|
on Microeconomic European Issues |
|
Issue of 2018‒03‒19
28 papers chosen by Giuseppe Marotta Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia |
| By: | Elisa Fusco; Martina Laurenzi (Insight service, Logista Italia); Bernardo Maggi ("Sapienza" University of Rome) |
| Abstract: | In recent years, the Italian judicial system has been at the center of both the political debate and policy actions aiming at modifying the territorial structure and the organization of the courts as well as the procedural processes. The measures adopted concerned the reorganization of the magistrates’ career and the reform of judicial districts. However, despite the several reforms adopted, the Italian judicial system does not reach yet the European standards, principally for the so called magistrate-duration procedures binomial, according to which the number of magistrates is above the European average level and the time of legal trials is too long compared with most European countries. Hence, key words such as performance, effectiveness and in particular efficiency are worthy of attention. In this framework, our paper analyzes the efficiency of Italian judicial districts, using a Data Envelopment Analysis approach. |
| Keywords: | Courts Efficiency, Law Enforcement, Productivity, Non-Parametric Methods, PCA |
| JEL: | D24 K41 K42 |
| Date: | 2018–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sas:wpaper:20182&r=eur |
| By: | Flögel, Franz; Gärtner, Stefan |
| Abstract: | This paper re-visits the state of decentralised banking in Germany, Spain and the UK. The cross-country comparison we conducted has identified Germany as having the most decentralised banking system, followed by Spain and the UK, as expected. The development of regional and double-purpose banks, i.e. savings and cooperative banks, mainly account for the differences in the degree of centralisation. Whereas no such bank exists in the UK any longer and real savings banks in Spain have almost disappeared, two decentralised banking groups with more than 1,400 savings and cooperative banks dominate business finance in Germany. Our comparison has identified three factors of success contributing to the persistence of decentralised banking: I. Short operational and (especially) functional distance and embeddedness in supportive regional bank associations. Short distances allow banks to capitalise on soft information advantages in lending, whilst banking associations also secure access to advanced banking knowledge for banks headquartered in peripheral regions. II. The development of "real" decentralised universal banking. Here, the time when regional savings and cooperative banks received the right to lend is crucial. Because it took them so long to get permission to offer loans, savings banks in Spain and the UK were latecomers to (business) lending, whereas lending had always been the business of German savings banks. Therefore, savings banks in the UK and Spain were not able to capitalise on soft and local information advantages in short distance lending. III. The interplay of the regional principle (regional market segregation), regional embeddedness and a national system that balances regional disparities. Together, these three factors help to make regional banks sufficiently successful, even in weak regions, and hinder competition between banks, thereby supporting meaningful cooperation in banking associations and relationship lending. Savings banks have never been as important in business lending in the UK and Spain as they are in Germany. Though large commercial banks dominate business lending in both countries, some (partly newly established) banks tend to specialise in lending to small enterprises at shorter distances there. To support short-distance lending, this paper suggests a compensation scheme for screening and monitoring costs. Such a scheme may stimulate banks to shift, or preserve, their lending decision processes to the regional level and reduce the need for standardisation, centralisation and bank mergers in times when interest rates are low. |
| Keywords: | comparing banking systems,SME finance in the UK,Spain and Germany,decentralised banking |
| JEL: | D43 E21 G01 G21 G38 R12 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:iatdps:1801a&r=eur |
| By: | Grafström, Jonas (The Ratio Institute); Jaunky, Vishal (Luleå Tekniska Universitet (LTU)) |
| Abstract: | The development of a single economic market and rapid technological advances in the European Union (EU) have resulted in its Member States undergoing major structural changes over the past few decades. The purpose of this paper is to analyse whether or not there is convergence in the inventive capabilities across the EU. This is done by econometrically investigating, by means of parametric and non-parametric techniques, the development of patents granted per capita in 13 Member States per capita during the period 1990–2011. The findings of several β-convergence and σ-convergence tests show convergence in inventive capabilities. Moreover, a similar result is obtained when analysing the distributional dynamics of the invention capabilities. The speed of convergence is however slow. This suggests that policy efforts implemented by the EU to reduce technological gaps among its Member States have been relatively insufficient, and may imply negative long-term consequences for EU cohesion. |
| Keywords: | convergence; patent; panel data; EU |
