies); Martin Karlsson (Institute for Fiscal Studies); Therese Nilsson (Institute for Fiscal Studies) |
| Abstract: | Instructional time is seen as an important determinant of school performance, but little is known about the effects of student absence. Combining historical records and administrative data for Swedish individuals born in the 1930s, we examine the impacts of absence in elementary school on short-term academic performance and long-term socio-economic outcomes. Our siblings and individual fi xed effects estimates suggest absence has a moderate adverse effect on academic performance. The detrimental effect fades out over time. While absence negatively correlates with fi nal education, income and longevity, we only fi nd robust evidence that it lowers the probability of employment at age 25-30. |
| Keywords: | Absence in school, educational performance, long-term effects, register data |
| JEL: | C23 I14 I21 |
| Date: | 2017–10–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ifs:ifsewp:17/21&r=eur |
| By: | Vogler, Sabine; Paris, Valérie; Ferrario, Alessandra; Wirtz, Veronika J.; Joncheere, Kees de; Schneider, Peter; Pedersen, Hanne Bak; Dedet, Guillaume; Babar, Zaheer-Ud-Din |
| Abstract: | This article discusses pharmaceutical pricing and reimbursement policies in European countries with regard to their ability to ensure affordable access to medicines. A frequently applied pricing policy is external price referencing. While it provides some benchmark for policy-makers and has been shown to be able to generate savings, it may also contribute to delay in product launch in countries where medicine prices are low. Value-based pricing has been proposed as a policy that promotes access while rewarding useful innovation; however, implementing it has proven quite challenging. For high-priced medicines, managed-entry agreements are increasingly used. These agreements allow policy-makers to manage uncertainty and obtain lower prices. They can also facilitate earlier market access in case of limited evidence about added therapeutic value of the medicine. However, these agreements raise transparency concerns due to the confidentiality clause. Tendering as used in the hospital and offpatent outpatient sectors has been proven to reduce medicine prices but it requires a robust framework and appropriate design with clear strategic goals in order to prevent shortages. These pricing and reimbursement policies are supplemented by the widespread use of Health Technology Assessment to inform decision-making, and by strategies to improve the uptake of generics, and also biosimilars. While European countries have been implementing a set of policy options, there is a lack of thorough impact assessments of several pricing and reimbursement policies on affordable access. Increased cooperation between authorities, experience sharing and improving transparency on price information, including the disclosure of confidential discounts, are opportunities to address current challenges. |
| JEL: | I10 |
| Date: | 2017–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:68862&r=eur |
| By: | Tatiana Cesaroni (Bank of England) |
| Abstract: | This study examines the effect of housing credit conditions on the Time on Market for residential properties in Italy, using a unique dataset from the Bank of Italy survey on the Italian housing market. The analysis was carried out on a sample of roughly 1,000 real estate agents over the period 2011-2015 using panel data techniques. The results support the view that an increase in housing market liquidity, measured by the Loan-to-Value Ratio, reduces the average TOM of a property, thus improving the matching process between buyers and sellers. The results are found to be robust to specifications including the traditional determinants of TOM, used as controls (i.e. price revisions, potential buyers, mandates to sell, the role of brokers and so on). The results also show that a higher price reduction, possibly associated with an initial mispricing by the seller when setting the initial listing price, seems to be associated with a higher TOM for residential properties. |
| Keywords: | Time on Market, Loan to Value ratio, brokers, market structure, price revisions, dynamic panel models |
| JEL: | C3 D8 E3 G1 R3 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lui:lleewp:18136&r=eur |
| By: | Renata Bottazzi (Institute for Fiscal Studies and University of Bologna); Serena Trucchi (Institute for Fiscal Studies); Matthew Wakefield (Institute for Fiscal Studies and University of Bologna) |
| Abstract: | We look at how strongly shocks to asset values affect labour supply, using Italian data. We use asset price shocks to provide a measure of wealth changes that is exogenous to households’ saving and labour supply. Our results point to significant effects of wealth on hours of work and on whether or not agents leave their jobs. The magnitude of these effects can be substantial, for example for those individuals who suffered larger wealth losses during the financial crisis. Family effects reflect similar responses from men and women on average. Older working-age individuals drive the population results. |
| Keywords: | Labour Supply; Financial wealth shocks; Wealth effects |
| Date: | 2017–12–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ifs:ifsewp:17/29&r=eur |
| By: | Cellini, Roberto; Cuccia, Tiziana |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relation between the economic resilience and cultural behaviour, resorting to the evidence provided by the 20 Italian regions at the time of the Great recession. We consider specific cultural behaviours, which provide a specific meaning of culture; its relation with the resilience ability of regions is analysed. We document that higher level of supplied and demanded quantity of cultural goods in a region associate with higher regional economic resilience as measured by the ability of limiting employment drop; the relation with the considered cultural behaviours is weaker in the case of economic resilience as measured by the ability of limiting income drop. We propose possible explanations for this asymmetry. |