| JEL: | O30 O32 O33 O47 |
| Date: | 2017–12–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ratioi:0301&r=eur |
| By: | Michael Geruso; Heather Royer |
| Abstract: | We examine the impact of educational attainment on fertility and mating market outcomes. Using a regression discontinuity design, we exploit an extension of the compulsory schooling age from 15 to 16 in 1972 in the UK. The change was binding for a quarter of the population. Simple plots of the raw data show substantially lower teen fertility rates across the threshold of the reform, but no impacts on abortions and no impact on completed fertility by age 45. In the mating market, the reform induced both men and women to marry more educated mates, consistent with positive assortative mating. We show that timing of the teen fertility reduction coincided with the timing of the extra induced schooling and that the probability of marrying a peer in the same academic cohort rose. These results suggest that school attendance may have important direct effects, in addition to and separate from the human capital effects of education. |
| JEL: | J12 J13 |
| Date: | 2018–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:24332&r=eur |
| By: | Santiago Lago-Peñas; Elena Rivo-López; Alberto Vaquero-García; Mónica Villanueva-Villar |
| Abstract: | This article analyzes if, on average, choices made by family businesses regarding job stability in bad times are different to those made by non-family firms. Moreover, we try to elucidate if this potential difference also depends on the family generation in charge. Our analysis relies upon a sample of 55,091 Spanish firms, Spain being one of the countries that suffered the greatest impact of the so-called “Great Recession”. We find that at times of crisis, family businesses do maintain jobs in a higher extent than non-family businesses, and that this effect is especially intense when the first generation is in charge. |
| Keywords: | family business, employment, generation, crisis, Socioemotional Wealth. |
| JEL: | M14 M41 M42 |
| Date: | 2018–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gov:wpfami:1801&r=eur |
| By: | Inés Berniell (CEDLAS-FCE-UNLP.); Ricardo Estrada (CAF-Development Bank of Latin America.) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we study how parents react to a widely-used school policy that puts some children at a learning disadvantage. Specifically, we first document that, in line with findings in other countries, younger children in Spain perform significantly worse at school than their older peers and – key to causal interpretation – that for children born in winter this effect is not due to birth seasonality. Furthermore, the age of school entry effect is significantly greater among children from disadvantaged families. To understand why, we analyze detailed data on parental investment and find that college-educated parents increase their time investment and choose schools with better inputs when their children are the youngest at school entry, while non-college-educated parents do not. |
| JEL: | I20 D10 |
| Date: | 2017–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dls:wpaper:0219&r=eur |
| By: | Falk, Martin (Austrian Institute of Economic Research (WIFO)); Hagsten, Eva (University of Iceland) |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the impact of new market product (market novelty) sales on labour demand (employment). Based on a two-output cost function (market novelties and existing products) a relative employment equation is derived with the ratio of labour to material inputs as dependent variables. The relative labour demand model is estimated using biennial data for 25 industries, nine European countries and five time periods (2002-2010) or by use of a sizeclass dataset with broad industry groups. System GMM estimations accounting for endogeneity show that the turnover (sales) of market novelties (in relation to existing products) has a significant impact on relative employment in manufacturing industries. On average, an increase in the relative turnover of new market products by one percentage point is associated with a 1.6 per cent increase in the employment ratio. In contrast, employment in service industries does not benefit from new market products but instead from the intensity with which information and communication technology innovations are used, approximated by the proportion of broadband internet connected employees. When instead the size-class dataset is employed, it becomes clear that market novelties primarily drive employment in small firms. |
| Keywords: | Cross-country panel data; labour demand; product innovations; new market products; broadband internet. |
| JEL: | J23 O33 O57 |
| Date: | 2017–11–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ratioi:0293&r=eur |
| By: | Thomas von Brasch; Diana-Cristina Iancu; Arvid Raknerud (Statistics Norway) |
| Abstract: | We reconcile two different strands of the literature: the literature on how new goods impact prices and the literature on productivity growth and firm turnover. To our knowledge, this is the first paper to provide a fully consistent decomposition of aggregate productivity growth that identifies the contribution from new firms producing new varieties. We extend the estimator for the demand elasticity, proposed by Feenstra (1994) and supplemented by Soderbery (2015), in two dimensions: First, we create a two-stage estimation framework that exploits the boundary cases where simultaneity is not an issue, i.e. when supply is elastic or inelastic, to obtain a more efficient estimator. Second, we make it robust towards choice of reference unit. To illustrate the decomposition and estimator, we analyse the case of firm turnover in Norway, using panel data covering the period from 1995 to 2016 for manufacturing firms. Our results indicate that net creation of new varieties from firm turnover contributes by about one half percentage point to annual aggregate productivity growth. |
| Keywords: | Aggregation; Productivity growth; Variety gains; Demand elasticity |
| JEL: | C43 E24 O47 |
| Date: | 2018–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ssb:dispap:872&r=eur |
| By: | Di Novi, Cinzia; Jacobs, Rowena; Migheli, Matteo (University of Turin) |
| Abstract: | There has been a dearth of literature on smoking inequalities, in spite of its contribution to health inequalities. We exploit longitudinal Italian individual-level data to identify the main socio-demographic characteristics that determine smoking inequalities. We use the Erreygers Concentration Index to identify in which groups smoking is relatively more prevalent. We find that, among men, pro-poor prevalence is driven by members of the lower socio-economic classes, while we observe the opposite for women. We encourage policymakers to address the issue of smoking inequalities, which the current policies have largely disregarded. |
| Date: | 2018–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uto:dipeco:201802&r=eur |
| By: | Grafström, Jonas (The Ratio Institute) |
| Abstract: | The objective of this paper is to investigate the presence of convergence (or divergence) of invention efforts per capita in the renewable energy field across European Union (EU) countries. Divergence may imply a risk of a lower level of goal fulfilment regarding the share of renewable energy in the EU energy mix. This is due to free-rider issues and sub-optimal investment levels, in turn making it more expensive and cumbersome to expand renewable energy production. Convergence suggests a possible faster renewable energy goal achievement. The econometric analysis is based on patent application counts per capita for 13 EU Member States over the time period 1990–2012. The methods used draw on the economic convergence literature. First, we rely on a panel data set to test for conditional β-convergence. Moreover, a distributional dynamics approach is employed to test for σ- and γ-convergence, and analyse the intra-distributional dynamics. The results indicate conditional β- and σ-divergence in renewable energy invention capabilities across the 13 countries, thus suggesting that some EU countries tend to free-ride on the development efforts of other Member States. |
| Keywords: | convergence; divergence; renewable energy development; patent counts; EU |
| JEL: | O30 O40 O44 |
| Date: | 2017–12–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ratioi:0295&r=eur |
| By: | Serdar Ozkan (University of Toronto); Kjetil Storesletten (University of Oslo); Hans Holter (University of Oslo); Elin Halvorsen (Statistics Norway) |
| Abstract: | Using the Norwegian Registry Data, containing income and wealth information for the entire Norwegian population, we study the distributions of idiosyncratic income and consumption risk over the life-cycle and over the business-cycle. For this purpose, we first document moments (including higher order moments) from the distributions of growth rates of labor income, business income and capital income, after tax and after transfer income both at the individual level, for males and females, and at the household level. We then decompose the growth in labor earnings into changes in wages and changes in labor hours, in particular, changes in extensive and intensive margins. At the household level, we also study the distribution of consumption risk and the degree of consumption insurance towards labor market risk. We find that for individual labor income the Norwegian data is qualitatively remarkably similar to the recent studies on population wide U.S. registry data by Guvenen et al. (2015, 2014) (quantitatively there is more inequality and larger risk in the U.S.). The much richer Norwegian data, however, allows us to go beyond individual labor income. So far we find (i) The strong negative skewness of individual labor income, which have previously been documented, is due to negative skewness of work hours. (ii) Both capital income and the progressive Norwegian tax- and transfer system contribute significantly towards reducing the effect of the negatively skewed labor income on total individual income. |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:red:sed017:1404&r=eur |
| By: | Comin, Diego (Dartmouth College & CEPR); Licht, Georg (ZEW); Pellens, Maikel (ZEW & KU Leuven); Schubert, Torben (CIRCLE & Fraunhofer ISI) |