| Keywords: | Regions, Economic resilience, Great Recession, Cultural goods, Italy |
| JEL: | R39 Z10 |
| Date: | 2018–01–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:83904&r=eur |
| By: | Salome Baslandze (EIEF - Einaudi Institute for Economics a) |
| Abstract: | Creative destruction and reallocation of resources from less to more productive firms are important drivers of productivity growth (Bartelsman and Doms (2000), Foster et al. (2001), Foster et al. (2008), Lentz and Mortensen (2008), Hsieh and Klenow (2009), etc). In this project, we study the role of frictions that are obstacles to such creative destruction and real-location in Italy. More specifically, inefficiencies of financial intermediation as well as existence of politically connected firms can affect selection of firms into market as well as lead to unequal access to further growth opportunities. This might have adverse effects on aggregate growth due to slower market churning and less competition in the market. Our goal is to understand quantitative importance of different channels through which these frictions shape firm dynamics and productivity growth in Italy. Starting point of our analysis is an empirical investigation of micro-level data from Italy. First, we match social security data on universe of workers from Italy’s Social Security Office (INPS) with firm-level balance sheet data from Centrale dei Bilanci to get a matched employer-employee dataset for the universe of workers in Italy in 1985-2014. To identify political connections at the firm level, we combine this matched employer-employee dataset with administrative data on local politicians from the Ministry of the Interior (RLP). To study firms’ innovation activities we combine the above firm-level data with patents and citations information from PATSTAT. We utilize this comprehensive micro-level dataset to document a set of motivating reduced-form evidence. In particular, among others, we analyze: 1) the characteristics of firms that have political connections in terms of a range of real outcomes, like investment, innovation behavior, productivity growth, etc. 2) firm dynamics in industries/locations where political connections are more prevalent, 3) the link between firms’ connections and ease of access to financing. |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:red:sed017:1319&r=eur |
| By: | Philippe Aghion; Ufuk Akcigit; Matthieu Lequien; Stefanie Stantcheva |
| Abstract: | We study how strongly individuals respond to tax simplicity and how they learn about the complexities of the tax system. We focus on the self-employed, who can more easily adjust to tax incentives and whose responses directly stem from their own understanding of the tax system. We use new French tax returns data from 1994 to 2012. France serves as a good quasi-laboratory: it has three fiscal regimes – or modes of taxation – for the self-employed, which differ in their monetary tax incentives and in their tax simplicity. Two key features are that, first, these regimes are subject to eligibility thresholds; we find large excess masses (bunching) right below the latter. Second, the regimes impact different agents heterogeneously and have changed extensively over time. Taken together, these two key elements give us measures of tax responses (the bunching) as well as the variation needed to jointly estimate a value of tax simplicity and taxable income elasticities. They also give us an opportunity to study how individuals learn about and respond over time to changing policy parameters. We estimate a large value for tax simplicity of up to 650 euros per year per individual depending on the regime and activity. We also find sizable costs of tax complexity; agents are not immediately able to understand what the right regime choice is, leave significant money on the table, and learn over time. The cost of complexity is “regressive” in that it affects mostly the uneducated, low income, and low skill agents. Agents who can be viewed as more informed and knowledgeable (e.g., the more educated or high-skilled) are more likely to make the correct regime choice and to learn faster. |
| JEL: | H21 H24 H25 H26 |
| Date: | 2017–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:24049&r=eur |
| By: | Pestel, Nico (IZA) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies marriage market effects of the student gender composition for university graduates using German Microcensus data and aggregate information on the student sex ratio by field of study for 41 different fields from 1977 to 2011. Experiencing a higher own-gender share of students during university education reduces overall marriage market opportunities for women but not for men. Moreover, when students of the own gender are relatively abundant, the probability of having a partner from the same field decreases for women, while men are more likely to marry down with respect to educational status. |
| Keywords: | marriage markets, sex ratio, higher education, Germany |
| JEL: | D10 I23 I24 J12 |
| Date: | 2017–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11175&r=eur |
| By: | Massimiliano Caporin (University of Padova); Fulvio Fontini (University of Padova); Paolo Santucci De Magistris (Unviersity of Aarhus) |