| Abstract: | Among available policy levers to boost innovation, investment in applied research organisations has received the least attention. In this paper, we analyze the case of the Fraunhofer Society, the largest public applied research organization in Germany. We analyze whether project interaction with Fraunhofer affect the performance and strategic orientation of firms. To that end, we assemble a unique dataset based on the confidential Fraunhofer-internal project management system and merge it with the German contribution to the Community Innovation Survey (CIS), which contains panel information on firm performance. Using instrumental variables that exploit the scale heteroscedasticity of the independent variable (Lewbel, 2012), we identify the causal effects of Fraunhofer interactions on firm performance and strategies. We find a strong, positive effect of project interaction on turnover and productivity growth. We also provide evidence that a major driver of the positive performance effects is the firms increased share of sales from new products and an increase in the share of workers with tertiary education. More detailed analyses reveal, amongst others that the performance effects become stronger the more often firms interact with Fraunhofer and that interactions aiming at generation of technology have a stronger effect than interactions aiming merely at the implementation of existing technologies. |
| Keywords: | Innovation; R&D; diffusion; applied research; Fraunhofer |
| JEL: | O33 O38 |
| Date: | 2018–03–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:lucirc:2018_007&r=eur |
| By: | FERRAGINA, Anna Maria (CELPE - Centre of Labour Economics and Economic Policy, University of Salerno - Italy); MAZZOTTA, Fernanda (CELPE - Centre of Labour Economics and Economic Policy, University of Salerno - Italy) |
| Abstract: | Making use of an original data set we investigate the employment dynamics of a panel of Italian manufacturing firms over 2002-2010, allowing the global crisis to impact differently on firms growth trajectories according to firm involvement in FDI, controlling for firm size, age, financial conditions. We estimate a GMM System dynamic panel model and investigate whether foreing multinational firms show a different path of employment adjustment during the 2008 Global Re-cession. This paper is the first to test this issue for Italy and follows the benchmarking literaure on other countries. The results on a policy ground support the idea that FDI has no impact on employment resilience. |
| Keywords: | FDI; Employment adjustment; Dynamic panel analysis; System GMM |
| JEL: | C41 F21 F23 J31 L11 L25 L60 |
| Date: | 2017–12–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sal:celpdp:0152&r=eur |
| By: | Audrey Berry (CIRED - Centre International de Recherche sur l'Environnement et le Développement - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - AgroParisTech - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - CIRAD - Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement) |
| Abstract: | For households, taxing carbon raises the cost of the energy they use to heat their home and to travel. This paper studies the distributional impacts of the recently introduced French carbon tax and the design of compensation measures. Using a microsimulation model built on a representative sample of the French population from 2012, I simulate for each household the taxes levied on its consumption of energy for housing and transport. Without recycling, the carbon tax is regressive and increases fuel poverty. However, I show how compensation measures can offset these impacts. A flat cash transfer offsets tax regressivity by redistributing |
| Keywords: | Carbon tax,Distributional impacts,Fuel poverty,Revenue recycling,Microsimulation |
| Date: | 2018–01–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:ciredw:hal-01691088&r=eur |
| By: | Heise, Arne; Pusch, Toralf |
| Abstract: | There has been a long discussion about the employment impact of minimum wages and this discussion has recently been renewed with the introduction of an economy-wide, binding minimum wage in Germany in 2015. In traditional reasoning, based on the allocational approach of modern labour market economics, it has been suggested that the impact is clearly negative on the assumption of a competitive labour market and clearly positive on the assumption of a monopsonistic labour market. Unfortunately, both predictions conflict with the empirical findings, which do not show a clear-cut impact of significant size in any direction. As an alternative, a Post Keynesian twosector model including an employment market is presented here. Its most likely prediction of a negligible employment effect and a sectoral shift is tested against the German case of an introduction of a statutory minimum wage in 2015. Despite substantial wage increases in the low wage sector, our empirical analysis reveals very low overall employment loss of about 33,000 labourers as a result of a small sectoral shift from low wage industries to higher wage industries. |
| Keywords: | Post Keynesianism,minimum wage,aggregate demand,aggregate supply |
| JEL: | B50 E12 E23 J31 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:cessdp:68&r=eur |
| By: | Fornaro, Paolo |
| Abstract: | Finland is characterized by a substantial heterogeneity across its regions. Key economic indicators, such as the GDP per capita and the unemployment rate, vary widely for different areas, with Uusimaa, the region where Helsinki is located, being significantly richer than regions such as Kainuu and Savo. This heterogeneity, however, has not been stable over time. We find that many important indicators, namely the GDP per capita, the unemployment rate and real wages and salaries per employee, have been converging across regions over the years going from 2000 to 2014. Moreover, we examine regional values and attitudes, using surveys from the Finnish Business and Policy Forum, and find that there has been a strong regional convergence in terms of trust in political parties and in the EU. In particular, we find that the trust in these institutions has increased more in regions where there was a more negative attitude toward parties and the EU during the initial years of our analysis. On the other hand, we do not find a significant convergence with respect to the attitude towards immigration. |
| Keywords: | Convergence, Regional heterogeneity, Values and attitudes |
| JEL: | A13 E02 |
| Date: | 2018–03–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rif:report:82&r=eur |
| By: | Brice Fabre (PSE - Paris School of Economics, PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS Paris - École normale supérieure - Paris - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | This paper brings new evidence on the impact of income inequality on public decisions. Using a new panel database on French municipalities’ accounts, and on households’ income distribution at the local level, I estimate the impact of income distribution on municipal policy. This paper is the first to investigate this issue by simultaneously using a high number of comparable observations and identifying deciles of the income distribution which matter. After controlling for municipal fixed effects and for the dynamics of municipal incumbents’ decisions, I find no impact of income inequality on operating spending, but a strong positive impact on municipal infrastructures. Evidence suggests that an increase in income inequality by 1% leads on average to an increase in the value of municipal infrastructures between 0.06% and 0.18%. Importantly, I find that this result is driven by variations in bottom and top deciles. There is clear evidence that additive public facilities associated to more inequality are due to higher tax rates. When poorest individuals get poorer, or when richest ones get richer, municipal incumbents decide to increase the amount of infrastructures by increasing local taxation. These results suggest that what matter in public decisions are the extreme parts of voters’ income distribution, and that lower bottom incomes and higher top ones both lead to a higher size of government. |
| Keywords: | Income Inequality,Public Goods,Taxation,Local Governments |
| Date: | 2018–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:psewpa:halshs-01721825&r=eur |
| By: | João Pereira dos Santos (Nova School of Business and Economics); José Tavares (Nova School of Business and Economics and Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)) |
| Abstract: | We take advantage of a quasi-natural experiment to assess the impact of European funds on firm dynamics in regions that, while not having their status changed, saw their neighbours increased access to European funds. Causality is established in a difference-in-differences intention to treat setting, using a rich dataset that considers the universe of Portuguese mainland municipalities from 2003 to 2010, and controlling for socio-economic, political and demographic variables. Our findings suggest a causal impact of between 1 and 2 percent in private sector firms´ entry and net entry rates, while we find no impact on firm exit rates. We consider time and space placebos to assure the reliability of our estimates. Our findings suggest that EU regional funds have a greater impact in times of distress, such as the world economic crisis, as far as entry rates are concerned. The analysis of the cross-section of firm demonstrates it is domestic owned micro firms in the primary and tertiary sectors that are most impacted by regional funds. |
| Keywords: | quasi-natural experiment, European funds, firm creation; municipalities |
| JEL: | C21 R10 |
| Date: | 2018–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mde:wpaper:0099&r=eur |
| By: | Kyyrä, Tomi; Pesola, Hanna; Verho, Jouko |
| Abstract: | Many studies have found that the exit rate from unemployment increases in the vicinity of the exhaustion day of unemployment insurance benefits. The extent to which this spike is driven by job search behavior is important for assessing the distortionary effect of unemployment insurance. Card, Chetty and Weber (American Economic Review 2007; 97: 113–118) find a large spike in the exit rate from registered unemployment but only a very small spike in the job finding rate in Austria. We replicate their analysis using matched register data for Finland. We find a large spike also in the job finding rate at the time of benefit exhaustion, even though it is clearly smaller than the spike in the exit rate from unemployment benefits. In addition, we demonstrate difficulties in measuring the time to benefit exhaustion when the benefit entitlement can elapse at a reduced rate during activation measures or part-time working. Unless the remaining benefit entitlement is directly observed in the data, the resulting measurement error can lead to downward biased estimates of the spikes at benefit exhaustion. |
| Keywords: | unemployment benefit, unemployment duration, unemployment insurance, Social security, taxation and inequality, Labour markets and education, C41, J64, J65, |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fer:wpaper:86&r=eur |
| By: | Anthony D Stephens; David R Walwyn |