| Abstract: | In the paper we study the convergence of prices in the electricity markets, both at the day-ahead level and for the dispatching services (such as balancing and reserves). We introduce two concepts of price convergence, the convergence of zonal prices within each market (within convergence), and the converge of prices in a given zone between the two markets (between convergence). We provide an extensive analysis based on Italian data of within and between convergence. The zonal time-series of the prices are evaluated, seasonally adjusted and tested to assess their long-run properties. This evaluation induces us to focus on the behavior of the three largest and most interconnected continental zones of Italy (North, Center-North and Center-South). The fractional cointegration methodology used in the analysis shows the existence of long-run relationships among the series used in our study. This signals the existence of price convergence within markets, even though for the dispatching services market the evidence is less robust. The analysis also shows the existence of price convergence between markets in each zone, even though the evidence is more clearly armed for the North (the largest Italian zone), less so for the other two zones. Results are interpreted on the basis of the characteristics of the markets and the zones. |
| Keywords: | zonal prices, convergence between zones, convergence within zones, fractional cointegration, long-run equilibrium. |
| JEL: | Q40 Q41 C32 C51 |
| Date: | 2017–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pad:wpaper:0215&r=eur |
| By: | Pezone, Vincenzo |
| Abstract: | I analyze the real effects of the quality of the judicial enforcement by showing that an increase in the average duration of civil proceedings reduces firms' employment. I exploit a reorganization of court districts in Italy as an exogenous shock to court productivity and, using an instrumental variable approach, estimate an elasticity of employment to average trial length between -0.24 and -0.29. These results are very different from OLS estimates which do not control for endogeneity, and suggest that stronger law enforcement eases financing constraints. The effects are more pronounced in highly levered and more financially dependent firms, and appear to affect mainly firms in less financially developed areas. Revenues respond more slowly than employment to the reform, and wages fall as the judiciary improves. There is no evidence of effects on capital structure and profitability. These results offer a more complete picture of the interplay between legal institutions and real economic outcomes. |
| Keywords: | Law Enforcement,Duration of Civil Proceedings,Financing Constraints,Finance and Employment |
| JEL: | G30 K42 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:safewp:192&r=eur |
| By: | Costa-Font, Joan (London School of Economics); Ferrer-i-Carbonell, Ada (IAE Barcelona (CSIC)) |
| Abstract: | Uniform health care delivered by a mainstream public insurer – such as the National Health Service (NHS), seldom satisfies heterogeneous demands for care, and some unsatisfied share of the population either use private health care, or purchase private insurance (PHI). One potential mechanism to partially satisfy heterogeneous preferences for health care, and discourage the use of private health care, is regional health care decentralisation. We find robust estimates suggesting that the development of regional health services shifted both perceptions of, and preferences for, using the NHS, making it more likely individuals would use public health care and, consequently, reducing the uptake of PHI. These results are heterogeneous by income, education, and age groups; and are robust to placebo and other robustness and falsification checks. |
| Keywords: | National Health Service (NHS), political decentralization, use of private health care, private health insurance, health system satisfaction, demand for private health care |
| JEL: | H7 I18 |
| Date: | 2017–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11180&r=eur |
| By: | Askenazy, Philippe; Palier, Bruno |
| Abstract: | This paper describes that France is apparently one of the few rich countries to have avoided a significant increase in income inequality in recent decades. However, stable average inequalities mask an asymmetric trends of income between age groups, the elderly improving their situation while the young see theirs worsening. Furthermore, it shows that behind this relatively still surface, a general trend of precarization of more and more ordinary workers is occurring,. The importance of wage- setting processes and of regulation of the labour market is bought out, together with the way the tax and transfer systems have operated, in restraining the forces driving inequality upwards. Wage growth, while limited, has thus been reasonably uniform across the distribution and together with the redistributive system have kept household income inequality within bounds. However, in response to high unemployment both regulatory and tax–transfer systems have served to underpin the very rapid growth in precarious working over the last decade, representing a very serious challenge for policy. |
| Keywords: | Inequality, precarious employment, social contributions |
| Date: | 2018–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpm:docweb:1801&r=eur |
| By: | Schneebaum, Alyssa; Schubert, Nina |
| Abstract: | Since the first empirical paper on the topic more than two decades ago (Badgett, 1995), the common story in the literature on wages and sexual orientation has been that gay men face a wage penalty compared to heterosexual men while lesbians are paid the same as or more than heterosexual women. However, none of the papers in the literature have thoroughly addressed the role of marital status in these wage gaps. Using data from the 2013-2015 American Community Survey and OLS as well as selection-corrected estimators, we show that the gay male penalty exists only for the group of married men, while the lesbian wage premium persists across marital status but is smaller for married lesbians. |
| Keywords: | Sexual orientation, marriage premium; penalty, wage differential, discrimination |
| Date: | 2017–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wus005:5964&r=eur |