| Abstract: | Energy policy in Europe has been driven by the three goals of security of supply, economic competitiveness and environmental sustainability, referred to as the energy trilemma. Although there are clear conflicts within the trilemma, member countries have acted to facilitate a fully integrated European electricity market. Interconnection and cross-border electricity trade has been a fundamental part of such market liberalisation. However, it has been suggested that consumers are exposed to a higher price volatility as a consequence of interconnection. Furthermore, during times of energy shortages and high demand, issues of national sovereignty take precedence over cooperation. In this article, the unique and somewhat peculiar conditions of early 2017 within France, Germany and the United Kingdom have been studied to understand how the existing integration arrangements address the energy trilemma. It is concluded that the dominant interests are economic and national security; issues of environmental sustainability are neglected or overridden. Although the optimisation of European electricity generation to achieve a lower overall carbon emission is possible, such a goal is far from being realised. Furthermore, it is apparent that the United Kingdom, and other countries, cannot rely upon imports from other countries during periods of high demand and/or limited supply. |
| Date: | 2018–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:1802.07457&r=eur |
| By: | Glenda Quintini |
| Abstract: | This study focuses on the risk of automation and its interaction with training and the use of skills at work. Building on the expert assessment carried out by Carl Frey and Michael Osborne in 2013, the paper estimates the risk of automation for individual jobs based on the Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC). The analysis improves on other international estimates of the individual risk of automation by using a more disaggregated occupational classification and identifying the same automation bottlenecks emerging from the experts’ discussion. Hence, it more closely aligns to the initial assessment of the potential automation deriving from the development of Machine Learning. Furthermore, this study investigates the same methodology using national data from Germany and United Kingdom, providing insights into the robustness of the results. The risk of automation is estimated for the 32 OECD countries that have participated in the Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC) so far. Beyond the share of jobs likely to be significantly disrupted by automation of production and services, the accent is put on characteristics of these jobs and the characteristics of the workers who hold them. The risk is also assessed against the use of ICT at work and the role of training in helping workers transit to new career opportunities. |
| JEL: | J20 J21 J23 J24 |
| Date: | 2018–03–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:elsaab:202-en&r=eur |
| By: | Alberto Alesina (Harvard University [Cambridge], IGIER); Johann Harnoss (UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne); Hillel Rapoport (PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS Paris - École normale supérieure - Paris - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, PSE - Paris School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | We analyze the effect of immigration on attitudes to redistribution in Europe. Using data for 28 European countries from the European Social Survey, we .nd that native workers lower their support for redistribution if the share of immigration in their country is high. This effect is larger for individuals who hold negative views regarding immigration but is smaller when immigrants are culturally closer to natives and come from richer origin countries. The effect also varies with native workers’ and immigrants’ education. In particular, more educated natives (in terms of formal education but also job-specic human capital and ocupation task skill intensity) support more redistribution if immigrants are also relatively educated. To address endogeneity concerns, we restrict identification to within country and within country-occupation variation and also instrument immigration using a gravity model. Overall, our results show that the negative .First-order effect of immigration on attitudes to redistribution is relatively small and counterbalanced among skilled natives by positive second-order effects for the quality and diversity of immigration. |
| Date: | 2018–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:psewpa:halshs-01707760&r=eur |
| By: | Diego Bodas; Juan Ramon Garcia; Juan Murillo; Matias Pacce; Tomasa Rodrigo; Juan de Dios Romero; Pep Ruiz; Camilo Ulloa; Heribert Valero |
| Abstract: | In this paper we present a high-dimensionality Retail Trade Index (RTI) constructed to nowcast the retail trade sector economic performance in Spain, using Big Data sources and techniques. The data are the footprints of BBVA clients from their credit or debit card transactions at Spanish point of sale (PoS) terminals. |
| Keywords: | Working Paper , Economic Analysis , Spain |
| JEL: | C32 C81 E21 |
| Date: | 2018–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bbv:wpaper:1803&r=eur |
| By: | Fu, Kun (Loughborough University London); Larsson, Anne-Sophie (The Ratio Institute); Wennberg, Karl (Linköping University and the Ratio Institute) |
| Abstract: | We investigate the impact of country-level labour market regulations on the re-entry decision of experienced entrepreneurs, whereby they become habitual entrepreneurs. Multilevel logit models on entry decisions among 15,709 individuals in 29 European countries show that labour market regulations have a positive influence on the decision to re-enter into entrepreneurship. This positive impact is stronger among individuals holding wage jobs at the time of re-entry compared to those that do not. Our results indicate that novice and habitual entrepreneurs may respond very differently to labour market rigidity. We discuss and provide tentative explanations for these differences, and outline potential policy implications. |
| Keywords: | Habitual entrepreneurship; employment; labour market rigidity; institutional context; multilevel modelling |
| JEL: | J24 J41 K31 L26 |
| Date: | 2017–12–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ratioi:0297&r=eur |
| By: | Thomas C. Buchmueller; Léontine Goldzahl |
| Abstract: | In 2004, France introduced a national program of organized breast cancer screening. The national program built on pre-existing local programs in some, but not all, départements. Using data from multiple waves of a nationally representative biennial survey of the French population, we estimate the effect of organized screening on the percentage of women obtaining a mammogram. The analysis uses difference-in-differences methods to exploit the fact that the program was targeted at women in a specific age group: 50 to 74 years old. We find that organized screening significantly raised mammography rates among women in the target age range. Just above the lower age threshold, the percentage of women reporting that they had a mammogram in the past two years increased by over 10 percentage points after the national program went into effect. Mammography rates increased even more among women in their sixties. Estimated effects are particularly large for women with less education and lower incomes, suggesting that France's organized screening program has reduced socioeconomic disparities in access to mammography. |
| JEL: | I12 I14 I18 |
| Date: | 2018–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:24316&r=eur |
| By: | O'Higgins, Niall; Pica, Giovanni. |
| Abstract: | The paper analyses theoretically and empirically the effects on young people’s labour market outcomes of two specific labour market institutions and their interaction: employment protection legislation and active labour market policy. More specifically, the paper examines recent policy reforms in Italy focusing on the impact first of the 2012 Fornero reforms of employment protection legislation and second on the initial impact of the EU-wide Youth Guarantee scheme introduced in Italy in March 2014. The paper also examines how these two policy reforms interacted. |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ilo:ilowps:994974592502676&r=eur |
| By: | Tröger, Tobias |
| Abstract: | This paper is the national report for Germany prepared for the to the 20th General Congress of the International Academy of Comparative Law 2018 and gives an overview of the regulation of crowdfunding in Germany and the typical design of crowdfunding campaigns under this legal framework. After a brief survey of market data, it delineates the classification of crowdfunding transactions in German contract law and their treatment under the applicable conflict of laws regime. It then turns to the relevant rules in prudential banking regulation and capital market law. It highlights disclosure requirements that flow from both contractual obligations of the initiators of campaigns vis-à-vis contributors and securities regulation (prospectus regime). After sketching the most important duties of the parties involved in crowdfunding, the report also looks at the key features of the respective transactions' tax treatment. |
| Keywords: | crowdfunding,crowdsponsoring,crowdlending,crowdinvesting,contract law,conflict of laws,banking regulation,securities regulation |
| JEL: | G23 G28 G38 K22 K23 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:safewp:199&r=eur |
| By: | Nicola Curci (Bank of Italy); Domenico Depalo (Bank of Italy); Emilio Vadalà (Bank of Italy) |
| Abstract: | This paper evaluates the performance of Italian local public enterprises (LPEs) with respect to their private sector counterparts. We address the following questions: i) do LPEs perform worse than (comparable) private firms?; ii) does the performance gap depend on the ownership structure (the share held by the public) or on the market structure (the degree of competition in the sector)?; iii) which are the main determinants of LPEs' performance in terms of productivity? The main findings – which are robust to the possible endogeneity of the ownership structure – are as follows: i) LPEs perform less well than private companies by about 8 percent in terms of TFP; ii) although both ownership structure and market structure matter, our results suggest that the ownership structure is more important; and iii) the performance gap of LPEs with respect to private firms seems to be driven by over-capitalization rather than by over-employment. |
| Keywords: | local public firm, firm performance, instrumental variables |
| JEL: | L33 L25 H42 C26 |
| Date: | 2017–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdi:opques:qef_408_17&r=eur |